I knew that my grandmother had a very challenging beginning to her life, but I never knew the full story. She was born in Shanghai, China in the 1940’s, with her mom having fled there from Vladivostok, Russia, and her dad stationed there with the US Navy. Shortly after, they were stationed in Manila, Philippines during World War II. After they arrived, her family became POWs to the Japanese in the Santo Tomas prison camp. At this camp she recalls how people were tortured and killed for simple things. She remembers that some of the prisoners would illegally get radios to listen to what was happening during the war. If they were caught, everyone would go to the central area of the camp and watch them get tortured or worse. For food, the rations were terrible. My grandmother barely had anything to eat and if she could, she would eat worms in order to get nutrients. This horrendous situation continued until they were freed by General MacArthur in 1945. She and her family the