Valerie Mjolsness
On Monday, January 19th, I interviewed a very special lady named Valerie Mjolsness, about her life during World War Two. I met Valerie through my history teacher, Mr. Grayum, who knew her from another teacher at Mt. Baker, Mr. Lewis.
Valerie was a teenager during WW2. Living with her family in Harbin, where she was born and raised. Harbin is located in northern China right next to the Songhua River. That made fishing in that area very popular. In this area the Russian population was very large; therefore many jobs had Russian employees. When the war started Valerie's life was changed forever. She was still attending school in Harbin until her family moved to Mukdien, China. They made the move there because her father got a job as manager at a General Store. Valerie remembered that at her new house it had indoor plumbing! They also didn't have to pay for rent. That was a big deal. Even with those two exciting things, Valerie exclaimed, "Its difficult to explain to you what it was like." She appreciated everything, but it was still a hard life. Many things were rationalized during this time, like food.
When Valerie was asked what she thought about the attack on Pearl Harbor, she immediately said, "Horrific," and then paused a second to recall the event. Valerie, her mom and dad were still living in Mukdien at the time. When her dad first heard of it, he was at an office. She states, her father remembered hearing some Japanese people talk about something and they sounded worried. ( The Japanese people knew about what had happened to Pearl Harbor.) Her father then witnessed the two Japanese people stopped, kneeled to the ground in front of a radio. It was like the emperor, seen as a god-like, had suddenly no power at all. One day after that, there were more sirens and everyone screaming and heading into a building basement. There was a big BOOM BOOM; and no one knew what it was or where it was coming from. When that all got out from the basement, the outside air was filled with smoke. Valerie started running home to check on her family, and before she got to the last corner she realized that the smoke was all coming from her street! Then her mom came running out of her house saying, its ok, we're ok. However, the Tea House across the street was one of the buildings that has gotten hit. After the falling bombs were dropped there was now a curfew with "a lights out" time and sirens were going off all the time. Valerie could only use one word to describe how she felt, "helpless". There was nowhere to hide or to escape to.
Valerie mentioned that when there were food lines formed, Japanese people would never try to cut in front of the other people. They are very well behaved people, she told me. One day, word spread that you could get a little ration of pork somewhere, so Valerie's mom and a friend set out to find it. They ended up having to sit behind a counter for hours after they had found the place because there were Japanese soldiers walking around outside. When they arrived back home their husbands were both very worried about them.
The dropping of the atom bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was also described as horrific. She talked about how it was the cruelest thing anyone had ever done. She couldn't believe someone would do something like that. She explained to me that it didn't only affect the people in Japan, but the generations of people and families that would be living there after as well. Valerie was not happy about this. She said, "the emperor was already on his knees, what more did they want?"
As I talked with Valerie she mentioned many things she remembered well vividly about the war. One of the things she remembered was that they never celebrated birthdays. instead they celebrated a Saint's day. Her Saint's day is June 20th.This day is a part of their culture. For that day, with everything going on and with all the food rations, Valerie wanted something different. So on that day, a friend of her mothers gave her a cup of sugar. Another vivid memory is when she and a friend at the time made friends with a Chinese girl. They taught her some different words in Russian and French. They also would have mini tea parties with the little Chinese girl. They loved that girl and thought she was adorable.
Life after the war was just as hard as during it for Valerie's family. She felt like her family before and during the war had little and now has even less. Food was still being rationed, and at one point they even lived in a basement. When Valerie and her family lived in the Basement she didn't want anyone to know about it. Even when the young man escorted her back from a dance, she had him drop her off at the gate. During this sad and hard time people tried to make the best of it. Valerie said that the concerts, dances, and events with music were like the sunshine to the town.
By Jovana Baisden