OH! What was that frightening sound? Up and down the streets weird sounding whistles and sirens were blowing!
Rose knew what it was-it was the air-raid warning sounding! With dolly under her arm she ran quickly down the basement steps to Daddy's study which was the only air-raid shelter they had. It was not much protection, but was under the porch floor which was made of cement tile. Mother and Daddy, and her two brothers and Rose always prayed, and the Lord took care of them!
Rose and her dolly had a special place all their own!
There was a little rug at the end of Daddy's desk, and it was there where she and dolly would go to pray, and to sit very still until they would hear the "all clear" signal sounding up the street again.
Rose lived away on the other side of the world in Manila, Philippine Islands. Manila was such a pretty city before the war with its lovely trees and beautiful tropical flowers. The Filipino children running up and down the streets have very dark hair and eyes, but dress much like children do here in our country if their parents can afford to buy the clothes; otherwise, the younger boys only wear a shirt!
But Rose had very fair skin, blue eyes, and blond hair; for although Rose was born in that country her mother and father were missionaries who had come from America. You would never know that she was an American to hear her speak, for she could chatter away in Tagalog with her little friends like a native Filipina.
Rose loved the Filipino food, too, even better than American food, which pleased the Filipinos very much. They eat rice and fish a good deal, but also have many other interesting and delicious dishes. The children all like the native fruit before it is ripe. It is hard to understand how they would like the green mangos which are very hard and sour, but they eat them with salt, and enjoy them. Rose liked them that way too, and tried hard to convince her mother that they were good!
Rose went to a school for American children that began at seven-thirty in the morning, and was over for the day at twelve-thirty noon. Most of her friends went to the Filipino school. Some of them would come with her to her Daddy's
Sunday school, and to all of them Rose would talk about the Lord Jesus, for she had given her heart to Him.
When Rose was just ten years old Japanese bombers flew right over her house! War had come to the Philippine Islands. Soon the Japanese marched into their city, and Rose and her folks never dared to go out on the streets in the day time. The Japanese were always looking for American or British people, and when they found them they would take them in trucks to internment camps. Finally nearly all Americans were taken away, but they never went to Rose's house!
One day some other missionaries on their way to India had to get off their boat, and they came to live at Rose's house, too. There was a little girl a bit younger than Rose named Joy. In spite of the fears of bombing and war they had happy times together until one day the Japanese sent orders for all aliens to report to the internment camp!
Rose's little Filipino friends were very sad, and cried when they said good-bye, but Rose's mother said, "Do not cry for us, just pray! God will take care of us!"
When they got to the St. Tomas Internment camp, they were told that all the missionaries were to be moved. Where do you suppose they sent them? Home!
Imagine their friends' surprise when they saw them coming! They cried for joy, now! The Christians at the Gospel Hall said, "It is just like when Peter was in prison! The believers prayed, and God brought him out. You went into the internment camp, and we prayed, and God released you!"
Joy's mother had been a school teacher, so she started a school for Joy and Rose, and four little Filipina sisters who lived across the street. One of the other missionaries started a Bible club for them, and after a time all four little Filipina girls, and their mother were saved!
Finally, the Japanese sent again, and told them that they must go into internment. They must be ready to go the next morning when trucks would come to take them away! All the missionaries, and their families who lived in Manila, were taken by truck the next day to Los Banos.
Here they had long barracks to live in. The family barracks were divided into small rooms, and two people were to live in each room. There were forty-eight rooms in each barracks. Rose shared a room next door to her mother's with another little girl whose parents were missionaries, too.
The Japanese gave consent that they might have school, so Rose and her brothers and all the other children had classes every morning. They went to different people's rooms for each subject. The geography class was held in Rose's room. One teacher gave them lessons on the stars and constellations which they could see at night. The nights were very dark, and the stars shone out beautifully! One lady artist had a class in the afternoon, and Rose loved to sketch and draw. She used to climb a high tree, and sitting there would sketch everything that she could see.
After the Americans started bombing, the Japanese would not allow anyone to climb trees, much to Rose's disappointment! The Japanese gave these orders because they did not like the way some of the boys would climb the trees when the American bombers were flying over, and would call down the number of planes they could see!
"I am so hungry! What would it be like to eat as much as we really wanted again?" Rose would sometimes ask.
Life in the camp would not have been so bad except that they did not have enough to eat, and everyone became very thin and tired, and many were sick.
As the days went by the food grew even less, and more people were getting sick. They prayed for deliverance. One morning Rose went to her mother with her Bible in her hand, "Mother, this is the verse the Lord gave me this morning in my reading." Rose was only ten, but she read a chapter in her Bible every morning, even in the internment camp. The verse she read to her mother was, "There bath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (I Cor. 10:13).
"I believe the Americans are coming soon, for God said He will make a way of escape."
Many times in the two or three weeks that followed she repeated that promise that the Lord had given her, for she knew that the Lord was surely going to make a way to escape!
Food rations grew smaller and smaller, until the Japanese finally said they would not have anything more to eat! It seemed as though they would surely starve, for there was no way that they could get outside the camp to get food, and they could get no food within the camp! So the missionaries all gathered together to pray.
Just as they finished praying some American dive bombers flew around the camp, and then went into a dive so close that Rose and the others could see the bombs dropping from the plane. That night Rose said to her mother, "I think God is going to send a way of escape soon. I think that the Americans are coming tonight or tomorrow morning, and I am going to bed early so that I will be ready for them." And she did.
The next morning Rose's mother started the fire in her little stove, and put the last half of their little bit of rice on to cook for breakfast. Just then the gong sounded for roll call, and at the same time the heavy drone of planes was heard.
Then "Transport planes!" some boys shouted. "American transport planes!!"
Everyone hurried out to sec-and what a sight met their eyes! Big transport planes were circling low over the camp, and then, out of the sky came paratroopers, about one hundred and fifty of them! What a mighty shout of thankfulness to God went up as they watched their deliverance coming down from above!
Paratroopers-a whole line of them, dropping in beautiful formation from those transport planes! Rose knew that she would never forget that sight as long as she lived. One plane circled back very low over the camp, and Rose and the others could read the word "Rescue" painted in big yellow letters on the side.
My, what excitement there was in that camp at seven-thirty that morning! No one knew just what was happening, but all were ordered inside as fighting would soon start. Rose's daddy and older brother were asked to go around warning all others to stay inside, and her other brother rushed inside, saying, "Mother, where's the rest of the rice you were saving for dinner? Let's cook it! This is our rescue!"
So while bullets were whizzing around he kept the rice boiling until it was cooked! Rose and her mother ran down to the front of the barracks to see if they could get a glimpse of real American soldiers-and oh, how good they did look to them!
They were ordered inside, and told to lie down, but they were too excited for that!
"Here is some sugar we were saving for our little boy," someone called when breakfast was ready, "does anyone want it?"
Roses brother dashed out for it, and they each had a spoonful on their rice. It was the first taste of sugar they had had for five months!
Soon big tanks rolled into the camp, and the call came, "Be ready to leave in five minutes!"
Hastily things were thrown together, and people piled onto the waiting tanks. But there was not room for all, and Rose's family had to walk the three miles to the lake. Although they were weak they managed to get there, and there they found a man with a tin of sugar giving each one a spoonful in their hands-how good it tasted!
Soon tanks were ready to take them across the lake, then trucks picked them up and took them to prison-yes, to prison! But it happened that that was the only place the army had to put them, and they did not mind, for American flags were flying, and there was food, and freedom! The American Army and the Red Cross were wonderful to them, but Rose and her folks knew it was really God's hand behind it all that had brought their deliverance, for even as He had promised He had made a way to escape!
After six weeks of care and good food they found themselves on board a big ship, sailing for the United States!
Rose's war experiences arc much like that of every sinner, yes, even like you boys and girls! Just as Rose was a prisoner of war, so you are a prisoner of sin and Satan if you arc not saved! The Americans came and rescued Rose. The Lord Jesus died on the cross that He might rescue you from the power of Satan!
The American Army and Red Cross gave her food and clothes, and took her home. The Lord Jesus wants to save you and clothe you in His wonderful righteousness, and He gives you His Word for spiritual food. One day He will come to take all who have trusted Him home to be with Him. Will you be ready?