Joy Skelton was born on Palembang on the island of Sumatra in what is now Indonesia in October 1939. She has two half-sisters and a half-brother. Her father married her mother in 1938 with Skelton being their only child. Her father was in the Dutch Army. He served as head of all the hospitals in Indonesia which, at that time, was a colony of the Dutch. Her mother loved Indonesia. Her mother left a poor upbringing in Holland. Indonesia was a wonderful experience for her. She met her future husband when she brought her ill son to the hospital. Skelton's mother and father fell hopelessly in love upon their first meeting. They married in 1938 and Skelton was born the next year. Until she was two years old, life was idyllic for young Skelton [Annotator's Note: the Japanese invaded Sumatra in February 1942 when Skelton was two years old]. Her parents owned several homes on the island, including some that were quite opulent. There were many servants and one home even had a zoo. It was a lavish and luxurious lifestyle.

Joy Skelton had unidentifiable nightmares during 9-11 [Annotator's Note: the terrorist attacks on the United States on 11 September 2001 which are commonly referred to by the month and day of occurrence or 9-11]. Her sister told Skelton that she had been carried down a mountain that was fully ablaze. Skelton was a very young child of two at the time. The memory returned once her sister explained it to her. The war started with her father leaving the family and later being captured in Burma [Annotator's Note: Skelton’s father served in the Dutch Army as head of all the hospitals in Indonesia]. Before he left, he told his family to take refuge at one of their homes in the mountains near Tambangan [Annotator's Note: city spelling not confirmed]. The residence had a bomb shelter and was away from a lot of activity. Skelton's father thought his family would be safer there. The Japanese approached closer and even bombed the house. The family fled the home to the nearest city [Annotator's Note: city spelling could not be confirmed]. They, along with 14,000 women and children, were captured by the Japanese. The Japanese did not know what to do with all the prisoners. The captives were first put in private homes. There were 30 to 100 people in each house. A fence was constructed around the compound. It was not too bad at first. The captives could grow their own vegetable garden and even purchase food. Things deteriorated slowly over time. People grew sick as sanitary conditions worsened. After about a year and a half, the prisoners were taken by truck to a train station. They were to be sent to another camp. The captives were packed in like sardines in box cars. It was hot and very uncomfortable. They traveled for a day and a half to the new camp called Camp Addk [Annotator's Note: Skelton spells the name of the camp]. The family stayed together except her father. Her brother, like all young boys, was later sent to the men's camp when he reached the age of ten. He was only eight when they entered the camp. The new camp had been used by laborers. The barracks were huge. Each building had boards extending out from the wall continuously around the inside. That would become the inmates' beds. They had only a thin mattress to sleep on at night. There was no furniture. Only the Japanese had a table and chair they used when they would talk to the prisoners. It was a barren situation. Toilets were outside and just consisted of holes in the ground. Showers were rare. A trickle of water would be provided once a week for cleaning. The morning started at five o'clock. The captives had to stand at attention and bow at a 90 degree angle for the Japanese. To fail to do so properly would result in severe beatings. People would be put into bamboo boxes in the heat for days at a time. Their heads would be shaved. It was horrible. People quickly learned to bow properly. Two Indonesians attempted to pass food to women in the camp. They were strung up on a tall pole and left there to die. It took three days for them to expire. Skelton's sister cannot even talk about the horror of the men screaming in pain and agony. It taught the prisoners to never take food from anybody. Food was always an issue. All that was provided was a half a cup of rice and some kind of watery soup made using pig intestines. Children were given warm cereal in the morning, but the others were given a piece of bread that looked like clay. At night, they were given another half a cup of rice. Skelton's mother would sneak out late at night to raid the Japanese garbage. She would collect egg shells and banana peels. She searched for any scrap she could find to give to her children. The youngsters ate the egg shells for calcium and the banana peels for potassium. One lady in the camp could cook a wonderful snail soup. [Annotator's Note: Skelton laughs at the memory.] Children collected snails during the day so she could prepare a soup. The inmates could get a little protein that way. It was horrible. The family managed to get along fine without her father being there. Her mother was put in charge of the hospital which was not provisioned at all. At night before lights out, her mother would gather her children outside the barrack and have them look up at the sky. She would point out that their father was looking up at the same stars. It was a connection to him that was maintained throughout their captivity. The Japanese did not allow schools or education for the children. Some of the women who worked the vegetable gardens for the Japanese had been teachers before the war. They would teach lessons to the younger girls as they worked together in the gardens. The only communication with her father was four postcards that were received during their captivity. They were largely Japanese propaganda, but there was the ability of the prisoner of war to write a single line on the card. They often communicated about other prisoners with them to allow their family to know that they were alive. They would also use Bible quotes to get a special message across. The Japanese did not know much about the Bible passages. A typical day at the camp started early. The older women would take care of the young children. The children had to behave or they would be severely punished. Skelton's brother was punished horribly one time. He and a playmate had blocked the outlet flow of water from the kitchen. Two Japanese soldiers pulled them behind their bicycles around the parade ground. They did not stop pulling the boys. They wanted to kill them. Skelton's mother knew a lady who had a rapport with the commander of the camp. She asked her to intercede in the brutality by asking mercy from the commander. He stopped the soldiers. The Japanese were extremely cruel. Prisoners had direct interaction with the guards. When a prisoner saw a captor, they had to bow properly. Skelton's mother said some were very cruel but others would apologize for the cruelty perpetrated by other soldiers. Her father said that the prisoners gave some of the guards very bad names. There was not much for children to do. They would play in the dirt. They had to focus on not being naughty. Skelton would wait for hours for her mother to come back from the hospital. There was no entertainment provided by the Japanese. Skelton's brother cleaned up around the camp. The Japanese loved to smoke and so did Skelton's mother. When her brother found the remnants of a cigarette, he collected the tobacco and returned it to his mother. She would take only the parts of the Bible dealing with the "begets" and use those sheets as rolling paper for the tobacco [Annotator's Note: Skelton laughs at the memory].

Joy Skelton witnessed pamphlets being dropped on her prison camp. They told of the war being over. She always feared the planes flying over because most Allied aircraft did not know where the prison camps were located. On occasion, the camp was bombed. Three planes came over with white stars and not the red balls on them [Annotator's Note: American aircraft had white star insignia while the Japanese aircraft had a red ball on them]. Skelton hid under the water basin outside her barrack. She wondered who the white stars belonged to as leaflets were dropped. Any women who picked up the leaflets were severely beaten by the Japanese. The next day, another leaflet drop let the prisoners know that medicines and supplies would be dropped the following day. Again, Skelton was hiding under the basin when something orange dropped next to her. She was fearful that it was a bomb of some kind [Annotator's Note: the leaflets were orange in color]. The women were told to stay off the drop area when the supplies were dropped. Three women could not wait and rushed out during the drop and were killed. Up to the point of the leaflet drops, the inmates had no idea that the war was over. The family had been captured in March 1942, and the bomb was dropped in August 1945. Yet, her mother told her they spent four years in the prison camp. That was because of the fight for independence by the Indonesians after the war. Some who attempted to leave the camp were beheaded by the Indonesians. It took six months for the British to reach them and manage to extricate the prisoners from their confines. They were transported out by elite Indian Gurkha troops. They had machine guns on the back of the trucks that safely transported the captives to secure areas. With the announcement of the end of the war, the Japanese simply left the camp. With the entry of the British troops, the inmates finally knew that they were no longer prisoners. They experienced new food. They were allowed to sing. Beforehand, the Japanese would beat them when they tried to sing. With the British, they had dances and things they had not known in captivity. Although Skelton was beaten by the Japanese, she does not desire to go into the details. It was six months after the war before the family was reunited. Skelton had uneasy feelings observing recent scenes of Syrians overloading rafts and fleeing their country. She now realizes that was how her family was transported from Indonesia to Singapore. Those scenes brought back long forgotten memories. From Singapore, the family went to Bangkok, Thailand. That was where they reunited with her father. He scared her because he was so large compared to the Japanese. She did not recognize him because he had lost so much weight. The next destination was Egypt where they were supplied with clothes to go to Holland. Their clothes had been very meager in captivity. Her mother had made two pairs of pants for her to wear. Before leaving Thailand, her mother came down with brain malaria. When Skelton was checked out after captivity, she was given only six months to live. She was malnourished and diseased. It was not good. Her parents were told just to enjoy her for six months. When her birthday came, she was asked what she wanted. She replied that she just wanted not to eat. After so long being malnourished, she found it difficult to eat. She ultimately managed to survive. The family was treated well in Thailand. The people there were good to the family.

Joy Skelton returned to Holland and had a reunion with many of her relatives. Life there was difficult because the country had been so war torn [Annotator's Note: the German forces had undertaken harsh punishment of the people of Holland for their support of the Allied forces in Operation Market Garden in September 1944]. The family went to another Dutch colony, Dutch Guinea, before immigrating to the United States. The United States was the land of promise. Her father had talked of coming to America before the war. It represented one nation under God. A person could have a wonderful life if they tried hard and had good values. The proudest moment of her life was when she became an American citizen. After the family was reunited, her father told them not to talk about their previous experiences. They needed to put that life behind them. Additionally, if they told someone in the United States that they spent four years in a Japanese prison camp, they would look at them funny. They could not relate to it. The family had gone through a living hell. The family moved to the United States in 1950. She spoke no English at that time. It took awhile to adjust, but it was wonderful. They were free. Her father spoke five languages fluently so he had many embassy people as patients.

Joy Skelton came to realize the importance of living for the day while she was in a concentration camp. She has tried to help others and live her life that way. She appreciates life a lot more since she had those miserable days. She was bitter toward the Japanese at first but now she has forgiven them. When she sees pictures of the young American soldiers who were slaughtered on beaches in the Pacific, she has to remind herself that it was an insane time. Nevertheless, she will not buy a Japanese car though [Annotator’s Note: she laughs.]. Her most memorable experience in her internment was when the Gurkhas put them on the trucks. They were willing to give up their lives to get the inmates out of Indonesia [Annotator’s Note: this occurred six months after the end of the war when the Gurkha troops and the British managed to extricate the internees from their prison camp. It was during the Indonesia war for independence.]. The Gurkhas were professional and phenomenal. They made her feel safe. One of the artifacts brought by Skelton to The National WWII Museum was a tin in which a piece of soap was carried. The tin can was given to her father. On it is a carving by a man who was treated in her father’s hospital. It was intricately carved with a straight pin and says “believe only” with a cross on it. Her father knew much about tropical diseases and saved many lives. He managed to create a surgical tool out of a fork. He would scoop out tropical ulcers with it. Americans seemed to be more susceptible to those type ulcers. Her father also developed a potion for the treatment of the ulcers. Men no longer lost their legs as a result. In later years, men would show her the horrendous scars from the removal of their ulcers, but their legs had been saved. While in Bangkok, her father had met a royal couple who treated the family very well. They were kind to Skelton’s family. A portrait was done of Skelton in one of her new outfits. She still has that rendering. To Skelton, freedom is a wondrous thing. She also has learned that a person can be in captivity and still be free. She worries that people take freedom for granted these days. If there is a problem, will the country be able to cope with it. Skelton’s proudest day was when she became an American citizen. She loves this country. World War Two changed her life completely. She does not take one day for granted. We have been given so much that can suddenly be taken away. Through it all, a deeper religious foundation was built. God is there to help a person through the worst days. Her family was very religious in the Dutch Reform Church. Those religious beliefs helped them survive captivity. World War Two is particularly relevant because it shaped the world. Beforehand, Americans were more isolated. The war changed history even more than the First World War. It is important to continue to teach the youth about World War Two. People of today are beginning to forget the losses of those who sacrificed their lives and future for our today. [Annotator’s Note: Skelton reviews her notes to assure that all her incidents have been recounted.] Skelton loves this country. She worries about our younger people who take everything for granted. We were given so much and it is not appreciated. When she came to America, the philosophy was that an individual would try to do things for the country. Now it seems to be the reverse. What can the country do for the individual? She hopes that will change.