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(all siblings) Ray Costerus (brother) Christiaan Costerus (brother) Helen Costerus (sister) November 10, 2006 I believe my father Reverend Christiaan (Chris) Costerus was an internee at this camp when he was a teenager (from the age of 15-18). I would appreciate getting any information that may be available regarding this camp. He was attending the Chefoo School at the time of his capture. Best regards, Karen Malevris National Sales and Corporate Administrator TNT Freight Management (Canada) Ltd Suite 112, 6285 Northam Drive Mississauga, Ontario L4V 1X5 CANADA Direct Line: 905-678-5542 Tel: 905-677-5266 Fax: 905-677-5819 E-mail karen.malevris@ca.tntfreight.com November 13, 2006 ...and here's a lot more from Karen. Thank you Karen. Hi Tom. I just got a response from Desmond Power, who was also an internee at Weihsien Camp and he does remember my father and his brother Raymond Costerus while at the camp. My aunt, Helen Costerus was also there. They were missionary children who were attending the Chefoo School when they were captured. Although my dad and his brother were told not to associate with the non-missionary folks, they were very open and friendly and always spoke and made friends easily. My uncle, Ray, was an excellent soft-ball pitcher, which is how Desmond remembers him so well. My dad was there from the ages of 15-18, Ray would have been 17-20, and my aunt was 13-16 while they were in the camp. At the end of the war and upon their release from the camp, there were all brought to San Diego by the US Navy where they were finally re-united with my other aunt Kay, who married an American sailor and remained in San Diego, while my grandfather brought the rest of the family up to Canada to live. I don't know how many of your group would remember my dad or his siblings, but I would be very happy to hear anything that anyone may know or remember him or them from that time. I don't have a photo of him from that time but he has always been quite athletic playing soccer, etc. His music love is Classical music, Chopin and the like. He does not talk very much about that time, I've only gotten little tidbits here and there. I only started to seriously look up information last Friday to see what I could find about the camp he was in. My own son is a Sea Cadet up here in Canada and the military is starting to take hold of him and he's been asking questions about his grandfather, who he knows was a POW during the war and is not much younger than my dad was when he was captured. My son is currently 14 1/2 years old and with Remembrance Day being this past Saturday, where he marched in the parade in Brampton, he is becoming more curious about that time period and what happened. I, myself, grew up in Taiwan as my dad went there as a missionary in 1957 until 1972 and I graduated from a D.O.D. school in Tainan, Taiwan from Jonathan M. Wainwright there in 1971. So, I am a missionary brat that grew up with Air Force and Navy brats in Taiwan and went to high school with them. My girlfriend is very much involved with the OverSeas Brat association in the States - she lives in Dallas, Texas. Should you have any additional information, I would be more than happy to hear about it. Once again, thanks for getting back to me. I hope that some contact comes from the web-page you've set up. Best regards, Karen Malevris  or would like to be added to my POW/Internee e-mail distribution list, please let me, Tom Moore, know. Thanks! |