board one of the last boats away from Malaya. Like all who escaped from Singapore they had undergone a frightening voyage through the Java sea, their convoy being constantly bombed and machine gunned by Zero fighter bombers. Miraculously the ship escaped and they survived and made it to Darwin. Her husband was now in the Army and had advised her to get out of Australia, whilst the going was good, hence her trip. Our small room was furnished with three “tatami” mats which were 6ft x 3ft in size and made of closely packed rice straw, about 2 inches thick with a thin closely smooth reed top covering. On these we lay, slept, talked etc. Also we were issued with a thin cotton mattress, and a thick cotton filled quilt and a soft pillow after representations were made, as to start with we had been issued with a hard Japanese densely packed straw head rest. There was also a built in cupboard with sliding doors for our meagre possessions. The heat those first few days was absolutely unbearable and during the day we were besieged with swarms of flies, and at night we were eaten alive by the millions of mosquitoes that bred in the paddy fields directly opposite and all around the camp. At night too there was a deafening orchestra of thousands upon thousands of frogs all croaking in a dramatic cacophony which soon lulled us to sleep All the time for the first five days we were confined to our quarters and not allowed outside at all and we spent the whole day swatting flies and wiping the perspiration from our dripping bodies.! On the sixth day we were allowed out for just half and hour, but soon we were allowed out more, but even then for only a couple hours during day, but it was a welcome relief considering the temperature. For the record it was 37.3 degrees C on the 17th July, which was the highest figure that had ever been recorded at Fukushima, and on the 15th August the temperature rose to 39.1 C an all time record which I believe still stands to this day! The building that we were housed in had belonged, and had been purposely built by a French Canadian Order of Nuns called : “Notre Dame de Protection” and was completed only in May 1935 i.e. only 7 years prior to our arrival, with the main building materials transported from Canada. The total cost of the building was 300,000 Yen and its inauguration was celebrated with the gift of a statue of St Rosario sent from a similar Convent in Chicago which stood in the entrance Hall overlooking the area where our constant punishments would take place. Also to inaugurate the opening, the local parishioners had donated pine trees, camellias, flowering cherries, maples and azaleas for the front garden, all of which were doing well when we were there. Up the front walls of the building grew a pretty yellow thornless banksian rose which was such a joy to us as it was festooned in blossom in early spring, that I now grow a huge one over our garage in England to remind me of the pleasure that those roses gave us after the harsh winter under the cruel conditions that we were about to endure. It was only at the end of June that the Bishop of Sendai who was in Tokyo at the time was told by the Ministry of the Interior that they wished to commandeer the Convent for use as an internment camp for German prisoners . He telephoned the convent and spoke to Sister Saito, with the request that within the space of one week, the nine nuns living there ( four of whom were French Canadian ) would have to depart. All personal items belonging to the Order were locked in the upper floor attic, into which I only was able to enter a couple of times during our whole stay. The nuns were moved to another convent in Aizuwakamatsu for the duration of the war Our life started to develop a standard ultra strict routine. In the main hallway by the staircase and opposite the Guards Common room there was a large bell belonging to the convent that was tolled at 6 am . As the string was pulled it gave a deep

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