By Maddie Orton
Arts Correspondent
The first thing you notice when you meet former state Assemblywoman Mary Previte is her palpable positive energy. It’s an attribute that’s served her well. Previte grew up in China, the daughter of missionaries. And when she was just 9 years old, her boarding school was taken over by Japanese soldiers immediately following the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“And they came room by room, putting seals with Japanese writing that this table, this piano, this chair, this desk all belonged to the great emperor of Japan. The Japanese then said we were property of Japan and that we had to all wear armbands. And it had A for American, B for British, whatever your nationality was,” she said.
The Cheefoo School was founded by Previte’s great-grandfather, James Hudson Taylor. It would now be turned into a Japanese naval base. And the children and teachers were temporarily held there.
“We ended up in this concentration camp called Weixian. And out of 1,500 prisoners there were more than 300 children,” Previte said.
Previte says hers is a story of faith. During this period, she would recall and sing a song her mother taught her before she went off to boarding school.
“My mother put to music Psalm 91 that includes the beautiful words: ‘and he shall give his angels charge over you,’ and that was like a little, little broken record with a little sound all in my head. ‘And God will give his angels charge over you to keep you,'” she said.
Previte would not see her parents again for another five and a half years. But the adults in the camp took over as protectors. Against the backdrop of the recent Nanking Massacre, the adults kept calm.
“And they believed, the old-fashioned thing was you make children feel safe by comfortingly predictable rituals and traditions. Now get this, you’re in a concentration camp and they would every day line you up for an inspection: were you clean, were you neat, did you have your mending done?” she said.
Does she remember how she felt about that? About having that schedule and regularity?
“Oh it was very comforting. Extremely comforting,” Previte said.
School went on. So did Previte’s Girl Guide troupe — a group much like the Girl Scouts. Classes were taught, badges were earned and teachers had to get creative.
“Our teachers made every challenge into a game. There was the rat-catching competition — who would get the prize for the most rats? Well, our school got the biggest prize. I think it was 57 rats that they killed,” she said.
But the kids and teachers stayed positive. And on Aug. 17, 1945, a B-24 bomber — colloquially called a liberator — appeared overhead. The mission was called Operation Duck.
“I could see it was an American plane and had the blue star, the American under the wings of the plane. It was angels, it was definitely angels. He shall give his angels charge over you,” she said.
Previte couldn’t run to the soldiers fast enough. The name of that B-24 bomber was the Armored Angel.
“Well believe me, the camp went mad. Insane. People were weeping, screaming, dancing, crying,” she said.
Previte and her siblings reconnected with their parents. They learned they had a new little brother. And the war became a thing of the past.
“And I kept thinking about this. These heroes — who were they?” she said.
Previte took a list of names — six Americans and a Chinese interpreter — and got to work.
“Well I decided I would start sending letters with a self-addressed, stamped letter. ‘Are you the James Jay Hannon that liberated the Weixian concentration camp Aug. 17, 1945?'” she said.
People read about Previte’s story and began connecting her with the families of these veterans. But her first two attempts were unsuccessful. Both men had died. But she forged on.
“So I called on a Sunday and said, ‘I’m calling for Tad Nagaki,’ and he said, ‘Speaking,’ and I started to cry. I could not believe it. I had found my first hero in Alliance, Nebraska,” she said.
She went on to meet Ensign Jimmy Moore, Major Stanley Steiger, and Lt. Jim Hannon. But how would she find the interpreter living in China, Eddie Wang?
“I don’t say I gave up, but I just was thinking, I’m not too sure the lord is going to let me live long enough to find Eddie Wang,” Previte said.
And then came an email. It was from Eddie Wang’s grandson. This summer, at 83, Previte flew to China to complete her mission and thank the last of her heroes in person.
“I learned that I don’t give up very easily. I just don’t give up,” she said.
She and Wang write each other regularly. And Previte shares the story whenever she can of the heroes who liberated the Weixian Internment Camp. Her angels.