ZHUO Tian-mei 卓天妹

ZHUO Tian-mei

卓天妹

Born in Hainan, China, Drafted year: 1940, 15y/o, for 4 years

The interpreter who was a traitor

that took me there told me

that I would have to sing

and dance of the Li people黎族

and I could be raped by soldiers at night.

In September, the Japanese army came into town. I was fifteen but they forcibly took me away. There were twenty other women there. The interpreter who was a traitor that took me there told me that I would have to sing and dance of the Li people黎族 and I could be raped by soldiers at night.

After a brutal rape, I bled heavily. The bleeding didn’t stop the next day, and they sent me home.

I had to go to the Japanese base 4-5 times a month. I stayed there for 4-5 days every time I went. I cleaned and drew water during the day, and they forced me to sleep with 3-4 soldiers in the evening.

I saw women who got pregnant or had an abortion. Several Japanese demons raped and killed a woman.

They put boards and divided a large room into three compartments. The door was locked from outside and there were women in each compartment. I spent a year like that.

Later, I was sent to a mountain where we collected stones for railroad tracks. I worked on the roads during the day, and I was raped at night.

I spent more than three years doing that before I ran away, hid in the mountains and returned home. I couldn’t meet my parents for 4 years because the Japanese soldiers were monitoring us.

I could be captured again because I ran away. I stayed in the mountains until Japan surrendered and then returned home.

* Her family live in the Li village, farming. Because there is no other houses around her house, there is no place to go to socialize. Probably that’s why she was very welcoming even if I was a stranger.