In this moving memoir a young man comes of age in an age of violence,
brutality, and war. Recounting his experiences during the Japanese
occupation of the Dutch East Indies, this account brings to life the
shocking day-to-day conditions in a Japanese labor camp and provides an
intimate look at the collapse of Dutch colonial rule.
As a boy growing up on the island of Java, John Stutterheim spent hours
exploring his exotic surroundings, taking walks with his younger brother
and dachshund along winding jungle roads. His father, a government
accountant, would grumble at the pro-German newspaper and from time to
time entertain the family with his singing. It was a fairly typical life
for a colonial family in the Dutch East Indies, and a peaceful and happy
childhood for young John. But at the age of 14 it would all be
irrevocably shattered by the Japanese invasion.
With the surrender of Java in 1942, John's father was taken prisoner.
For over three years the family would not know if he was alive or dead.
Soon thereafter, John, his younger brother, and his mother were
imprisoned. A year later he and his brother were moved to a forced labor
camp for boys, where they toiled under the fierce sun while disease and
starvation slowly took their toll, all the while suspecting they would
soon be killed.
Throughout all of these travails, John kept a secret diary hidden in his
handmade mattress, and his memories now offer a unique perspective on an
often overlooked episode of World War II. What emerges is a compelling
story of a young man caught up in the machinations of a global
war--struggling to survive in the face of horrible brutality, struggling
to care for his disease-wracked brother, and struggling to put his
family back together. It is a story that must not be forgotten.
