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

Dr Iwamoto: What is your name? Urawai: My name is Ferdinand Urawai. Dr Iwamoto: How old are you? Urawai: I am 74. Dr Iwamoto: Have you had any formal education? Urawai: Since there was no proper school around the East New Britain area, I attended a village school funded by the church. Dr Iwamoto: How old were you, when you started going to school? Urawai: I was around seven. Dr Iwamoto: When the Japanese came how old were you? Urawai: I was around 12 when the Japanese came. Dr Iwamoto: Okay, tell me stories about the war, please. Urawai: When the Japanese came, I was still there. We first knew of their arrival when a group of Japanese planes flew past while we were at a Sunday service. We left the church building and came outside. One of the planes bombed Rabaul. A week later Japanese warships and a lot more war planes came. The first group of planes appeared on Sunday and bombed Tomaringa. Their warships, overloaded with cargo, arrived on Monday morning. They filled this place and the sea all the way to Rabaul. One day after this they anchored at Rabaul. When they left Rabaul, they started walking on the road in big groups carrying machine guns and various other guns. They followed the track and some of them had bush leaves tied on to their foreheads. They came to our junction and came in this way. We were standing on the corner staring at them. I think they saw us through the binoculars. They fired at us and we ran into the bushes. We hid in the bushes but I was small so I was not really afraid. When we heard that they had gone along the main road we ran that way. We caught up with them up there and hid and spied on them as they moved up the road. At the other end the Australian soldiers left this place and went down through Toma and into the bush. They waited for others to join them at Pitapaka. But then the Australian soldiers found out that the Japanese were well equipped so they ran away. The Japanese chased the Australian soldiers in the Baining jungle and killed some of them and many of them were shot dead. Just a few of them were alive, they were not being shot by the Japanese. We came out of the bushes and walked around aimlessly. At that very moment the Australians left their plantations in Rabaul and went away. We stayed and went into the stores and got the things in there. We took whatever was left behind in the plantations and ate it. Just a little while after the departure of the Australians the Japanese filled up the whole of Rabaul. We stayed like this and they gave us work. The Japanese went everywhere - Kokopo, Toma and, in our area Rabaul, Kembaira. We were all put into one company, or Butai, as the Japanese called them. The name of our company was Susuki Butai. So we were under Susuki’s care. He taught us to work. If one company needed assistance then this company, Susuki Butai, would send us to go and help. We were under this system until Kiap -Patrol Officers- were introduced as a Government. This Big Man was sometimes known as a district commissioner and he organized and recruited local policemen. The policemen executed the commands of the Luluai so we were subject to follow the commands of the policemen. Unlike in the past where we had to follow Butai commands we were under the leadership of Daziro. The messages were delivered to us through our luluais and they took good care of us. The road construction then got under way in Tunau Toro. The road linking Malaguna and Toma known as "Palma Rot" was constructed by us using shovels, mattocks and spades. We worked under strict discipline and supervision. We were known as “water trucks” - not because we fetched water for the Japanese but because we climbed trees to get coconuts for them. This was what they required of us because we were small boys. After two months work the construction of the road was completed and vehicles started traveling on it. We stayed back and started another one from Ramalmal to Gravoi. This new mountain road was never used. When we returned under the supervision of the patrol officer to our village we were given new work to do. Cargo ships started coming in with goods like rice, tin fish, sugar, biscuits, meat and other things. The cargo was unloaded at Rabaul and trucks carried them to care centres called Akane Butai. We were taken to stock the care centres. During that time the Americans arrived in their warplanes and started bombing the cargo and searching for the Japanese. They used to attack in threes - three came first and another three and the last three at the back. They came and bombed us. The roads were destroyed so we were sent to repair the road again. After this road work was completed the Japanese army called us to meet and learn songs. However, the Japanese had some hidden motives which we were not aware of. They tricked us to come together so they could use us as carriers. All of us carried guns and jumped into the trucks - there were a lot of trucks going one after the other. I had a different feeling as of what will happen next. I thought to myself are they going to kill us somewhere? Or are we going to get on a ship? So I escaped from them, only my brother and my cousins went with them. This group was put on board on three cargo ships at Kokopo. They overloaded the ship and traveled towards the mainland of New Guinea. On the main land they helped the Japanese armies and fought along the Kokoda area. When I stayed back I worked again with Susuki Butai. We were still under his supervision. There was a man who had his hand chopped off by Susuki Butai. After this the man worked as a spy for Susuki and walked among us and looked after us. If he saw us doing something to destroy the things left behind by the Japanese he would tell us not to do such things because if the Japanese found out they would get mad and kill whoever was found stealing their property. We stayed on and collected coconuts, scraped them and made “Howura” (a Japanese word). When we did that they gave us food. One day they told us to go to back and fix the road at Gavare. As soon as we went up there they sent us back. From then onwards the American warplanes started coming every day. The warplanes came around six in the evening. When we were about to sleep the warplanes would fly here and there. When they saw any signs or smoke or fire they would drop bombs. Therefore we never had a good sleep at night. During the day time about fourteen small planes traveled around. There was no way to make fire or hang our lap laps on the line. It was prohibited. We stayed and we never knew about the fighting going on elsewhere. We just stayed and after every month we would go to repair the road. One time we went and saw the road and went down to the valley. The fighting towards the end was very serious. We went down into the natural drain and heard the planes and took cover among the bushes. The American came in jet planes to bomb the Japanese. They bombed Rabaul which was covered in smoke and tried to cut off the Japanese supply lines. As a result the Japanese ran out of food and went into our gardens and took whatever was there. The new circumstances here forced the Japanese to make their own gardens. In just one day they cleared the bushes and planted crops like sweet potato and tapiok (cassava plant). One day we were sitting down and the American jet planes came and dropped the photo of our Tumbuna. We thought it was something else but it was our Tumbuna. While we were still digging Suzuki sent his messenger (the one with one hand) down and told us to stop, working because the war had ended. The messenger said “Okay, today you stop work and rest because the war between America and Japan has come to an end”. Japanese soldiers did not do anything and we just waited for the American soldiers. They came in their ships to Rabaul and then they got into their trucks and went around every where. The American soldiers came and took all the Japanese to Rabaul including Suzuki Butai. We shook hands with some of our good friends and they went. Then we were taken away. We didn't even know where we were going, we were just under the care of the Americans and they left us and went. There was no more war and the armies brought us flour, rice and other tinned food and smokes. We remained like that and the Japanese went back - we never knew how they went. After everything we were under the administration of America and Australia. Dr Iwamoto: Did the Japanese build any hospitals around here? Urawai: Yes, there were many, they were known as biling. Where there was a Kenpei there was a biling. Dr Iwamoto: Did the Japanese doctors treat the villagers? Urawai: Yes, they did serve the villagers. We got treatment from them. We went to the biling to get treatment but we were given second preference because they just thought of winning the war. We were under the care of Buring. Dr Iwamoto: Did Suzuki Butai appoint the Luluai's and the Kiaps in your village? Urawai: Yes, one of my cousins was a Luluai, and also one of my brothers was appointed a member of the Kenpei police. He died performing his duties as a police man. Dr Iwamoto: Did some men become Kenpei in the Japanese army? Urawai: Of course, my brother that I have just spoken about, my cousin and some other men from other villages. They did also help us not to make a lot of noise and some other things we were not allowed to do, as forbidden by the law. What ever, they do we are to comply. Dr Iwamoto: Did the Japanese build schools here? Urawai: Here No. Dr Iwamoto: Did any Japanese speak tok pisin? Urawai: They did spoke it but they were not fluent in it. People like Daziro who was here for sometime knew tok pisin. They spoke it bit by bit, mixing tok pisin with Japanese and the native language. Dr Iwamoto: Did you see some of the female Japanese doctors? Urawai: Not in the villages but they did work in town. Dr Iwamoto: Were there any local women who worked for the Japanese? Urawai: Yes, there were women from my village working for the Japanese. Dr Iwamoto: What type of work did they do? Urawai: The women helped the Japanese with their gardens and harvested the garden food and brought it to them. Dr Iwamoto: Do you have some more to say? Urawai: At those times we used to wonder whether the Japanese were going to be with us forever. If they had stayed with us our country would be well developed because they were very busy people. We used to think that during normal times they would form a good government and help us. The Japanese taught us to make sake beer. They collected coconuts, took the juice out and boiled it. They drank the boiled coconut juice and got drunk just like it was beer. Small kids like us were forbidden to drink sake. Sometimes we would go to the beach and play sumo wrestling with them. Both small kids and the adults. The play took place only at good times. When we saw the war planes coming we would run into the bushes. The Japanese stopped us from going to church services. Those of us who wanted to go to church ran away from the Japanese and went to church. Whenever you worshipped in their sight you would be beaten up. They stayed with us for four solid years. Dr Iwamoto: Did the Japanese kill any people? Urawai: Yes, they did kill some at Tunel Hill. Whenever they wanted to kill someone they would pull out their sword and chop off his neck. They did not kill many, just a few who were caught stealing because the Japanese really hated thieves. If you were caught stealing in your mind you would say “Will I live or die?” One day the Japanese came and told us to build a classroom so that they could teach us the Japanese language. Life was very difficult during that time because of the war. The talk about building a classroom and learning the Japanese language did not eventuate because of the war. That's all. Dr Iwamoto: Very good, story. Thankyou.