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| China-Japan-Koreas | |
| On this date: The Submarine Sisters Evacuate in WWII | |
| 2023-01-01 | |
It is Sept. 18, 1940, and four Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange stand on a dock in Wilmington. In traditional black and white habits, they make last-minute arrangements for what will be a three-month journey to Buka, barely a spot on a map of the Solomon Islands. Buka is the northernmost and western island most of the Solomon Islands. Two are teachers, two are nurses. They are known as Sister Celestin Belanger of San Francisco, Sister Hedda Jaeger from Pasadena, Sister Isabelle Aubin from Massachusetts and Sister Irene Alton, daughter of the Orange County dairy family that Alton Parkway is named after. Alton’s brother warns war is brewing with Japan and advises she stay away from the South Pacific. The nuns press on, determined to live and work for years in the Solomon Islands helping local people. They believe they understand the dangers, which include an epidemic called yaws that has spread across the tropical Pacific. The disease infects skin, bone and cartilage. In a just-published book called “Trapped in Paradise: Catholic Nuns in the South Pacific 1940-1943,” their journals reveal much more. On their first day in Buka, the sisters write they tend to four babies in a primitive nursery. All are under three months. One weighs 4 pounds. She gets goat’s milk. The baby’s mother has been dead four days. Alton contracts cerebral malaria. Sick for six months, she nearly dies. But — just in time — a doctor from Australia manages to deliver medicine by ship and saves her life. Soon, the sisters switch to cooler white habits. Still, the cloth touches their ankles and with little water they are forced to go weeks without washing clothes. In marked contrast, the locals wear nothing more than wraps around their waists. It’s difficult, but at least it’s peaceful. That ends Dec. 7, 1941, when the nuns receive a radio news flash. Pearl Harbor has been bombed. Days later, Guam and Wake Island fall. The British Commonwealth government orders women and children to evacuate. Missionaries, however, may stay. The nuns stay. Just after the new year, Manila falls. Nine days later, Japan invades the East Indies. Three weeks later, the nuns write, “Yesterday, a Japanese bomber flew right over our very heads. We do not know what the future holds for us, but we know that you are all praying for us at home, and even in the face of danger we are happy to be missionaries.” Heroes on the horizon By the end of January, Rabaul, 200 miles from Buka, is overrun by the Japanese. Fearing Japanese reprisals, villagers in Buka arm themselves with knives and say they will kill the local Roman Catholic priest if he so much as talks to them. The nuns ignore the threats. As Sister Eileen McNerney, one of the book’s editors, explains, “A shepherd does not leave his sheep.” But in mid-March, eight Japanese warships anchor off Buka. They take a priest prisoner. Japanese planes circle. Assumed to be a spy, a local plantation owner is shot, his throat cut. In nearby Guadalcanal, two priests and two nuns are bayoneted. The sisters realize their only hope is to flee Buka, make their way to a larger island called Bougainville and disappear into the mountains. With little to eat, no fresh clothes and Japanese planes flying almost daily, they hide for more than nine months. They range in age from 35 to 50. Circumstances grow even more desperate. In December, a priest promises a plane will pluck them away. But as more Japanese move onto the island, his promise proves impossible. At the end of the month, the nuns are told to secretly ford a river, climb a steep and slick embankment, wade through tall grass, slog through bogs and make their way to a beach. “A submarine,” a priest says, “is going to pick you up.” At 1 a.m., they spot flashing signals offshore. With 25 other evacuees and cloaked in darkness, the four sisters climb aboard a rubber launch. “We were very close when we all saw the outline of the submarine,” the sisters write. “It was huge, and the entire deck was lined with men to help take us aboard. “You cannot put into words the feeling one has for those of one’s own country, especially when one is miles from home and running away from the Japanese. “Were we happy to see our American boys!” | |
| Posted by:badanov |
| #4 As in Reagan? |
| Posted by: Bob Bigfeet5710 2023-01-01 21:00 |
| #3 Orange County...Dutch? |
| Posted by: DooDahMan 2023-01-01 16:27 |
| #2 :-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2023-01-01 15:21 |
| #1 Useless factoid - I was born at St. Joseph's Hospital located in the city of Orange in Orange County, CA. |
| Posted by: Bangkok Billy 2023-01-01 15:17 |