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

Joe: I was about eight to nine years old when the war came. When the Japanese came here almost all of our big men were involved to build an airfield. Our fathers carried sticks and rods, dug the ground and leveled the place. They carried the sand and put it into the places where there were swamps and holes and filled them up. This work involved many young men from Manus. And also I saw some men from Buka and Nissan (Bougainville). They lived and worked with our fathers. They built the airfield and when it was completed the war came and also many more soldiers came. These soldiers came with big guns. I saw one that was set up at Tabor and not far from that another one was set up at the location where the notice board was and that was the huge one. The small one has two barrels which could be fired at the same time. Another was set up at Poloka village near my house. Poloka was on one side and Papitala on the other side. Men from Poloka and Papitala joined together and built the airfield. Whenever the warplanes and fighting came this way the Japanese bosses would tell us to run away into the bushes so that they could fight their enemies without us getting in the way and getting hurt. We listened to them and ran away into the mangroves. When the fight slowed down and the warplanes left we would come out and go to the village and live with the Japanese. The Japanese stayed with us at Poloka and that is why I saw everything the Japanese did. I knew which people were carriers of the Japanese and also the laborers who worked on the airfield. The carriers helped the Japanese to transport their cargo on canoes from one island to the other or from one side of the island to the other. Our old grandfathers like Weian, Dipon,Amai,Alois and the other big men worked with them. Our fathers worked as carriers for the Japanese only around here. The Japanese said those men who were old should stay back and that only the young and the strong could work as carriers to carry cargo to other places in Manus. I saw all these things until the war was over - in what year, I don't know because they moved us away and when we came back we stayed with the Americans at Mokoni. Dr Iwamoto: You said that you went to a Japanese school? Joe: Yes, the Japanese set up a school and we went to that school. Because some of us were so small we could not continue on but some of our big guys, some of whose names I mentioned before, they were taken by the Japanese to their school to be trained as soldiers. The Japanese cut down small trees and made toy guns out of them. They gave these toy guns to the big boys and they practiced how to run, shoot and the different tactics for fighting. The Japanese gave them trousers (shorts) to wear. The big boys did this - those of us who were small in size were at the school. Those big boys were taken out to train as soldiers after school. When the fighting began we small ones ran into the bushes with our parents and the big guys who were trained took part in the war with the Japanese. Dr Iwamoto: Where was this school located? Joe: They set it up at Poloka village, my village. The Japanese built a big "boy house" in the village and we used that as our classroom. Our teacher was a tall man. He taught us how to count. I was able to count from one to ten but was not able to count from ten and up. I was able to memorise the method of counting. Dr Iwamoto: Do you know how many kids went to that school? Joe: No girls went to this school, only young boys. This group includes Amwe, Alois,Benedict, Weion and there were about ten of them who were big boys. There was probably three small boys my age. Many small boys were afraid of the war and would not come to school. For me, I was lucky enough because the school was built right beside my house so I was able to attend and also able to see exactly who attended the school and did what. Dr Iwamoto: How many teachers were at that school? Joe: Only one teacher and I don't know his name. Dr Iwamoto: Was he a young soldier or an old man? Joe: He was a tall and young looking man. Dr Iwamoto: Was he able to speak pidgin? Joe: He spoke no pidgin or English but only Japanese. Dr Iwamoto: So he only spoke Japanese? Joe: Yes, he only spoke Japanese because he wanted the boys to join the Japanese soldiers. Therefore he wanted them to know the Japanese language. Dr Iwamoto: Did he teach you how to count and sing songs? Joe: Yes, he taught us how to count and sing Japanese songs. Dr Iwamoto: Do you know some of those Japanese songs? Joe: I only know one song but the rest I don't know. I already forgot. The one that I know is called "Mosi". This song was probably a war cry or war song. I am not sure. I knew and picked it up. The song goes like this: Mosi-------------- ------------------- Dr Iwamoto: How many months did this school last? Joe: The school did not last that long. It probably lasted for about three months and then the war came. Dr Iwamoto: Were the kids happy to go to that school? Joe: Yes, the kids were very happy to go to the school. The big bosses of the Japanese strongly warned the soldiers to establish a good relationship with the village people. The Japanese bosses insisted that if the soldiers were hungry for food, they should ask. In some areas, they said that the Japanese caused many problems and did bad things to the local people but not here. Dr Iwamoto: Was that teacher a good man or not? Joe: He was a very nice man. Dr Iwamoto: So he did not fight you? Joe: No, he didn't do anything bad to us. He treated us well. If we did anything wrong he would only tell us not to do that thing and did not do anything physically. He was a very nice guy. Dr Iwamoto: Do you know if that teacher survived and went back to Japan or died in the war here? Joe: That I wouldn't know. He may have lived and gone back to Japan after the war or he may have died. Because when the fighting became heavy we all ran away into the bush. Dr Iwamoto: After the war was over did you come back to the village? Joe: Yes, we all ran away and later we came back when the Americans took control of the place. General MacArthur was based in Muguren and called for us to all go back to Muguren. When the fighting moved on to the main island of Manus and Lorengau they called for us all to go back home to our villages.