From M. C. Warren, a 'Mail' War Correspondent.
Somewhere in Australia. — Louis Fong, 17-year-old Chinese lad, is enjoying life again. If he smiles and laughs all day, he has a good reason. He and his mother and brother have been rescued from the Japanese, and these Australians treat them well. Speaking almost flawless English, Louis has been acting as Chinese interpreter at Madang, New Guinea, where several of his country men were brought after the Aus tralian landing on Karkar Island. He also helps to wash dishes and makes himself useful at an Australian hospital. His mother opened a general trading store at Madang, in 1938. with Louis as her manager. Louis' younger brother went to Wewak to work. But the Japanese came in December, 1942, and all the Chinese were put to work in vegetable gardens. Aged women and men and young children — all labored in the fields at Alexishafen. Six months later they were transported to Karkar Island, and ordered to set the old gardens in order. The Japs followed, ate up all the food, and paid them with worthless invasion currency. They were not molested. They were too valuable to the Japanese. But day after day they toiled in the equatorial sun for their captors. They underwent Allied bombing and shelling, but that did not frighten them. The day of their release was drawing nearer. The Japs left hastily, and the Chinese lived on in the hills. Then one morning the natives brought them glad tidings. The Australians had landed. This was the day they had lived for.
Saturday 24 June 1944 The Mail (Adelaide, SA
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