A Boy's War

This is a true story of a boy in China who was interred, along with hundreds of others, in a Japanese concentration camp during World War II. Yet it is an account more about children and their adventures than the atrocities of a death camp. And it includes glimpses of Olympic Gold Medalist Eric Liddell not included in Chariots of Fire. He was interred in the same camp as David and made a huge impact on David's life as well as the lives of all those who had any contact with him.

Just a couple (maybe more!) descriptions of their concentration camp:

"Sanitation was appalling; all agreed that the camp's Health Committee had one of the hardest tasks. The sewage system consisted of open cesspools, one of which was only yards from the side windows of our room. Gangs of Chinese coolies, with buckets hanging on each end of a pole across their shoulders, came in each day to fill up and splish-splash their way to the gate and out to their little fields, where they ran a thriving night-soil operation. The fetid stench floated in the kitchen-dining hall area where we were eating, or on hot summer nights it hung low over the camp in sultry, pungent clouds."

So, what are WE complaining about??? They lived this for over 3 years!

"Weihsein was a place of heroes....A situation like Weihsien is fertile soil for producing people of exceptional character. In our eyes, for instance, our teachers were heroes in the way they absorbed the hardships and fears themselves and tried to make life as normal as possible for us.

"But among many, one hero stands out. Not long after we had moved to Weihsien, another boy and I were playing a game of 'conkers' with an acorn suspended on a piece of string. My new-found friend looked up and said, "Do you know who that is coming up the camp road?"
"No," I said as I saw, approaching us with a spring-like walk, a strong, athletic-looking man in baggy shorts down to his knees and a shirt made out of curtain material."
"Why, don't you know? That's Eric Liddell, the Olympic Gold Medalist who wouldn't run on a Sunday."

"He was everybody's hero...an outstanding example of (his) kindness and self-sacrifice." He died there in the camp on February 21, 1945, after writing his last letter to his wife, who was in Canada with their three daughters at the time. She did not receive that letter, or the news of his death, for three months. "One wintry day in February, I was with our little group over by the hospital when we saw Eric walking under the trees beside the open space where he taught us children the play basketball and rounders. As usual he was smiling. As he talked to us, we knew nothing of the pain he was hiding, and he knew nothing of the brain tumor that was to take his life that evening."

I could quote the whole book! Just two more:

After being rescued (and that's an exciting tale!), "freedom was surprisingly hard to handle. We didn't know how to cope with running water, money, stores, new sights and open spaces. Our eyes were dazzled. We had our first swim, and as one of the teachers remarked, "We looked clean for the first time in years." That was at least a better response than the little boy whose memories knew nothing before Weihsien. When he saw the sea for the first time he said, "Mommy, look at that great big cesspool!"

"After we touched down at Parafield [in Australia], it slowly dawned on us that we were together as a complete family for the first time (the author is now 12 years old!). A new life began for the six of us. Joyce and I met our youngest sister Joan again; and our younger brother Brian, who was nearly four, we saw for the first time."

OK, you can put away the Kleenex box now! It was a beautiful story. David and his wife Joan, went back to Japan as missionaries for two terms, before he became OMF's (Overseas Missionary Fellowship) National Director for Canada.

This is truly a story of heroes.