MARY BENNETT – CHILDHOOD MEMORIES – JAPANESE OCCUPATION – Sabah (British North Borneo)
Recorded: 19.1.2006 Venue: Archive Centre, Fife Council, Carleton House, MarkinchAttendees: Mary Bennett, interviewer Valda Hood-Chinrecorded onto tape cassette and access copy on the CDSIDE A:KEYWORDS / TOPICSParents originally Chinese/moved to Borneo/converted to Christianity/born in British north Borneo/now called Sabah /left in 1969/grew up there/married there/moved to Britain in 1978/developing country/humid/either hot or wet/monsoon around December/lots of different fruits/lived by sea/diet consisted mainly of fish/best seafood in Southeast Asia/exported to Japan/after work go to fish market/just off the boats/mostly middle class/some very poor/people very happy/big family/she was 7 of 9/one sister died at 2 1/2 during Japanese occupation, rest survived/born in 1944/both grandfathers died during war/father owned big shop/mostly expatriate goods/hears stories about war from mother/paternal grandfather died of broken heart/maternal grandfather taken away by Japanese tortured and beheaded/after war knew of grandmother/spoke Cantonese/cant read or write Chinese/taught English by missionaries/always listened to BBC Overseas Service/very unique/spoke 3 languages growing up/only wrote English/father didn’t speak about war/gran always hated Japanese/mother said young Japanese soldiers didn’t want to go to war/small bone structure/mother had to go in air raid centre/all flooded/came out all swollen/malnourished/when born never had babies milk/survived on tapioca milk/smallest in family/many hated Japanese/put kerosene tin on grandfathers head as form of torture/when he couldn’t stand up anymore he was beheaded/sister died of malaria/some Japanese soldiers cried/fortunate that family was quite well off/sold jewellery to eat/could not afford servant/young girls worked in factories/area rich in timber and rubber/war affected father more than mother/Japanese officer took house/kicked out/nice garden/lots of trees/big house/after war visited gran’s house/holes in house from bombing/bigger holes patched up/bombed by allies/at end of war Japanese know they are losing/burnt nearby town/photo of house before the war/after war no jobs/very poor/had to start from scratch/family still had land/father could not get job/missionaries helped/poor but happy/faith helped/school fees/plate of noodles for 50 cents/most survived on fish and vegetables/gran survived war/eventually joined son in Singapore/old fashioned/father from Canton/arranged married/mother spied on father before they married/ ‘learn to love’COMMENTS:SIDE B:KEYWORDS / TOPICS Mother more modern than father/had to live in fathers parents house/mother had to eat last/did not have to have feet bound/to do with status/very small feet/small feet denoted nobility/brother ran through jungle during war/corpses all over/nightmares/wild boar ate corpses/would not eat wild boar meat after war/Chinese cook cooking for Japanese soldiers/fiery temper/killed Japanese soldier harassing him/did not kill him straight away/tortured for days/Valda and Mary reflections on war/war made you work harder/hard times after war/people help each other/teenage years/cinemas/1st class,2nd class,3rd class/ushers kind/lots of fun/Chinese Opera/open air/lovely costumes/played in garden / roam jungles/never locked doors/enjoyed school days/nuns teaching/very strict/could only speak English/taught commercial classes/shorthand, book-keeping/sewing/if you don’t pass junior certificate cant do ‘o’ grade/marked in England/most girls had to work/some felt that women should not go to school/some people not academic/need calculator/better grounding/seen bad things in life/able to cope better/poor people nowadays/need encouragement/went to lots of films/Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor/harmless films/ignorant of sex/parents did not teach about sex/did not know what her period was/met husband/married at 24/husband is Scottish/lawyer/went to see the world/returned every 18 months/husbands parents did not mind her being Chinese but did not like her being catholic/married in catholic church/husband brought up in Glasgow/in Borneo all Christians stick together/lived beside Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists/ecumenical/Catholic religion strict/worship same GodCOMMENTS:
