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Laurie Ruben "L.R." Nielson (father) Annette "Bumpy" Nielson (mother) Lindsay Franklin Nielson (son) May 4, 2005 Tom, Re: Lindsay F. Nielson Am forwarding the attached as it appears we have another STIC person...living in Ventura. He had recently sent an e-mail to AXPOW HQS in Texas relating a story of his mother running in front of an American tank on the night of 3 February 1945, which prompted a tanker to yell at her, "Hey lady, get the Hell out of the way, we're trying to fight a war here!" The message was sent to me and I e-mailed him last Sunday. This is his response. I'm to send him an application for membership in AXPOW. This is sent for your information. Ted Cadwallader... ............................................................................................ May 3, 2005 Ted, Thank you for your kind response to my e-mail regarding the anecdote about the 44th Tank Batallion and my Mother. Yes our name is incorrectly spelled in the Santo tomas book. It is indeed NIELSON. Actually my Father, L.R. Nielson built Nielson Field the first civilian airport in Manila. It played a role in the liberation of Manila I am proud to say. The Nielson Tower is still in existence and is now a Filipino Heritage Museum in the Makati district of Metro Manila. Yes, I did know Pete Weigle. He and I talked about our common experiences in STIC. Another anecdote which Pete and I shared. Late in the war, the Japs killed a water buffalo and distributed various parts of the animal to the internees. My family got two buckets of the poor beast's blood which my Mother, Annette Nielson, cooked and made a blood pudding. Actually, if you can get past the idea, it was almost all protein and probably very good for us. Pete's family got the hooves of the animal which they boiled into a broth. Pete and I used to say we need to find out who got the other parts of that poor animal and put him back together again! I was the attorney for Gil Hair's Center for Internee Rights (CFIR). Unfortuately, Gil died last year and no one stepped up to take over although Col. Mel Rosen had considered it for a while. I am not a member of EXPOWS but would be delighted to join. Please send me some information. I can't make your convention on May 16th but will try to make future ones. I was born in Manila also a little after you (10/30/40) but I realize what amazing experience our families had and what it must have been like to have small children under those circumstances. Perhaps we were playmates...who knows. Glad to connect with people who have a similar story to tell. There are less and less of us now. Please keep in touch. Best regards. (Mr) Lindsay F. Nielson May 5, 2005 Tom, Glad to receive your e-mail and the information about your family and STIC. I am delighted that you have added a page for my family to the website. I'll try to add more anecdotes to those pages to share with anyone who has an interest in our collective little part of history. I fear that when our generation passes, these small stories may be lost forever. Thanks for your efforts and I look forward to more activities and sharing of information and possibly meeting you and Ted at a future get together. Lindsay F. Nielson P.O. Box 7540 Ventura, CA 93006 Home 805-658-0977 FAX 805-658-2801 E-mail NielsonLaw@aol.com  or if you would like to be added to my POW/Internee e-mail distribution list, please let the me, Tom Moore, know. Thanks! |