Forbidden Diary: True WWII Prison Survival Story: Recent Episodes
Stories to Voice Productions
Audio-drama based on a WWII diary written by Natalie Crouter during her internment in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines. Weeks after the first bombings of the Philippines, Natalie, her family, and 500 civilians were marched at gunpoint to a deserted U.S. military post. Thus began their survival story of body and mind. Under the watchful eyes of Japanese guards, the prisoners set up their own society while constantly scrounging for food—often with help of heroic Filipinos who risked their lives. Each new camp commandant was harsher than the previous, except one. And it was with this remarkable Japanese officer that the prisoners found common ground. Natalie’s diary is a fascinating, real-life view of wartime captivity and a gripping tale of courage, tenacity, and hope.
Natalie hosts Japanese class in her underground cubicle. Mr. Tomibe struggles to stop the name calling in Camp. The Crouters fight over food. Natalie helps Nida. High Command punishes Mr. Tomibe.
The audio of children singing A Sailor Went to Sea is courtesy of the 14th Henrietta Street Museum, Dublin, Ireland. https://14henriettastreet.ie.
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Original artifacts, prison art and Natalie's original diary entry can be viewed by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-listen and clicking on See Pictures. You can also see the Forbidden Diary cast by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast.
Natalie pitches a very public fit over people rejecting family living and finds herself having to explain why to Bedie. The Crouters and other families dig living spaces under the barracks. Mr. Tomibe reads a story to Miss McKim’s Japanese class.
Support the show
Original artifacts, prison art and Natalie's original diary entry can be viewed by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-listen and clicking on See Pictures. You can also see the Forbidden Diary cast by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast.
The Kempeitai interrogate and torture three internees (Gene, Bill and Jim) whom they suspect of helping Wick and Ritchie escape. Mr. Tomibe intercedes and rescues them. Nida, Auntie and Jorge talk about Filipinos being tortured in town. Mr. Tomibe gives Jim a poignant gift.
Support the show
Original artifacts, prison art and Natalie's original diary entry can be viewed by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-listen and clicking on See Pictures. You can also see the Forbidden Diary cast by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast.
Mr. Tomibe allows a couple to get married in Camp and tries to improve life for prisoners while following High Command’s draconian rules. Japanese soldiers are upset about the prisoners’ bad manners, and Mr. Tomibe implores prisoners not to escape.
Support the show
Original artifacts, prison art and Natalie's original diary entry can be viewed by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-listen and clicking on See Pictures. You can also see the Forbidden Diary cast by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast.
Mr. Tomibe tries to help prisoners get food from the outside and allows married couples to live together. Natalie is dumbstruck that half of the Camp is against Mr. Tomibe's Family Unit Plan. Letters from home finally arrive, and Peg gets a special surprise.
Support the show
Original artifacts, prison art and Natalie's original diary entry can be viewed by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-listen and clicking on See Pictures. You can also see the Forbidden Diary cast by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast.
Prisoner escapes and worries about MacArthur returning to the Philippines and has High Command clamping down on internment camps, sending new rules that Mr. Tomibe must enforce. Prisoners learn more about Mr. Tomibe. Nida hears news about her husband Ismael.
Support the show
Original artifacts, prison art and Natalie's original diary entry can be viewed by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-listen and clicking on See Pictures. You can also see the Forbidden Diary cast by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast.
June becomes deathly ill. More Red Cross packages are distributed, including medical packages with a new medical supply called plasma which Camp doctors try on June. A new invention saves the day, an internee dies, and Mr. Tomibe expressed his deep condolences.
Support the show
Original artifacts, prison art and Natalie's original diary entry can be viewed by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-listen and clicking on See Pictures. You can also see the Forbidden Diary cast by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast.
Archivist and historian Jim Zobel tells riveting stories about what was going on outside of Camp Holmes during the last half of 1943. Jim talks about MacArthur’s covert operations to rescue civilians, keep Filipinos on the side of the Americans, and destroy the Japanese occupation economy. Zobel offers insights into why the guards at Camp Holmes thought Japan was losing the War as early as 1943 and which rumors circulating around Camp were actually true.
You can view paintings and sketches drawn by people who were interned with Natalie by clicking See Pictures under the episodedescriptions at www.storiestovoice.com/fd-listen-1943.
To see the Forbidden Diary cast, go to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast.
Support the show
Support the show
Original artifacts, prison art and Natalie's original diary entry can be viewed by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-listen and clicking on See Pictures. You can also see the Forbidden Diary cast by going to www.storiestovoice.com/fd-cast.
The Camp hospital runs out of beds for dysentery patients. Bedie is discharged too early from the hospital causing Natalie and Jerry to question his health care. Food shortages reduce good pickings from the garbage as prisoners pray that the Red Cross Christmas kits will arrive from Manila. Nida’s world is turned upside down, and Camp Holmes gets a new commandant.
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America is gaining ground in the Pacific. The prisoners have more money for food, but it’s becoming scarcer and more expensive. Everyone’s health is declining. Natalie’s vitamin injection goes wrong. Carl returns from an inspection tour of internment camps in Manila with good news. Peg thinks that her husband will be transferred to Camp Holmes, and the Camp’s shop produces an unexpected little surprise.
Season Three will also include the following season finale:
Episode 20: Red Cross Rescue
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The prisoners are finally allowed to write letters and pour their souls out to Natalie as she types them. The increased clampdown on guerrilla activity affects Nida and Ismael living in Baguio. Peg misses her husband. A guard steps out of bounds at the women’s barracks. A friend dies. The Camp puts on two plays.
Season Three will also include the following episodes:
Episode 19: Gaining and Losing Ground
Episode 20: Red Cross Rescue
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With Japanese occupation money losing value and food shortages, internees take out promissory loans for American dollars after the war. It’s “spend it while you got it” around Camp, and those with money throw elaborate parties while other internees raise money by selling homemade goods at a Camp fair. The guards worry about their fates as they hear news of American advancements in the Pacific.
Season Three will also include the following episodes:
Episode 18: Our Camp
Episode 19: Gaining and Losing Ground
Episode 20: Red Cross Rescue
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Natalie takes a closer look at everyone’s behavior in camp. New internees share unforgettable stories of heroism and evil. Peg hears word about her husband. The Crouters learn disturbing news about Nida and don’t like Bedie’s reaction to it. Natalie plays a curious round of bridge with Lt. Kira, and the Camp’s new Court of Appeals hears its first criminal trial.
Season Three will also include the following episodes:
Episode 17: We’re in the Money!
Episode 18: Our Camp
Episode 19: Gaining and Losing Ground
Episode 20: Red Cross Rescue
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The Japanese order Arthur to hunt down an American hiding in the mountains. Newly captured Americans tell harrowing stories about their life on the run. Nida worries about Ismael. Lt. Mukibo and Mr. Nagatomi get their just rewards. Everyone speculates if Mr. Hayakawa will be replaced, and the women in Camp want the right to vote.
Season Three will also include the following episodes:
Episode 16: Social Studies
Episode 17: We’re in the Money!
Episode 18: Our Camp
Episode 19: Gaining and Losing Ground
Episode 20: Red Cross Rescue
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Another year of close quarters has prisoners getting on each other’s nerves as they deal with new waves of dysentery. Stories are filtering in from captured internees who had been hiding in the mountains from the Japanese. Mr. Hayakawa is intimidated by a new guard who may be Kempeitai. Phil's brilliant, new invention keeps peace in the dining hall.
Season Three include the following episodes:
Episode 15: Surrender and Suffrage
Episode 16: Social Studies
Episode 17: We’re in the Money!
Episode 18: Our Camp
Episode 19: Gaining and Losing Ground
Episode 20: Red Cross Rescue
Support the Show.
In this last interview, Jim Zobel shares fascinating insights about MacArthur’s first steps to liberate the Philippines—from the campaign in Papua New Guinea to making early radio contact with guerrillas in the Philippines. Zobel shares true, but unbelievable stories about guerrilla heroes and discusses the brutal Kempeitai, Imperial Japan’s military police. Larger-than-life stories, fascinating WWII history.
On September 30, 2023 the MacArthur Memorial Museum, in Norfolk, VA, will open a military and civilian POW exhibit entitled, The Price of Unpreparedness: POWs in the Philippines during World War II. For more information go to www.macarthurmemorial.org.
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The holidays are celebrated in bittersweet, internment style. True friends come through. A little boy teaches the camp a lesson. Dysentery returns, and Dr. Hall is not sure how the internees will survive 1943.
To receive notification when Season Three becomes available, please follow "Forbidden Diary: True WWII Prison Survival Story."
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Bullets fly around Baguio and Camp Holmes as Filipino and Igorot guerrillas attack the Japanese. Natalie worries about Jerry’s depression. Additional co-mingling restrictions increase sexual tensions.
Be sure to follow this podcast to receive a notification when the Season Two finale becomes available.
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As typhoon season begins Jerry is brought in for questioning. Nida and Ismael talk about guerrilla insurgencies. Natalie gets a tour of the camp's shop, a special gift, and called to the guard house.
Be sure to follow this podcast to receive notifications when new episodes become available. This season will include two more episodes:
Episode 12: Lovers and Guerrillas
Episode 13: Lesser and Better Angels
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Nida and Ismael offer the Crouters more help. The prisoners get to know the soldiers who cycle through the camp. A secret radio is installed in the camp hospital. June addresses inequities among prisoners. Nakamura gives the prisoners parting gifts.
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Nakamura pontificates about American women, and the women make observations about him. All but one of the imprisoned missionaries are released. The Camp John Hay internees move to Camp Holmes. A Chinese internee is tortured.
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Babies are born in the Camp John Hay barracks. Nida and Ismael persevere in Baguio under Imperial Japanese rule. The prisoners put on a show ending with surprise gifts from Nakamura. Interned missionaries are taken into Baguio for interrogation by the dreaded Kempeitai.
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Natalie and her family are interned in Camp John Hay. The Imperial Army appoints a local carpenter to camp commandant. Japanese soldiers and civilians steal from the prisoners. As hunger and dysentery spread through the camp, the internees find ways to survive.
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The Imperial Japanese Army has raised the Rising Sun flag over Baguio City Hall. Soldiers are freeing Japanese civilians and capturing Americans and Allies. At Brent School, the Crouters and other civilian prisoners are forced onto the school’s tennis court to hear relocation orders from a freed Japanese civilian standing on a table with a machine gun at his side.
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The invasion phase has begun. Nida leaves Baguio while Crouters move to Brent School and wait for the enemy to arrive. During the turmoil, Ismael and Jerry have a heart-to-heart talk and Natalie honors a vow.
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Eighty Japanese warships have reached Lingayen Gulf only 18 miles away! Natalie and Jerry watch their last source of income go up in smoke. Carl calls in the early morning to tell the Crouters that they have two hours to decide whether to stay or leave Baguio.
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The U.S. and Japan are at war and anything can happen. As bombings continue, the Crouters turn their radio’s dial hoping to hear news of help from the mainland. Jerry’s new air-raid shelter becomes a hub for exchanging news and rumors.
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Jerry and Natalie see the first bombing of the Philippines from their back door, but no one downtown seems to know about it. Soon the situation becomes all too real for everyone as the Japanese continue to bomb Baguio. Jerry hears disconcerting news about Clark Field.
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It’s December 1941, and the Philippines is in Japan’s crosshairs. They’ve invaded China, Korea, and French Indochina. Will the Philippines be next? If so, when? In the town of Baguio, nestled in the mountains on the Philippine Island of Luzon, Jerry and Natalie Crouter wait and watch along with everyone else, wondering what’s going to happen next.
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Listen to the prologue if you want to hear about the background of the book, "Forbidden Diary," upon which this audio drama is based.
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