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Tortured Trukese
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by Nopuko Bossy Barker (You can reach Nopuko here.)
I think it was in early 1945. The U.S. Navy had attacked Truk in February 1944 and again in April of the same year. Truk Lagoon was surrounded by the U.S. Navy and almost no re-supply was coming to Truk. I've heard that a couple of submarines got into the Lagoon with small amounts of arms and food, but that the food was only for the IJN and IJA officers.
The Japanese soldiers in Truk Lagoon were very hungry and irritable and had really clamped down on us, the people of Truk. The Trukese people were hungry, too, but knew how to survive on local plants, while the Japanese only knew how to eat rice, when they could get it, and plant sweet potatoes. Any fish that the Trukese caught in the lagoon were confiscated by the Japanese whenever they caught anyone who had been fishing or who were fishing when sighted by soldiers. My people were not allowed to fish for themselves and their families.
Although the Trukese could survive on roots, the food wasn't tasty and was boring, so there was a lot of temptation to eat the good stuff that was being grown. Especially sweet potatoes.
Stealing food, even though the food was being grown on land owned by locals, was a serious crime and punishment was severe beatings and sometimes death. But the Trukese had families to feed, so we “stole” food from the Japanese whenever we thought we could get away with it.
My oldest brother, Faustino, and my cousin, Bermanis, were both young teenagers at the time. Many nights, like other young Trukese men, they would slip out and successfully “steal” potatoes from “Japanese-owned” gardens. I guess my brother and cousin became a bit over confident.
One night they decided they were going to steal some undershirts from the soldiers. And they got caught!
Continued Tortured Trukese, Page 2
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