In case you are not able to get to her blog, I can tell you that her father, Harry Hines, along with his fellow prisoners were held at the notorious Omori Prison Camp and it was in an area which was adjacent to civilian homes. One of the teenage girls would play her piano and she realized that she had her "regulars" who would listen to her music through the barbed wire. After the war ended, these same men who had enjoyed the music, made a point of going to the home to say thank you to this Japanese family. The woman is now 85 years old and she wanted to find out what happened to the men...so make sure you go to Janice's blog and read this story! If you live in the UK, you might remember reading this in the Telegraph just a few weeks ago...
And when you read this story, you might notice that one of the POW's was an American from Georgia, and that does make me curious, I wonder how we could find out what happened to him? If you know nothing of the brutality of the POW camps, there are plenty of accounts from the men who survived them, I think that all of us should know their stories and remember them, the men and women who gave so much.
Janice granted her permission to have this link to her post and she asked me this: If there is anyone who might have any more information about her father, Harry Hines, to please contact her as there are gaps in the information that she has about her father's life.
Let there be Peace on Earth and let it begin with me.
Thank you so much for telling this story, it means a lot to me, Life was very rough in those POW camps and yet these men came through without hate in their hearts. A lesson perhaps for us all. It is only when we give up hating people that the world will change for the better. Our governments wage war and the people die, all most want to do is to raise their family and love their land and that is how my dad saw it. He said war was the problem not the people and he taught me to look at a mans heart not his colour, nationality or religion. I have tried to do that. Thank you for sharing his story here.......hugs Janice
ReplyDeleteYou are more than welcome! I have written of the story of Louis Zamperini who was a POW in Japan and his powerful story of forgiveness.
DeletePerhaps when you learn all there is to know about your Dad, you could write a book too! Let me know! xx
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DeleteMy computer went down and said it didn't have my comment and then...there it was!
DeleteWhat a moving story. I am on my way to read Janice's blog now. Thank you for the link.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome! I am glad to share this with my readers.
DeleteHow intriguing that a woman took the risk of playing to the men.
ReplyDeleteIt would have been a great risk, and one that I am glad that she took. The piano playing was done as if she had no idea the men were listening to her, since she could not acknowledge them in any way, but THEY knew she was playing for them and that must of been such a joy to both the men and to her.
DeleteWhat a great story!
ReplyDeleteI thought so too.
DeleteWhat a kind way to try to ease their imprisonment, if only for a little bit each day!
ReplyDeleteI cannot imagine what those men went through in that POW camp. I am glad they had a few moments of music.
DeleteWhat a wonderful story. The gift of music at such a dark time for these prisoners - just beautiful.
ReplyDeleteHello Mairead!
DeleteYes, I thought it was an amazing story and the fact that the woman wondered about these men all these years, I am glad she was able to find out more about them.
I love your stories of big-hearted people. So inspiring.
ReplyDeleteWe have so few stories of inspiring stories these days that when I see one , I always want to share it.
DeleteNow that's what you call a captive audience. When you have very little it's the small things that matter most and music has that power to lift the human spirit. Although I'm not really a classical fan Gorecki's Sympony no 3 always moves me... even before I realised what it was actually about.
ReplyDeleteA war story about Japan I hadn't read about until now.
You know, it is funny, I was going to put a classical piece of music from Youtube on here...but somehow, my fingers typed in "Let There Be Peace On Earth".
DeleteMusic has power to lift the human spirit, I very much agree!