The 80th anniversary of the Battle of Kohima gives an opportune moment to remember some of the stories from the war that are entwined with our history. This one, for example. On the 22nd March, 1944, Flight Officer Ray Jackson was flying a 34 Squadron Hurricane II out of Pallel Airfield on a bombing raid. In his account he wrote, “The Japanese were making a major attack on India with the objectives of taking it and disrupting the supply lines to China. Some of our forward airfields had been surrounded and we were to defend ourselves by maintaining perimeter trench systems known as boxes. One such airfield was Pallel which was in the Imphal valley.”
Unfortunately for Ray Jackson, after he released his bombs, his port wing was hit and he could see oil pouring out of it rapidly. There was only one thing to do. Bail out of the damaged aircraft that had begun to catch fire.
Jackson landed in enemy territory, in the woods of the Naga Hills, in an area overrun by the Japanese. His aircraft was found by the enemy, and now they were looking for him. Jackson hid from the enemy for twelve days and nights, escaping a bush fire that the Japanese had started to smoke him out. One night, he even felt a snake crawling over him. He had no food or water. What he had in terms of food was ‘a dried melon, some grains of corn and salt tablets.’ Besides the lack of food and water, he was troubled by mosquitoes and leeches and ticks. On the 12th day, Ray Jackson was rescued by two men of Phek village. Phek, at that time, was occupied by the Japanese. The men found him just in time and prevented him from walking straight into a Japanese camp. More than sixty years after his rescue, Flight Officer Ray Jackson’s story appeared in printed form. He wanted to find his two rescuers, two Naga men from Phek. His story came out just as a project of collecting war memories and stories of survivors was going on, and two members of the project decided to travel to Phek to see if they could find the rescuers. It was very challenging as they had no names to go on with. Further, Phek had grown into Phek town and Phek village, both with very large populations. However, the people in both places were incredibly helpful and hospitable. In the course of the evening, they found that the two young persons of Ray Jackson’s description were now 85 and 95 years respectively. Susai Hoshi and Vepopa. This is a rare story of finding all actors alive and healthy after six decades had passed. Jackson could never forget his rescuers. He wrote, “The tenderness and care with which they treated me moved me very deeply.”Although they could not understand each other, when his rescuers heard he was a Christian, they sang hymns to him in their own language – hymns that were familiar to Jackson. When his condition improved, they moved him out of Japanese-occupied Phek to another village where he met up with the V-Force and could rejoin his squadron.
Vepopa, one of his rescuers describes the encounter with Jackson in more detail:
“On the day the Japanese arrived, there were so many of them in the village and they occupied the British bungalow, the village stadium and even the camp at the big cave. One evening as I was coming back from the Japanese camp, I encountered a person but as soon as I saw him, I knew he was not a local person. I could not speak English or Nagamese or Hindi so through sign gestures, I asked, What happened to you? And he replied in signs that his aeroplane had crashed and he pointed toward Jessami. I realized that he had been saved by God's grace and took him away because he was very close to the Japanese camp. I took him to Phek Basa. He was so weak that I could almost see his bones. He also had dysentery and had bruises on his face. I knew that he would not gain strength if he did not eat good food so I fed him with chicken, pork, fish etc as well as sugar and milk which were difficult to procure at that time. As I spoke no Hindustani or English, we communicated through sign language and later, my brother, Vechotsu acted as my interpreter. Because the Japanese were at the old Phek village which was very close to us, I sent him on his way with some escorts, on toward Sohomi. A brother of mine who was settled there took care of him and took him from Sohomi to Vesobavillage.
When he was about to leave, he presented me with his pistol but I refused to accept it and so with his knife he cut a packet inside his clothes and offered me money but I refused that again.”
The experiences of Japanese occupation in the Naga villages differ from place to place. Some accounts detail cruel treatment. Others have a different opinion as in this account:
“The local people who had served the British began to oppose the Japanese secretly. They acted as spies for the British. When theJapanese came, they brought a Punjabi prisoner and used him as a spy. They did not do any harm to our women and children. The harm they did was to kill our livestock. Once, I tried to escape and they shot at my knee but it missed me. That was the only persecution I faced from them.”
Another narrator remembers:
‘When the Japanese first arrived, an airplane flew up. It was red and black in colour. While the villagers were watching with great wonderas it flew in from the direction of Jessami, the plane dropped bombs which rocked the ground and everyone grew frightened and fled from the site. ‘It was very frightening the way the earth shook and yet it was amazing and beautiful to see.’
Today, according to Ambedkar University Teacher and writer Shelmi Sankhil, ‘Pallel valley, which is a Lamkang village, still has remnants of WW II. It was the medical base for the Allies. The water tank built by them is still in use.’
References:
The Battle of Kohima, 2007, Ura Academy.
