From Merilyn Brason: I am very excited to tell you that, after many years of work, I am publishing my book, The Bamboo Bracelet. This book is based on my mother’s notes of her experience of years of captivity in Japanese prisoner of war camps in the Philippines during World War II.

You may know that my sister was born and raised in these camps. The launch of this campaign coincides with the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Japanese POW camps in the Philippines by the U.S. 37th Infantry Division. In order to raise the cost of publishing this extraordinary story, complete with unique photographs, I have launched an online Kickstarter campaign.

If you are interested in getting a copy and seeing this book published please support me on The Bamboo Bracelet Kickstarter Campaign.

My mother was Charis Veronica Rynd, known as Ronny and she was pregnant when the invasion of the Philippines took place and was on holiday in the hills so was incarcerated in Baguio. My father Patrick Gerald Rynd who worked for the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in Manila was incarcerated in Santo Tomas. My sister, Catherine Rynd was born in the camp on March 17th 1942. On April 1st 1943, my mother escorted children from Baguio to Santa Tomas to rejoin their families there, and she was reunited with my father. This is verified in The Santo Tomas Story, page 144, by A V H Hartendorp (except that he said that my sister was a boy!). My parents and sister are also listed in Going Home by Robert Colquhoun as being in the same ship to San Francisco that he was in after liberation.

My mother was always going to write her story and made many notes, but sadly never did. Now that I have retired I have taken up the baton and am starting to write about her experience, to pass the story down to my sons if nothing else!

For more information see my Facebook page, my Kickstarter page, or the video below.