Colonies In Ruins
Colonies in Ruins is a collection of intriguing short-stories about foreign colonies of the Asia-Pacific region — British Malaya, French Indochina, the Dutch East Indies, and the US Philippine Islands. For a long time these colonies generated fabulous wealth from mining, oil production, and agriculture for their colonial masters, but colonial life came to an abrupt end on December 8, 1941, as they were each attacked by Japanese forces soon after the US Naval Base at Pearl Harbor was devastated.
Following three years of harsh Japanese occupation until WWII had ended, the clear focus of local people was to gain independence from foreign powers that tried to reclaim their former colonies. Hard-won battles and negotiations finally led to the emergence of Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indochina, and the Philippines as new republics in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
Read about the men and women who made it happen.
Like the other two books of this trilogy about World War Two in the Pacific, a cast of fictional characters interfaces with historical people to help make this an enjoyable human interest story as well as an important history. The chapters contain photos to help the reader relate to that long-ago era.
Below is a list of fictional people in their approximate order of appearance, that you can refer to while reading the book or ebook:
+Perry, Peter, Municipal Engineer in British Singapore, Wendy his wife, and John their son.
+Rees, Alan, former Singapore engineer in Soebang Java, and Margaret his wife.
+van Noorden, Ronald, Singapore-trained Dutch engineer, his wife Corrie, and their son Bart.
+Howell, JJ, RAF Squadron Leader and his wide Janice.
+Thao, Cochinese schoolboy in Annam, and his namesake Thao in Saigon.
+André and Georges, French monks in Annam.
+Tanamoto ‘Moto,’ Sr. IJA Lieutenant.
+Yamamura ‘Mura,’ Jr. IJA Lieutenant
+Uekuchi ‘Kuchi,’ Jr. IJA Lieutenant.
+Bernard, French friar in Saigon, Cochin-China.
+Bouvé, François, Vichy French representative in Saigon.
+Paul, Iris, and Stephanie Meijer, an Indo family in Java.
+Séguin, André, Police Captain and former monk, and Cambodian wife Duong Mey in Saigon.
+Tien and Huy, adopted sister and brother, Séguin servants in Saigon.
+de Lourier, Louis, Police Lieutenant and assistant to Captain Séguin.
+Perrier, Superintendent of post-war French colonial police in Cochin-China.
+Bolnar, George, a retired US Marine from China Station.
+Adonis, Angela, a presidential secretary in Manila.
+Beltrán, Maria, Angela’s widowed mother.
+Padilla, the Rev. José Ramos SJ, Jesuit priest and Spanish-American War veteran in Manila.
+Spencer, Byron and Barron, American journalists in Jakarta.
+Hu An-Dong, a Hakka youth from Taiwan who became a Japanese major and an American major general.
+Pak, Na-Yeong and Him-Chan, rural Korea twin sister and brother.
Verisimilitude: All other named characters are historical, to whom various words or actions may have been attributed by the author with the utmost respect, to enliven their public personae.
