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    Unplanned Odyssey: A Memoir of Wartime Survival
    Unplanned Odyssey: A Memoir of Wartime Survival
    Unplanned Odyssey: A Memoir of Wartime Survival
    Ebook93 pages1 hour

    Unplanned Odyssey: A Memoir of Wartime Survival

    By Elisabeth H. Wilson and Roy F. Wilson

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    About this ebook

    Elisabeth, known as Liesje , was born in Indonesia when it was a Dutch colony. She came of age at the beginning of World War II, and when the Japanese invaded she was interned. She escaped from the Japanese concentration camp, a decision that put her into survival mode for the next five years.

    This is her account of her youth, of her life as a concentration camp escapee under the Japanese occupation, of her clandestine union with a noble Japanese military officer - a Samurai, of her subsequent journey to war-devastated Japan, and her life there after wards.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisheriUniverse
    Release dateMar 4, 2009
    ISBN9781440124105
    Unplanned Odyssey: A Memoir of Wartime Survival
    Author

    Elisabeth H. Wilson

    A child of Dutch parents, I grew up in Indonesia when it was the Netherlands East Indies. At the beginning of World War II, I was interned by the Japanese, escaped and was on the run through 1944. I was captured, imprisoned & tortured by the Kempei-tai secret police, married a Japanese nobleman, moved to Japan, and then divorced in 1948. I remarried in 1950, moved to the United States in 1952, and have lived here ever since with my husband of 58 years, a man now retired from United States military, and civil service. We have three children, nine surviving grandchildren, ten great-grandchildren, and live quietly in a small town on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State. Since arriving in the U.S. in 1952, we have lived in 15 cities, and 7 states, as my husband followed his career. We’ve traveled a lot, been in all 50 states, and according to my husband, we’ve stayed overnight, or longer in 35 sates, or more.

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      Book preview

      Unplanned Odyssey - Elisabeth H. Wilson

      DEDICATION

      I dedicate this book to the unknown strangers who sheltered me when I was a concentration camp escapee on the run; to the courageous staff of the birthing clinic in Jakarta who turned away the Kempei-tai officer who sought my infant son; to stalwart Mrs. Boerboom who cared for my son through my months in prison, and sheltered us again in the unsettled months after Japan’s defeat; to the friends who supported me through the difficult years in Japan afterwards, and finally; to all the suffering innocents throughout the world, human beings reduced to the abstract statistic; collateral damage, when nations go to war.

      Contents

      DEDICATION

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      INTRODUCTION

      PROLOGUE

      CHAPTER I

      THE PREWAR YEARS

      CHAPTER II

      THE WAR

      CHAPTER III

      TO JAPAN

      EPILOGUE

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      This book would not have been possible without the encouragement of many friends who have pushed me, some gently and others persistently, for years to tell my story. They have urged me, rightly so, to not only pass it along to the next generations in my family, but also to tell the world of those times in the Pacific Theatre as seen and experienced by one of the millions of collaterals who are inevitably affected by the war.

      I am deeply indebted to and grateful to my husband, Roy Wilson, my love of nearly sixty years. He reached out to me in one of my most troubled times in Japan as a gaijin (foreigner), and has been a constant friend, companion and husband since, giving me new hope and a new life in America. He helped me recall and articulate my memories, molding my words into a coherent whole, which he lovingly recorded for me on these pages.

      I am also indebted to Sumiko Meguro, a dear Japanese friend, who helped me realize that the intersection of my world with the pre-War world of my ex-husband, Sakai, had a profound and independent impact on him. Sumiko interviewed me more than ten years ago for background on an article she was preparing for publication in Japan, titled, War and Love - A letter to Roy-chan. Roy-chan is Sakai’s and my son. Sumiko’s perspective more strongly emphasized Sakai’s noble Samurai family, their role in Japanese history, and his life after we were divorced, showing the personal conflicts he went through as the old Samurai way struggled to survive in a new postwar world. I do hope her article was published in Japan. Though English is not her native language, she made a great effort to provide a translation, which Roy edited. We are grateful for her effort, and it allowed us to appreciate her different focus.

      Here, I have presented my personal, as-lived and survived experiences, as I remember them, in my own words.

      Liesje Wilson

      As told to my husband, Roy Wilson

      Sequim, Washington

      January 2009

      INTRODUCTION

      By

      Roy F. Wilson

      This story begins in Batavia, Java, N.E.I. N.E.I. stood for Netherlands East Indies. The place is still there, and the island is still called Java, but the city is called Jakarta now, and the country is Indonesia.

      The change of names reflects the rise and fall of empires in the defining events of the twentieth century. This story is the recollection of a woman caught up in those events. Battered and mauled by forces beyond her control, she survived.

      The document recording her birth was impressive; two legal-size sheets of stiff paper, watermarked with the Dutch coat of arms, written in the Dutch language, slathered with official stamps, grommeted and tied with red tape. The original was lost in a life of many moves, and today only an English translation remains.

      The language is stilted, a literal translation of the original. It reads: "FRANCISCUS JOHANNES GERHARDUS MEIJER, age 21, occupation: Sergeant first Class, residing with Master CORNELIS, who is now present. Mr. MEIJER has informed me that at 2100 hours, 21 Feb. 22, in the military hospital at WELTEVREDEN in BATAVIA, his wife Wilhelmina Nuijen, no occupation, living with said Mr. MEIJER, gave birth to a female child, given name, Elisabeth Hennriette Anna. This document was drawn up in the presence of Hijman FRANANHUIS, age 30, occupation: Sgt. Major Administrator, Infantry; and Christiaan Edwin LINGER, age 26, occupation: Sgt. First Class, Infantry, both residing with Master CORNELIS who is now present.

      This act is herewith concluded and, having been read and properly represented, is duly subscribed to by the registrant, the two witnesses and myself."

      Below these words on the original document were the florid signatures of the father, the two witnesses and the registrar, identified as S.P. PIEROLIE.

      The signatures and official stamps of no less than four layers of higher officials, up to the Secretary of the Department of Justice of the Netherlands Indies, further attest to this event.

      It seems a lot of pomp for the simple act it records, but it was the way of the Dutch bureaucracy then. It assures us that a baby girl named Elisabeth was indeed born at the indicated time and place.

      The lives and fates of the witnesses and officials attesting to this matter are lost in the passage of time, but in ensuing years, Sgt. Meijer trained in chemistry and pharmacology. A man of singular drive and determination, he rose through the ranks to become a commissioned officer in the Dutch army. But his drive and determination did not always benefit his personal life, and the lives of those around him.

      missing image file

      Liesje’s Father, Frans Meijer – 1923

      Capt. Meijer completed his military career, and retired just before World War II. Recalled to active service when the war began, he was captured with his fellow Dutch soldiers when the Japanese invaded. Transported to a prisoner-of-war camp in northern Japan, his medical training helped many of his fellow prisoners survive.

      Those soldiers from the Indies, clad in the rags of worn out tropical uniforms, were forced to work in coalmines in a land of harsh winters. Ill-fed, ill-housed, ill-clothed, overworked, subjected daily to brutality and contempt from their Japanese captors, many succumbed. Capt. Meijer survived and returned to his home after the war to retire once more.

      In the years between, the world

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