House of Taga
  • Home
  • Prehistory
  • Colonial Period
  • World War II
  • Miscellany
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Prehistory
  • Colonial Period
  • World War II
  • Miscellany
No Result
View All Result
House of Taga
No Result
View All Result

Sister Tonie’s story

Lexi Zotomayor by Lexi Zotomayor
4 years ago
in World War II
5 min read
0 0
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare via e-Mail

[Note: I first wrote about Sister Tonie of Maturana for Island Locator Magazine. Then I did a feature on her for Variety. It was followed up with an article for the 70th Anniversary of the Battle of Saipan coffee table book.]

It was one dinner she couldn’t forget, and not because the meal itself was extraordinary. It was their last time to eat together as a family.

Ten-year-old Kimiko Nishikawa could feel the seriousness of the situation. Although she could barely understand Japanese, she knew the anguished plea of her father for them to love one another, love others and never be lazy.

As her father performed what she thought was a wine ceremony to bid each other goodbye, she scanned the faces of her siblings and her parents, seeing grief written all over them. Everyone was in tears.

They all feared it would be their last time to sit at the table together as a family.

Time was of the essence. They moved quickly after dinner, packed their things and got ready to leave in two groups to rendezvous in Talofofo.

Sister Antonieta remembered that after dinner her “otoosan” (father) told them what to bring. Taiichi, her eldest brother, would carry a bag containing pertinent family documents and cash. Her older sisters Michiko and Nagako, and brother Hiroji were instructed to bring provisions. When everyone was ready, her father ordered them to split into two groups. Her father feared that if a bomb hit them, they would all die in an instant.

Michiko, Hiroji and Nagako were the first ones to leave en route to Talofofo where they would all meet.

Mr. and Mrs. Nishikawa, Taiichi, Kimiko, and Noboru — the youngest child — soon followed.

But the rendezvous never happened. Kimiko’s older siblings never showed up.

With a heavy heart, they moved to a cave packed with other Japanese. Fear gripped them in the caves, believing that a bomb would soon hit them. And so it did. In the explosion, young Kimiko was hit but she managed to survive.

Sister Antonietta recalls that even as  a young girl, she wondered how her father managed to find hiding places where it was easy to get food and water. “I think my father had been planning for a long time,” she says.

To slake their thirst and stave off hunger, Mr. Nishikawa and Taiichi would fetch rainwater and get food at night, stealthily wading through a labyrinth of sugarcane fields. 

Marines and Japanese families
The Marines are helping Japanese families evacuate to a safety.

The rustling of the sugarcane leaves betrayed them one night. Shots were fired and Mr. Nishikawa fell to the ground.

Taiichi managed to bring his father back with him to the cave where he did not live to see another day.

With the Nishikawa patriarch gone, Kimiko recalled her mother making the boldest of decisions: to go back home.  Mrs. Nishikawa mustered the courage to navigate through the thick sugarcane fields in pitch-black darkness. Grief stricken, discombobulated, hungry and thirsty, they tried to find their way back to their farm.

Then they heard gunshots. Her mother was hit. She thought her mother had been killed that night. But there was no time to grieve and no time to think of what to do with her. She and her brother scampered to safety. They ran as fast as they could as if ferocious dogs were chasing after them.

She lost her brother but she found herself in the company of Okinawan women who took her with them in a search for safer ground.

Later, while walking in the jungle, she and her brother were once again reunited. However, their reunion was short-lived. A few days later, the survivors were taken to Camp Susupe.

Believing she had been orphaned, Kimiko saw in Alcalde Ada a glimmer of hope when he showed up at the camp and took her to the Chamorro camp. Before the war, she had lived with the Ada’s during part of the week.

Mr. Ada revealed to Kimiko that he found her mother at the hospital. She said she remembered meeting her mother again before she died.

With her mother gone, Mr. Ada took Kimiko with him back to his family. However, he could not adopt Taiichi because non-Japanese could not adopt Japanese males. Then, the Japanese were repatriated back to Japan.

At the camp, with a new family, Kimiko subscribed to a new faith. She was baptized Catholic and assumed the name Antonieta Ada.

After the war, the Ada’s lived in Chalan Kanoa where Antonieta went to school. Years later she would become an accountant.

Growing up in Chalan Kanoa, Antonieta and the Ada family would visit the Mercederian nuns at the convent. Through these visits, she developed a fondness for the work of the Church. Later she realized she wanted to become a nun.

From 1966 to 1970, Sister Antonieta attended St. Mary’s College in Leavenworth, Kansas where she obtained her degree in accounting.

She came home for year after graduation, then was assigned to Palau until 1972.

In 1973, she went to the Philippines and worked at the East Asia Pastoral Institute. From 1973-1977, she was back on Saipan.

She was in Japan from 1977-1988.

Then she returned to Saipan and stayed at the Mercedarian Sisters’ Little House in Chalan Kanoa from 1988-1995; 1995-1997, Maturana on Navy Hill; 1997-2000, Little House; 2000-2003, Maturana; 2003-2005, Little House; and 2005-present, Maturana.

Through all the years that she has been a nun, all Sister Tonie has wanted is to serve God.

In the convent, she said, “I am safe from the war.”

Sister Tonie said God works in mysterious ways, and this was how a little girl ended up being raised by the Ada’s. She was thankful that God brought her to a loving home. The Ada family’s love helped erase the sad memories of the war. And that same love helps her find her peace in the company of the Mercedarian Sisters and in the work which allows them to share God’s abundant love.

Tags: SaipanWar In The Pacific
ShareTweetSend
ADVERTISEMENT
Previous Post

Century-old steps to Georg Fritz' mansion found

Next Post

Pre-WWII Japanese houses gone

Lexi Zotomayor

Lexi Zotomayor

She lived on Saipan, in the Northern Marianas Islands for 11 years as a full-time print journalist, PR specialist, magazine manager and advertising agency's production coordinator. She was active with Stellar Marianas, a non-profit organization that has been empowering young women in the Marianas. In 2014, she was chair of the media relations committee of the 70th Anniversary of the Battles of Saipan/Tinian. For her support of environmental causes, including the campaign for the designation of a vast swath of submerged lands and water in the Marianas as a national marine monument, she was Pew/Ocean Legacy Engaged Citizen Awardee in 2008. She has a BA degree in Asian Studies and was close to completing her MA in Asian Studies when she relocated to Saipan in 2004. She was a recipient of a scholarship grant from the Jose Rizal-Sun Yat Sen Society in 1994.

Related Posts

Guam
Colonial Period

Guam’s prewar ‘Recorder’

by Lexi Zotomayor
June 9, 2020
0
235

If one were to conduct a research on prewar Guam, The Guam Recorder would be an ideal starting point. The...

Read more
Gertrude Hornbostel
Colonial Period

Trudis Alemån’s liberation
from Santo Tomas camp

June 2, 2020
280
WWII Maritime Heritage Trail
Miscellany

WWII Maritime Heritage Trail

June 1, 2020
390
Filipinos
World War II

Guam-born Earl Hornbostel
praised Filipinos’ kindness
during WWII

May 24, 2020
297
Isely Field
World War II

From Aslito to Isely Field, 1944

May 20, 2020
217
Enola Gay crew
World War II

Tinian, Seabees, and the bombs
that ended WWII

May 19, 2020
464
Next Post
Prewar Japanese house

Pre-WWII Japanese houses gone

Yoshio Ideguchi

Japanese soldier survived
on snails in Saipan jungle

Ray Hagley left a trove            of rare WWII photos

Ray Hagley left a trove
of rare WWII photos

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy.

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Chamorros from Yap migrated back home in 1946, 1948

Chamorros from Yap migrated back home in 1946, 1948

June 22, 2019
2 groups of early Marianas settlers

2 groups of early Marianas settlers

June 2, 2020
Ancient Chamorro teeth

What do Pre-Latte Chamorros, Vikings and Native Americans have in common? Dental modification.

June 5, 2019
Remarkable prewar Japanese structures on Saipan

Remarkable prewar Japanese structures on Saipan

June 3, 2019
Chamorros from Yap migrated back home in 1946, 1948

Chamorros from Yap migrated back home in 1946, 1948

2
Hornbostels in Manila, 1942-1945

Hornbostels in Manila, 1942-1945

1
WWII veteran-airman: ‘Do something for the country’

WWII veteran-airman:
‘Do something for the country’

0
Hans Hornbostel on his way to Saipan

Japanese governor brought home a wife

0
Hans Hornbostel on his way to Saipan

Japanese governor brought home a wife

June 3, 2022
How Hans Hornbostel met Gregorio Sablan in the 1920s

How Hans Hornbostel met Gregorio Sablan in the 1920s

May 25, 2022
Obyan Beach latte site

What Alexander Spoehr found
on Obyan Beach

June 10, 2020
Guam

Guam’s prewar ‘Recorder’

June 9, 2020

Ad:

ADVERTISEMENT
  • About
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
e-Mail us at hafadai@houseoftaga.com

© 2019 House of Taga
Alexie Zotomayor
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No Result
View All Result

© 2019 House of Taga
Alexie Zotomayor
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.