The village in which Sandra and her family lived in was close to a main road. The village of Mee Foon’s family was more remote, closer to the hills.
Sandra’s paternal grandmother had had her feet bound when she was young so now in her old age, walking was a painful, difficult exercise. It was impossible for her to move with haste if the time came to flee.
Both of Sandra’s grandmothers had had their feet bound. Girls had their feet bound from the age of 14 or 15. The more wealth the family had, the sooner it was done, sometimes at age 12 or 13. Because the girl was unable to walk unaided, she would have a servant by her side at all times.
What was once a sign of beauty and wealth was no longer so. In these times, it became a severe disadvantage. W
henever the family had to flee, the grandmother was always left behind ‘to look after the house’. There were no sirens to warn people in the villages that the Japanese were on a bombing mission. Hearing the sound of aircraft was the trigger for the villagers to flee, however, those sounds were often the sound of routine air traffic.
The first time Sandra remembers fleeing from the Japanese was when Doris was an infant. Sandra would have been 13 or 14 years old. Baby Doris was tied to Sandra’s back and when Sandra ran, the baby was shook violently from side to side as well as up and down. Sandra recalls that Baby Doris had a look of terror on her face. Soon after, she began to have trouble breastfeeding and Sandra believes it may have been the trauma of the shaking and running.
One of Sandra’s relatives had a baby on her back and was found by Japanese soldiers. The family had been eating dinner and had not heard the warning calls that the Japanese were coming. Her family ran to the hills near the river. She became separated from her family as she ran with her baby to the hills that were closer by. She was captured and both she and her baby were killed. The Japanese would kill their prisoners by gunfire or bayonet. This woman left behind two sons and her husband.
Sandra remembers the time of early summer when the rice crop was turning yellow. It was a sign that it was ready to be harvested. From that time on, the Japanese threat increased and fleeing from their home became more frequent.
Two years on, in about 1945, the Japanese began to enter the villages. They went to Sam Fow (3rd city) where one boards the ships and where Sandra’s school was located. They were afraid to stay at her village, so Sandra and her family went to the village where their old house was located, closer to the hills.
Here was the routine. They would arise before dawn and cook some rice to eat. Sandra would carry their supplies in two parcels slung from either end of a pole which went over her shoulders. Their supplies included the prized down filled comforter/doona which her father had given to Mee Foon, clothing, a small metal pail with a lid to hold the rice, salt, a bottle of oil and a chunk of ginger. Then they would lock the door, sit outside and wait for the signal. Someone from their village would position themselves at a lookout point on a hill to watch for coming Japanese.
During these flights from danger, they would sometimes hear gunfire. And sometimes there would be false alarms. Sandra recalls that for every day for more than a month, they would go through this routine to be ready to flee if the signal came. They would run to the hills or to Mee’s family home.
In the fields, the grass of the rice crop was in need of cutting but no workers had dared to travel to come help with this work. Villagers began to report they had heard that the Japanese were far away and were not coming yet. As these reports spread, people began to return to work the fields again. Gradually, the villagers would stay home for a few hours longer each day.
One day when most of the villagers fled their homes, Sandra and her family were among the few who decided to stay. It was raining that day. Perhaps they thought that they had had so many false alarms or that they were exhausted from the cycle of packing, carrying, running and returning or they thought the rain might be a reason for the invaders to pause their invasions.
Then, a neighbor called out and said the Japanese were coming. Sure enough, the Japanese appeared and they were on horseback. Sandra and her family started to run across the road to get to a hill. Sandra had baby Doris tied to her back and was holding a big black umbrella. When they realized they wouldn’t reach their hiding place in the hills, they began to run back to their house. Once inside, the secured the door and shut the windows.
Mee Foon instructed Sandra to don on her grandmother’s old clothes and to rub soot all over on her face and arms. She wanted to disguise Sandra’s youth and beauty. By making her look disgusting and dirty, Mee Foon thought this might protect her daughter from sexual assault. Then Mee Foon put Doris on her back and the two of them hid in a corner near the grandmother’s bed. Sandra climbed under Mee Foon’s bed. Also with them was a girl of 13 who was being cared for by Mee Foon while her mother had gone to work in the fields that day. She hid under the bed with the family servant. There were ceramic urns under the bed which were used to store seeds. The girl and servant slid behind these urns.
The dogs of the village were barking. Mee Foon told them ‘they are knocking on doors of the houses near the road. Be very quiet’. Sandra’s grandmother was checking to make sure they were all well hidden. She would not hide.
Sandra was terrified. She told her grandmother ‘I don’t want to hide her. Go get mother’. Mee Foon came and agreed. Sandra then strapped Doris on her back and the three of them went upstairs. They opened the door and went onto the roof of the adjoining house. They hid under the eaves. The rain came sloshing down as there were no drainage pipes. They were getting soaked. Doris was under some cover so she was not getting as wet.
They could hear the Japanese trying to break down the door of their home but it was a very solid door. One of the Japanese soldiers found a ladder and climbed up to the roof of their house and discovered them. Both Mee Foon and Sandra gave the thumbs up gesture to the soldiers, as a way of saying ‘we think you are great’ rather than express fear or hatred. A female neighbor was also on the roof of her house. She was dressed nicely and looked very attractive, compared to Sandra with her soot-covered face and old woman’s clothing. The Japanese solider jumped over to the rooftop to this neighbor.
Mee Foon seized the opportunity and told Sandra to run. They jumped onto another rooftop which was connected to theirs. They were now at a balcony which had a gap from the next building. It was a drop of 10-15 feet to the walkway below Mee Foon then instructed Sandra to jump from the balcony to the rooftop of the building opposite the balcony. Sandra said ‘I’m afraid. I don’t want to do it. I might fall’. Mee Foon said ‘you must go, for if they catch us, we will certainly die’. Sandra (with Baby Doris tied to her back) jumped onto the wet sloping rooftop, followed by Mee Foon and again they hid.
And again they were discovered by a Japanese soldier. Suddenly, a voice called out to him. It was another soldier who had found a trunk down on the ground at another home. He left them to explore as it probably contained valuables that he could loot. Mee Foon, Sandra with Doris then jumped over the walkway again to yet another sloping rooftop. They then went to a house at the far end where they knew someone was home. They called out to the occupant. The passage from the roof to the house had bricks stacked to block it. This neighbor removed the bricks and let them into her house to hide. It was warm inside. Her daughter was there. Altogether there was five of them. By then it was nearly dark.
