Mindanao but following clashes, its was discovered that the smaller island of Leyte was virtually defenceless so an attack was made with an easy landing, but the Japanese now attacked in a three pronged drive with their fleets converging on the Americans from the west south and north. In the battle of Leyte Gulf that followed 27 vessels of the Japanese navy including four carriers were sunk so that by the end of of October 1944 the American Naval presence was now dominant south of Japan.
We followed with Fred Garner’s newspaper translation all these battles closely. It was striking to note that in the Japanese press, whilst the battle for Saipan was raging, their comment was that should it fall, they would have lost the War, was an analysis that was quite correct. Its fall then led to the overthrow of Tojo’s government, and a winter of unremitting bombing of Tokyo, Yokohama and other large industrial cities. The American fleet meanwhile completely isolated Japan from oil and other raw materials and for the last nine months of the war, everything was in such short supply that people, ourselves included, were starving, there was hardly a motor vehicle ever to be seen, and no aeroplanes ever took to the skies other than American. In the spring of 1944 the Japanese finally decided to put the women to work in the camp finishing off garments from a textile factory such as sewing the ends of gloves and socks etc. The work was not hard but very tedious especially on the low diet and the women grumbled continuously. But then from June 1944 it suddenly ceased through a major bit of relief, in that we had, after two long years, at last been notified to the Red Cross. We first had a visit from the Swiss Legation and from a Representative from the Red Cross who both came together in June to assess conditions in the camp and to ascertain what comforts etc. they could provide and they immediately put a stop to the work. Also for the first time we were able to write one card each to our families at home to give them a brief word of what had happened to us and for them to learn that we were in fact still alive. Until that point all the family knew was that we had been attacked by aircraft in May 1942 from the distress signal that the Nankin had put out. So Mother wrote to her father Dr Chasseaud in Izmir Turkey, as it was a neutral country and the news would get through sooner, which in fact it did, and I wrote to my father in Ceylon. When the Chaseauds’ got that initial card they cabled my sister Helen in England, and father on the tea estate.
. The main things which immediately helped us though were the arrival of two Red Cross Food Parcels each approximately 14’’ x 14’’ x 7’’ high for each person, with the promise of further ones at the rate of one per fortnight. In October 1944 we had a further 5 each, but then the Americans in January 1945 sunk the Red Cross ship bringing the supplies from neutral Vladivostock and so we only ever received a further two in March 1945 that had been held in reserve. Each parcel contained things such as Emergency K Rations, tins of spam, Klim dried milk, chocolate, Chesterfield and Camel cigarettes, Wrigleys chewing gum, tinned prunes, tinned kraft cheese etc. All most welcome and tasty after two years of privation. Also each person was issued with standard new US Army kit such as a thick khaki sweater, trousers underwear, and a thick heavy khaki US army overcoat, woolly hat and a US army blanket, my one which has somehow survived to this day. After the War Mother dyed it purple and it was used by my sons at Public school and today I notice it is in our Daughter Janet’s dog bed keeping her King Charles Spaniel ‘Monty’ warm and snug!. These items were all particularly welcome to the seamen from the British tramps who had survived in tropical clothes for two harsh winters. Also we were sent about a couple of hundred books for all varying tastes, that enabled a library to be set up, and we could then drift away in novels or conquer the Wild West with Zane Grey who was my favourite, and read some English Classics like Lorna Doone and Dickens! Another great gift