Interview with John Matere (Interview)
(Indigenous perspective)
This interview was conducted by Dr Iwamoto Hiromitsu and transcribed/translated by Pastor Jacob Aramans

Matere: My name is John Matere. I was born in 1920. I was around 22 years old when the war came in 1942. When the Japanese arrived here we were surprised to see them. We were surprised and confused by the war planes and warships shooting at each other. The Japanese took some of us and we went with them to work in Kavieng. Many of us worked on building the airfield at Lamberitse in the Mayo area. Mayo was where the camp of the Captain was and we would pass it on our way to work in other locations in Kavieng. My section was the airfield. Dr Iwamoto: How many men went to Kavieng? Matere: Many men. We worked from morning to lunch. At lunch time we would go to the Japanese camp and have lunch. After having our lunch we would return to work. At times we were sent to work on the ships and wherever the war planes came to bomb the ships we would run away and then come back to work. Dr Iwamoto: What sort of work were you doing on the ship? Matere: At that time I was trying to drain water out onto the deck of the ship but it wouldn’t drain because the ship was stuck in the mangroves. While we were busy working on the airfield there was heavy fighting in Kavieng so we got up and ran away. We ran away down the road and the Minseibu came in a car to round us up and we went back to work again. Dr Iwamoto: Was your boss a Minseibu? Matere: Yes, the Minseibu was our immediate boss who looked after the workers. Dr Iwamoto: Would you remember the captain of the Minseibu? Matere: I have forgotten his name. But he was a Minseibu who was in charge of us. We would go and work and whenever the war planes came and dropped bombs on us we would leave everything behind and run away. The Minseibu would come in his car and take us back to work. As we continued to work, the fighting became stronger and stronger. The enemy came and flattened the terminal and the rice supply house with bombs. We came and stayed at Putput in Kaselok. We got all the rice bags and piled them under the coconut trees in the plantation and covered them with a thick canvas. We stayed on and one day Beka, a man from Ramu, said to me, "brother look at my shoulder it is already bruised as a result of carrying heavy bags of rice, we should run away". So we ran away for home that same day. Dr Iwamoto: Tell me how many months it took you to work on that airfield? Matere: It took us six months. Dr Iwamoto: What sort of work were you actually doing? Matere: We dug holes (tunnels) and prepared pungars. We cemented the holes. Dr Iwamoto: How many hours did you work? At what time did you start and at what time did you finish? Matere: We started work at 7 o'clock up until 12 noon. We would then have lunch and at 1 o'clock start work again before finishing at 5 o'clock. Dr Iwamoto: Was it hard work? Matere: Very hard work. We faced very hard and tough times. Dr Iwamoto: Were there any accidents or deaths during this work? Matere: Yes, some men had accidents from this work. Dr Iwamoto: Did some die? Matere: Men died. War planes dropped bombs and some of them got killed from shells fired from enemy planes. Dr Iwamoto: Do you know the name of the boss in charge of that work? Matere: I only know he was a Minseibu but I do not know his real name. I also don't know the name of the boss of the Minseibu. Dr Iwamoto: Did you see any of your policeman sent off to work in Kavieng? Matere: There were no policemen working with us. We had some of our own men who looked after us. Dr Iwamoto: Do you have a boss from your village? Matere: Yes we had a boss from our own village. Dr Iwamoto: What sort of work did this boss carry out? Matere: He would normally take care of our timings, when to arrive and when to start work. He stayed around to see that we did the work according to plan. Dr Iwamoto: Were those bosses luluais and tultuls or just ordinary men? Matere: They were only ordinary men. When we went down to Kavieng to work the Japanese appointed men from among us and told them they were in charge of groups at their own discretion. Dr Iwamoto: Did they receive any uniforms from the Japanese? Matere: They didn't receive any uniforms. Dr Iwamoto: So they were also ordinary people? Matere: Yes, they were. But, we were not paid for most of the work we did. We faced many problems and hardships but received nothing. Dr Iwamoto: Is that all? Matere: That's all. Dr Iwamoto: Thank you very much.