Japan behind the Fan

SHookerFJ1805487v10036.jpg

Title

Japan behind the Fan

Description

An excerpt from page 213 of a book entitled Japan behind the Fan. It refers to a temple with photographs of dead servicemen including James W Hooker.

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Format

One typewritten sheet

Rights

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

Contributor

Identifier

SHookerFJ1805487v10036

Transcription

COPIED FROM A BOOK

'Japan Behind The Fan'

James Kirkup.

[underlined] Page 213 – Twenty Years After. [/underlined]

“The priest had the photographs framed in a dignified way and displayed them on his altar. I saw these photographs, surrounded by bowls of smouldering incense, by lighted candles, by offerings of fruit, flowers, cakes and vegetables that included a giant tomato on its own, exquisitely gilded and on a lacquered stand.

I knelt on a sedge mat in front of the quiet altar, among some local people who were praying there, and bowed to Buda.

After making my prayers, I looked at those photographs of my dead compatriots. Some of them had been inscribed by their relatives. Among the names I noticed those of Staff Sergeant Samuel Brown of Walker Estate, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and James W Hooker, Royal Navy of Hartley Wintney [sic]. They all looked young, healthy and cheerful, photographed mostly in uniform. Looking at those typically Western faces, with their broad, lively smiles, it seemed strange that they should be dead, and even stranger that their memory should be perpetuated here within this small Japanese Temple

Collection

Citation

James Kirkup, “Japan behind the Fan,” IBCC Digital Archive, accessed March 28, 2024, https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/collections/document/19199.

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