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Weno, Chuuk July 16, 1965To: Rev. Mother Soledad Fernandez Arroyo, MMB

You are asking me to write what we did during WW ll. I will do it very happily but I wonderhow well. On Dec. 8, 1941 the war broke up and on that day, right aiter Mass, aroundnoontime, we were all gathered in order to have a small party for our M. Superior,Concepci6n Bernaola. Just a short while later, two Japanese soldiers came. The name ofthe chief of those soldiers was Buntaiche. He told us: "What are you doing? Why are youhaving a party, don't you know that today the war between US ind Japan begin? Nbw,every one to work!" So, we stopped the party and we went with the girls to join ihe peoplewho were carrying stones and soil to build roads. And he added: "When the siren iingi -no matter what time may be-, you have to go like everyone else".As time went on, we could see from our house war ships in the horizon. A few days later,two or three policemen came to the Mission to take the priests to jail. They also sbiO tneywere going to take the Sisters, but thank God, that did not happen.

One day someone told M. Superior that Government people were coming to raid theMission. So we began to hide our things: rice in sacks laid on the beds aJ mattresses;cloth materials and threads above the ceiling etc. in order to save what we had. We werescared, wondering what will happen when the policemen come. And the day came. Theyentered the house stepping very hard, entered our rooms searched everyfhing, openeidrawers, checked all kinds of papers especially letters in order to see if there wassomething suspicious.

By then, Fr. Hernandez and the two brothers were in jail. But still -thank God- we, theSisters, were fine. We could attend Mass, receive communion, go to confession until thesad day came. A motorboat with some policemen arrived and they took Fr. Jaime to jail.And as usual, they first came to our house, so in that way we hadtime for Father to giveus the key to the Tabernacle in order to bring the Blessed Sacrament to our chapel. Wnata pleasant company for us! So from that day on, we didn't have Mass, or confession,nothing. At night, while it was very dark and with no candle, M. Mercedes Lamfquiz and iwent to bring the Blessed Sacrament home.

The Mission was very quiet and sad. No priest, no girls, only we, the Sisters, remainbecause M. Superior sent all the girls home. During those days soldiers came often, andone morning, around 1 0:30, the village police came: the chief of police with about foursoldiers and native policemen. They entered our house and they asked forthe,,CocheSama", which means the Superior, and when she came out she was asked to call all theSisters. Sister Nifro Jes0s (G6rate) was frying fish and Mother told them it wasn'tnecessary for her to come, but the police insisted that everyone should be present in thatmeeting. When M. Superior came with Sister, they asked if everyone was present. Then,wearing gloves, they opened a parchment, and before reading we all stood' and they said:"We have come in the name of the General Government to thank you for the gifti theyhave received from the Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz. Thank you very huch toeveryone of you". And after a big ceremony, one of them took a dozen of botiles of sodaand gave them to M. Superior. Seeing them she calmed down but it was a good scare.

Memoirs from War Vllorld ll

By Sister Ursula B. Matsunaga, MMB

l: ln Fefan (Ghuuk)ll - On Board of the "Omi Maru" to pohnpei

lll - ln Pohnpei

l. ln FefanIt.was very early one- morning when a bomber returned. lt was followed by another enemyplane. This was the first bombing.

fh"l' Mother Superior said: "let's receive communion" and so we received it from herll$ What a happiness, we were receiving communion after such

" long iir" that we

didn't receive it. From that day on, at nightfail we went down to sleep to a h-ouse that wasby the seashore, where the Christians used to gather at night tor Oig ."t"nrtions. (Thismeetinghouse is called "tJt" in Chuukese)

Towards midnight, we used to go up (home) to hit some milk, and one night when we justarrive to hit the milk and went to sleep, some Okinawa policemen ariiveo with sticks(clubs) and very roMy, calling my Japanese name -"Matsunaga san, tvtitiunaga san,,-.As I was sound asleep, I didn't hear anything. Mother Superior-kept calling me from herbed: "M. Ursula, gel up quickly". I opened the door and I asked (the pofiiern'en) what theywanted. They said that they sent word to them from the shlp that we were making fire atnight. I told them that we were not the ones making the fire even thoujh-l wasn't sure itwasn't us. A few days later we found out that it was J man who was *ry"nungry and as hecouldn't kill his pig during the day, he did it during the night.

They (policemen) came several times. One day they came to tell us specifically that wehave to leave Chuuk. They said that we better g9 to Saipan. M. Superioi said, ,,lf you forceus to leave we would go to Pohnpei but not to Saipan". And then a man said to me: ,,youbetter go to Saipan because you have your family there". But I replied that although it istrue that myfamily is there, I do not belongto{hem any more, and that wherever theSi9!er9 go I will go with th.9t,. And they got very disgusted witn my answer. And then, theysaid they would return with the orders where we should go. A few days later they ."r"back to let us know we had to go to Pohnpei. We begari to pack things and one day aGovernment motorboat came to take us to theboat.-M. Superior r"ni"u"rything evensome eggs we had.

As the ship was not coming, our food was running out because ships sunk before theyreached Chuuk.

One day M. Superior told me that I needed to ask permission to go and get something toeat' I went with two men and two girls first to the Governor and then to thJ,,Nambo,,wheret_!e gargo is stored for the ships. ln order to get there you have to go througn the policestation. I was going together with my companions -and they stdpp;a ;: suddentyeveryone was gone and I was left all by myself. A policeman took me io be interrogated -as the Japanese used to do- and he thieatbned me that he was going to hit me for comingaround this area. Don't you know -he said- that the "Amasan" cinnit get out and you ar6breaking the law? I kept dead quiet, listened to everything and them?sked me: ,What,syour name?" I gave him my Japanese.name."MatsunagiUrako". Then he let me go. Iwasn't worry. I was very calm. Our Lord helped me very riuch.

Another day M. Mercedes Lamiquiz and I went to visit Fr. P. Hern5ndez in jail. To do thatyou first needed to ask permission to the judge. Very determined, we *"ni to Court, andthe first thing the Judge asked me was why M. Mercedes was coming with me. I told hershe was my companion because we don't go out alone and he said: "FLreiln.tr cannot goout, you don't need any companion". Then, I asked if he would allow us to visit Fr.Hernandez who was a very good man and was in jail having done nothing *iong. He said:

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'if he would not be guilty, he would not be in jail. He is in jail because he is a bad man". Iinsisted if we could see him. Then, the judge called the jailer and asked him to bring Fr.Hern5ndez. At the sound of the keys I began crying. When he saw me, he said: "Please,Sister, do not cry. They are not going to lengthen my stay here much longe/'. He was withus about 10 minutes, we did all the talking and he said nothing. All he said was thateverything was fine, to pray very much and they took him back.

The purpose of our visit was to try to get Father to be allowed to go to his house eventhough it was very dirty. After talking to the Judge for a while I told him: "Judge, I wouldlike to ask you a very big favor, could l? The people need Father in these very importantdays, could you send Father back to his house for these important days?" Very upset, heanswered: "That request you can ask to Palau where the General is" And he left usabruptly. We said goodbye to him and went shopping. On our way back to get into themotorboat to return home, we saw Father walking by himself on the way to his house. Andfrom that day on he was free.

I made many trips by myself. One day that I went to the priests' house, t was lucky to beable to go to confession; and then, I was able to bring home some consecrated hosts. Youcan imagine how I felt the moment Father gave me the hosts. I hang them from my neckwith a chain. I held the hosts against my chest and I began to walk with two girls whom Ididn't want them to notice anything because we were traveling in the motorboat withsoldiers. We came down in Sapeta and after a long walk we reached mount F6uchuwen.Then, we came down through a ramp and we took a short cut tillwe arrived home.

It was funny, on our way we were going praying the rosary, but after awhile, the girlsbegan to talk. As I didn't want for them to know that I was carrying anything, I answeredthem only from time to time. And then I said: 'We are not going to speak much becausethey are soldiers on the way and it is late'. And they replied: "You are very tired". I said"no", just that we were late returning home and M. superior was waiting for us.

How fervent I felt taking these trips by myself with the girls. lt was when I used to feelGod's help very strong and I was able to remain very brave.

When the day to leave for Pohnpei was getting closer, Sr. Perpetua -who at that time wasan 18 year old girl- came, insisting that she wanted to come with us to Pohnpei becauseshe wanted to become a Sister. We began asking permission to fix her passport and thiswas very difficult. Besides, one of her uncles, who was opposed to the idea, went to thepolice asking them not to give us the papers. Her parents had already given herpermission and Perpetua was very determined in her idea. So M. Concepcion feltverysorry and said we were going to work very hard to get her the permission to come with us.I am not sure what day it was but I think that on Sept. 24th, day of Our Lady of Mercy, itwas our last day (in Fefan), at one o'clock we were all going to leave for Tolowas wherewe were going to wait for the "Omi Maru" to go to Pohnpei. We were more than five hourswaiting for the Government motorboat to pick us up. All that time we were under somecoconut trees with all the people of our beloved Fefan saying goodbye to us. And thosefrom the Government -they had the nerve! -, they didn't come until six in the evening.

It was very late and dark when we arrived in Tolowas and we still didn't know where wewere going to stay. Very polite, as soon as we arrived to the dock, the policemen cameright away to lead us to the priests' house. We arrived at 8:00 p.m. And the priests werewaiting for us with extraordinary kindness and great charity. When we arrived everythingwas ready: our rooms and the dinner. That night we hardly could rest because we were

very nervous, thinking what could happen in our trip. And the ship was not arriving, theykept saying "tomorroW', but the next day it didn't come. We were in the priests'housethree or four days. During those days, Perpetua came back again wanting to come withus. One afternoon M. Superior called me and said: "M. Ursula, if you really love thelnstitute, go with Perpetua to the Government and see if you can get her permit (papers)for Perpetua to travel"

It was, then, 5:00 p.m. The two of us (M. Ursula and Perpetua) went to the Governor's(office) and I asked them if they could issue the permit so that Perpetua could travel withus to Pohnpei. He told us that the person in charge of the natives (to issue their papers)was not in. Then I asked where I could find him and he told us where his house was. Weleft the office almost at dark in search of that person and we found the house. We askedfor him and they said that he couldn't come out because he was in the bathroom, so toreturn the next day at 8:00 a.m. Early the next day we went to his office, we explainedwhat we wanted and he told me that it was a bit difficult because now we don't issuepermits for the natives. I begged him, asked him the big favor and told him how this girlwanted to come with us. Then, he agreed and gave me the permit. And we returned homevery happy. That very night, Perpetua went to her house to give the good news and thesame night the family made a farewell party for her. The next day everyone came toaccompany her and say good-bye to her.

Finally the ship arrived and they sent word that the next day at 5:00 p.m. we wereboarding for Pohnpei. We are in God's hands.

ll. On Board Of The "OMl MARU" Towards Pohnpei

At 5:00 p.m., on Sat. 27, 1943 all of us were on board. We were all on deck, they didn'tgive us acabin. Wegathered all together likegypsies with our luggage as well as wecould because it was impossible to be "en tercera" which was full with Okinawans,Chamorros and Japanese going to Pohnpei.

Around 6:00 p.m. we left the dock. I think we were all feeling the same, our hearts torn bypain seeing the ship getting further away from our beloved Chuuk. At the same time wewere happy doing God's will.

We were afraid about the American activities and precisely that full moon night, around8:00 p.m. -l am certain about the time- we saw a plane ready to bomb Tolowas. The crewon the ship got very alarmed seeing it and we all put on our lifesavers. The Captainwanted to calm us and he said: "Be at peace because it is a Japanese plane" (Did he thinkwe were going to believe him?) When everything was already at peace, we began to pray.We prayed all night long. M. Mercedes (Lamiquiz) was praying to all the Saints of theHeavenly Court. M. Superior (Concepcion Bernaola) told me: "M. Ursula, be very attentiveto everything that it is said". When we got on board, they instructed us what to do whenthe siren would sound. There were four small boats in case of emergency. They taught ushow to untie the ropes to get down, etc. But the boat assigned to us was the one furtherfrom us.

M. Superior with deep feeling told us: 'When the time comes (to leave the ship), forgetabout me because I am useless". And we were with this fear all along the trip. Finally wehappily arrived in Pohnpei on Sept. 29th safe and sound, thanks Oe to CoO. There, on tne

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dock, two of our Sisters..we waiting f or us and we very much love they took us to ourconvent where the first thing we did was to go to the chapel to thanks ine tord for oursaved arrival in Pohnpei and because !!is.wasthe last ship io be able to come to pohnpei.The Japanese were saying that it didn't sink because the "Amasan" 1us, ine Sisters) weretraveling with them. We got off in Pohnpei but the ship went on to the Marshalts. This wastruly the last ship leaving Chuuk for pohnpei.

lll. ln Pohnpei

We were together in Pohnpei during some months, but as the war was getting worse,some of our Sisters accompanied M. Concepcion to live in Awak because-she was verysick' Someof us stayed in KoloniawithAna Ma (Larracoechea). From time to timeweused to visit M. Superior.

One day, M. Mercedes Lamlquiz and I went to visit M. Superior because they told us shewas not well. Early in the morning after breakfagt we began to walk. As the way was verylong and we were very hungry, we hardly could walk inymore. M. Mercedes who wasextremely funny, told me: "Let's go to Kepinkailan. There are some apple trees there, weask them for some and we continue our journey eating them". And so we OiO and we finallyarrived to Awak. We spent some pleasant hours but regretfully, we had to return toKolonia. lt had three hou.rs way coming and another three iours going nact

M. Superior told us that if we were outdoors when the siren sounded, we should run to theclosets shelter to us. One day as I was going towards our shelter to see Mother and on theway the siren sounded and I entered our neighbors' shelter and after awhile, Fr. euirinoentered, too. He didn't like for us to be together. Several times the same thing happened.

Here in the Dolokei shelter, both M. Superior and M. Pilar (Lorenzo) stayed in for quite along time. M. Superior was always sick and M. Pilar had a serious infectioh in a leg causedby a fall she had. _Sister-Salom6 (Aguirre) as she was a good nurse took good care ofthem but poor M. Pilar suffered a lot.

Here we had a very nice little house with a small river in the back and we were very happyhere.

The police sent word that the next day we had to move to another place. poor Brocasasayas had to make another hut and we went there. The floor and the p"rtition, of thehouse were made of coconut leaves. To move there was not easy. M. Superior wascarried with us on a stretcher, etc. M. Mercedes with Perpetua lftLlers) and Antonia(Lizama) that were already Sisters. They came at dawn with everything

"nlj i pot of 1ce

for breakfast, etc. This is the second place of moving around in ourlourn-ey. - -

ln this place we were very scared. Every bombing we used to cover M. Superior with afuton and we run to the shelter. Before we had time to settle down, we were asked tomove again. Eirka was the last stop. Here it was the office of the Goveinment and officials,so we decided to stay.

Well, one afternoon M. Superior said: "M. Mercedes, M. Ursula and perpetua go to Eirkaand clean the house and weave coconut leaves for our shelter hut. Happily the two of uswith Perpetua left towards our (new) promised land. We ignored at that time that we weregoing to flnd difficulties on our way. Upon arriving to the riier we saw that it was very highand had a very strong current and so, we couldnrt cross it. Juliana, the girl who came withus, called her uncles so that they could help us to cross the river. Thinks to these twomen we were able to cross the river.

We arrived very late to our little house where we were going to work. We swept a litle,pulled some grass, we prayed and went to sleep. Well, llay-"to sleep" but very resflesslybecause there were little animals of every spices and sizesihat kept jumping around withan astonishing ability.

Early next morning we began to work in order to be able to eat (in the future): we plowedthe land, planted potatoes, tapioca, corn, vegetables, etc. What happened to us though isthat from the flrst planting we only dug the soil and planted but we didn't get any prod[cts.So we planted tobacco instead to exchange it for fish.

On Saturday we had other kind of work. M. Mercedes, M. ln6s (Goitisolo), Sr. Salom6, Sr.Francisca (Mendiz6bal) and l, cut firewood to make fire.

ln Eirka the Christians..could n9t get close to us to help us because it was prohibited. Theycould not give us "mai" (breadfruit) either so the people who wanted to give us anything -mai or fish-they usg{lo come at night when we were sound asleep. A rian came 6ringingus fish and he said: "Sisters, I am hanging the fish from that tree and I am leaving Oecjus6I am afraid that the soldiers can see me that I am bringing things at night". Another manfrom Awak brought mai and left it by the river for us to pictiit up later, bjcause if they saw

him, (the soldiers) would-take it away from him. So when it was peach dark at night wewent to pick up the breadfruit.

M' superior got very sick and the doctor said she had T.B. (tuberculosis) and that we hadto separate her from the community. But, how could we do that? There was not amiserable place to put our sick Sister.

one day M. Superior and M. Ana M" sent me to the Governor to get some boards to makea little house for our sick M. Superior. I went and he welcomed mle tinoty. Ai n" knew mefrom before because he had been my teacher, he told mer "Don't you want to ask meanything"? I expressed what I needed and lre easily said yes. gui a ;oriceman forforeigners found out and one day he appeared at our house with a troop (otherpolicemen)' He asked for me. M. Ana M" cailed me and I came out, greeted him and thenhe asked: Why did you go the other day to the Governor's house to ask him formaterials"? I told him that there were none.(ivailable)... and I don't know if he was goingto hit me with his rifle because Sr. Antonia who was present shouted and said: ,,He isgoing to hit M. Ursula"... This man really hated us very much,ln Eirka there were two big rivers. When it rained a lot we had to cross it through ahanging bridge made of old boards and wire on the sides. And that's was the bridge wehad to cross to go to the hospital.

And one of those day^s that M. Superior got seriously sick, M. Ana Ma asked me: ,,lsn,t ittrue that you love M. Superior very muchi" I was taken by surprise by the qulstion.. Thenshe a.dded: "Do you want to go with Perpetua to the hospital and explain-to tne doctorwhat happens with M, Superior?" We left and when we arrived to the oiioge we could noteven tell where the edge.of th_e bridge y3_s. we stepped carefully ritti"-ov litge on theboards, because as one edge of the board lifted you ndd to step on [ne otnei. tt is funny totell the story now but it was really scary. I don't know how many,,Hail Marys,, I prayed tocross that bridge.

I really thank the Lord for the very many graces I received during the war, and I wonderhow I could go by myself everywhere tnat oneoience sent me. I liet many Jipanese whotold me: "Matsunaga san, why don't you .return to your house? vou aie tnli working forthose Europeans, you would be better go back home".Even our good friend Kimura san told me towards the end of the war: ,,Aren,t you going tol"q|l?"All the Japane-se were against me. I told them that I don't belonj t6 my famity,that the Sisters are my family, and that wherever they go, I'll go. So tnevloio me that I amqretty stupid and that I don't love my country.This story is very nice to tell now. one day I don't know how our cows got loosed when Sr.Francisca and Sr. Antonia.were caring for them and they crossed a silall bridge. Comingback from the farm Sr._Salom6, Perpelua and I we met ltt. Ana Ma and Sr. Francisca withsome tobacco leaves. M. Ana Ma told me: "Go to the police station to ask p"rOon becauseour cows have brokel tfre bridge. Give these tobacco leaves to the'-foticemen anoapologize". They received the tobacco happily and he (chief of policej ioro u, that heforgave us. But on Sunday, the police called Fr. Quirino and asked him to fix the bridgethat the cows of the Sisters had broken. Poor Fr. Quirino! He was all Sunday fixing thebridge with Brother!

Here in the jungle, regardless of all the inconveniences, we didn't loose our sense ofhumor, as good MMBs. We were always cheerful doing God's will. I said "always cheerful,,

because the good Lord didn't teave us, not -ev.en

a day without receiving Him -eventhough taking turns- during the entire time of the war. We received Him -as children-singing, whether it was my turn or not. To be able to receive Communion were the lastwords of our evening recreation.

One evening retuming from the farm, we heard a big commotion in our house. Fr. euirinowas shouting giving the news to the Sisters that than-ks be to God, the war *"J ou"r.After a few days the Americans anived and we returned to Kolonia.

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