WWII
Japanese POW Camp
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| This site originated
2002. It began in 2001 when my 6th grade library students learned the
story of the Death March, disease, starvation, and internment in a
Japanese Prison Camp through the experiences of our former Post Master,
Wayne Petrie. I can still picture them today; sitting, stunned, and
many with tears in their eyes as the reality of what these men endured
for the freedom of which they (the students) were now privileged. After presenting, I admit I was surprised at the overwhelming response of the students. They wanted to know more and wanted to write to the veterans. I was able to get addresses of men who had been in the same camp as Petrie. We had not expected so many responses, we wrote only to honor them with a thank you letter. Yet, we received so many letters in return that I felt these "submissions," along with the books, photos, and letters they also sent, needed to be preserved. And thus I began this website. I sum up the value of our project with this one comment from a former Camp 17 POW. After having received a letter from the students, he wrote, in part... "Until I received
your letter, I had given up hope that anyone
cared."
As I continue this work, to the best of my ability, I will not let another ever believe "no one cared." -- Linda Dahl Weeks
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