One evening, La Garudi, who was also a romusha, escaped from a plantation he had worked at to a nearby laborers' camp. Japanese soldiers on patrol saw La Garudi from a distance, suspecting someone in the romusha group of sending signals to Americans and their allied forces. "But La Garudi approached the Japanese soldiers, saying, 'I did it.' "I've frequently told the story to my children because it left wounds in my heart that cannot (heal)," Wasaraka told Kyodo News. "My father didn't tell (us) anything that could make us, our family, angry or have any bad feeling toward Japan.

Source: The Guardian October 25, 2023 04:15 UTC