MSC Perspective, World War II Pacific. 75th anniversary of VJ Day, end of the war.
Between December 7th 1941 and September 1942, the Japanese had bombed many Asian countries and as far south as Darwin.
The war had some profound effects on MSC ministry in PNG, Indonesia, the Philippines, Kiribati, China and Australia. Some of this has been documented. Unfortunately, much of it has not been researched, or material readily available.
Here are some indications:
Papua New Guinea.
Many of the MSC, OLSH, MSC Sisters were interned in Ramale Valley, New Britain, (the subject of Bishop Leo Scharmach’s book This Crowd Beats Us All and the 2010 film, Sisters of War).
Fr Ted Harris was executed by the Japanese (the book is Every Man for Himself). Fr David McCullagh and Br Clifford Brennan were on the ship Montevideo Maru which was torpedoed by the Americans.
The Japanese occupied many Pacific Islands, including in Eastern Papua.
Kiribati
The Allies pushing the Japanese back across the Pacific included battle in Tarawa (the subject of several films like With the Marines in Tarawa, 1944). Kiribati was a French MSC Mission.
The Philippines
The Japanese occupied the Philippines. Again, quite a few films on battles like Bataan. The Philippines were a Dutch MSC mission.
China
The Japanese had invaded China in the 1930s. German MSC missionaries worked in China.
Indonesia
The best-known MSC priests and brothers interned and executed were Mons Johannes Aerts and his companions at Langgur. The islands which became Indonesia was a Dutch MSC mission.
Australia
Darwin was bombed in 1942 (with Fr John McGrath on Bathurst Island trying to warn the authorities that the bombers were coming).
Fr Jim Littleton in his book on military chaplains, lists 20 Australian MSC who served as chaplains.
Japan
In the aftermath of the war, a mission to Japan was established with priests from Australia (and, later, from Indonesia, Philippines, India, Brazil).
