Forbidden Diary: True WWII Prison Survival Story

Natalie hosts Japanese class in her underground cubicle. Mr. Tomibe struggles to stop the name calling in Camp. The Crouters fight over food. Natalie helps Nida. High Command punishes Mr. Tomibe. The audio of children singing A Sailor Went to Sea is courtesy of the 14th Henrietta Street Museum, Dublin, Ireland.  https://14henriettastreet.ie . To see the Forbidden Diary cast, go to www.storiestovoi...

Natalie pitches a very public fit over people rejecting family living and finds herself having to explain why to Bedie. The Crouters and other families dig living spaces under the barracks. Mr. Tomibe reads a story to Miss McKim’s Japanese class. To see the Forbidden Diary cast, go to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast . Support the show

The Kempeitai interrogate and torture three internees (Gene, Bill and Jim) whom they suspect of helping Wick and Ritchie escape. Mr. Tomibe intercedes and rescues them. Nida, Auntie and Jorge talk about Filipinos being tortured in town. Mr. Tomibe gives Jim a poignant gift. To see the Forbidden Diary cast, go to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast . Support the show

Mr. Tomibe allows a couple to get married in Camp and tries to improve life for prisoners while following High Command’s draconian rules. Japanese soldiers are upset about the prisoners’ bad manners, and Mr. Tomibe implores prisoners not to escape.  To see the Forbidden Diary cast, go to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast . Support the show

Mr. Tomibe tries to help prisoners get food from the outside and allows married couples to live together. Natalie is dumbstruck that half of the Camp is against Mr. Tomibe's Family Unit Plan. Letters from home finally arrive, and Peg gets a special surprise. To see the Forbidden Diary cast, go to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast . Support the show

Prisoner escapes and worries about MacArthur returning to the Philippines and has High Command clamping down on internment camps, sending new rules that Mr. Tomibe must enforce. Prisoners learn more about Mr. Tomibe. Nida hears news about her husband Ismael.  To see the Forbidden Diary cast, go to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast . Support the show

June becomes deathly ill. More Red Cross packages are distributed, including medical packages with a new medical supply called plasma which Camp doctors try on June. A new invention saves the day, an internee dies, and Mr. Tomibe expressed his deep condolences. To see the Forbidden Diary cast, go to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast . Support the show

Includes all seven episodes in Season Four, Part One, without the recaps. To see the Forbidden Diary cast, go to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast . Support the show

  Archivist and historian Jim Zobel tells riveting stories about what was going on outside of Camp Holmes during the last half of 1943. Jim talks about MacArthur’s covert operations to rescue civilians, keep Filipinos on the side of the Americans, and destroy the Japanese occupation economy. Zobel offers insights into why the guards at Camp Holmes thought Japan was losing the War as early as 1943...

The Camp hospital runs out of beds for dysentery patients. Bedie is discharged too early from the hospital causing Natalie and Jerry to question his health care. Food shortages reduce good pickings from the garbage as prisoners pray that the Red Cross Christmas kits will arrive from Manila. Nida’s world is turned upside down, and Camp Holmes gets a new commandant. You can view artifacts as well as...

America is gaining ground in the Pacific. The prisoners have more money for food, but it’s becoming scarcer and more expensive. Everyone’s health is declining. Natalie’s vitamin injection goes wrong. Carl returns from an inspection tour of internment camps in Manila with good news. Peg thinks that her husband will be transferred to Camp Holmes, and the Camp’s shop produces an unexpected little sur...

In the second of three parts, 96-year-old Curt Brooks talks about life at Santo Tomas, a civilian internment camp in Manila which housed 3700 prisoners. In this segment, Curt describes his boyhood memories of imprisonment and survival—of sickness, starvation, friendship, life-saving Red Cross packages and looking down the barrel of a Japanese soldier’s rifle. (Part One can be heard by listening to...

The prisoners are finally allowed to send letters. As Natalie types for them, people pour their hearts out to loved ones at home. The increased clampdown on guerrilla activity affects Nida and Ismael living in Baguio. Peg misses her husband. A guard steps out of bounds at the women’s barracks. A friend dies. The Camp puts on two plays. You can view artifacts as well as paintings and sketches drawn...

With Japanese occupation money losing value and food shortages, internees take out promissory loans for American dollars after the war. It’s “spend it while you got it” around Camp, and those with money throw elaborate parties while other internees raise money by selling homemade goods at a Camp fair. The guards worry about their fates as they hear news of American advancements in the Pacific. You...

Historian and archivist, Jim Zobel talks from the MacArthur Memorial Library about the events in the first half of 1943 as General MacArthur inches closer to Japan. Find out what happened to the two generals in the Clark Field fiasco and hear how the larger-than-life personalities fighting WWII clashed to America’s advantage. Zobel tells larger-than-life stories about guerrillas, clandestine subma...

Natalie takes a closer look at everyone’s behavior in camp. New internees share unforgettable stories of heroism and evil. Peg hears word about her husband. The Crouters learn disturbing news about Nida and don’t like Bedie’s reaction to it. Natalie plays a curious round of bridge with Lt. Kira, and the Camp’s new Court of Appeals hears its first criminal trial. You can view artifacts as well as p...

The Japanese order Arthur to hunt down an American hiding in the mountains. Newly captured Americans tell harrowing stories about their life on the run. Nida worries about Ismael. Lt. Mukibo and Mr. Nagatomi get their just rewards. Everyone speculates if Mr. Hayakawa will be replaced, and the women in Camp want the right to vote. You can view artifacts as well as paintings and sketches drawn by pe...

Another year of close quarters has prisoners getting on each other’s nerves as they deal with new waves of dysentery. Stories are filtering in from captured internees who had been hiding in the mountains from the Japanese. Mr. Hayakawa is intimidated by a new guard who may be Kempeitai. Phil's brilliant, new invention keeps peace in the dining hall. You can view artifacts as well as paintings...

Includes all seven episodes in Season Three without the recaps. You can view artifacts as well as paintings and sketches drawn by people who were interned with Natalie by clicking See Pictures under the episode descriptions at www.storiestovoice.com/fd-listen-1943 . To see the Forbidden Diary cast, go to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast . Support the show

In this last interview, Jim Zobel shares fascinating insights about MacArthur’s first steps to liberate the Philippines—from the campaign in Papua New Guinea to making early radio contact with guerrillas in the Philippines. Zobel shares true, but unbelievable stories about guerrilla heroes and discusses the brutal Kempeitai, Imperial Japan’s military police. Larger-than-life stories, fascinating W...

The holidays are celebrated in bittersweet, internment style. True friends come through. A little boy teaches the camp a lesson. Dysentery returns, and Dr. Hall is not sure how the internees will survive 1943. You can view artifacts as well as paintings and sketches drawn by people who were interned with Natalie by clicking See Pictures under the episode descriptions at www.storiestovoice.com/fd-l...

 Bullets fly around Baguio and Camp Holmes as Filipino and Igorot guerrillas attack the Japanese. Natalie worries about Jerry’s depression. Additional co-mingling restrictions increase sexual tensions. You can view artifacts as well as paintings and sketches drawn by people who were interned with Natalie by clicking See Pictures under the episode descriptions at www.storiestovoice.com/fd-listen-19...

 As typhoon season begins Jerry is brought in for questioning. Nida and Ismael talk about guerrilla insurgencies. Natalie gets a tour of the camp's shop, a special gift, and called to the guard house. You can view artifacts as well as paintings and sketches drawn by people who were interned with Natalie by clicking See Pictures under the episode descriptions at www.storiestovoice.com/fd-liste...

Jim Zobel describes how General Douglas MacArthur escaped to Australia and Japan took Corregidor. In a lively discussion the archivist explains how shortly after all of these defeats Americans and Filipinos started the fight to take back the Philippines. Hear compelling stories about the Fall of Singapore, the Doolittle Raid, Midway and Guadalcanal. Zobel ties it all together making you want to he...

Nida and Ismael offer the Crouters more help. The prisoners get to know the soldiers who cycle through the camp. A secret radio is installed in the camp hospital. June addresses inequities among prisoners. Nakamura gives the prisoners parting gifts.   You can view artifacts as well as paintings and sketches drawn by people who were interned with Natalie by clicking See Pictures under the episode d...