By Jeff Devine
It’s a story that we usually only see in historical documentaries and books. However, guests at the Ozark Dale County Library on Tuesday were able to witness a powerful story of courage, faith, and resilience by a woman who survived being taken as a prisoner of war when she was a young child.
Audrey Nordmo Horton spoke for nearly an hour on Tuesday about her story of survival and perseverance. Horton has written and published a poignant memoir entitled Barefoot POW: A Norwegian Girl’s Journey, which chronicles her harrowing time as a WWII prisoner of war and her subsequent liberation and life after such a difficult and traumatic experience.
I was fascinated by this story, so I purchased the book and read it over the course of a day and a half. I’ve written information about Horton’s journey. Some of it I learned from reading her book, Barefoot POW, and some I learned from watching her presentation (which is available for viewing on the Ozark Dale County Library’s Facebook page.
When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, eight-year-old Audrey Horton was living at a Christian boarding school in what was then Chefoo, China (now called Yantai). The daughter of religious missionaries, Audrey and her siblings attended the Protestant Collegiate School — a seaside institution founded to educate children of American and British missionaries.
That peaceful life ended abruptly when Japanese soldiers marched into the school, declared it under occupation, and announced that everyone inside was now a prisoner of war.
“Our teachers were having breakfast when they marched in and said, ‘Everything is ours,’” Horton recalled.
Each child received an identification number stitched into a cloth badge. Horton’s read “Block 3, No. 33,” marked with her Norwegian nationality and the chilling words intended to intimidate and control her: “I promise to obey.”
Nearly 450 captives were crammed into just six small houses intended for single families. “We slept on the floor. It was crowded and uncomfortable, and the water situation was terrible — but we got used to it,” she said. She was allowed to visit her siblings, brother and sister, only once a week.
After about a year, she, along with the group, was relocated to the Weihsien Civilian Assembly Center in Shandong Province — a heavily fortified camp surrounded by barbed wire, electric fences, and armed guards. It had once been a missionary training compound, but by 1942 it had become a harsh internment site that would remain indelibly etched into Horton’s memories forever.
The journey to Weihsien was miserable and arduous. “We were crammed in the hold of a filthy cargo ship for two nights with rats and roaches crawling over us,” Horton remembered. “The teachers carried chamber pots because there were no toilets for us to use.”
Inside the camp, conditions were utterly appalling. More than 1,000 men, women, and children endured starvation, disease, and infestation. “One of my classmates counted 500 bedbugs on his bed one morning,” Horton said. She shared a sad and disturbing story about how she and the other children would keep themselves entertained, saying, “We used to have contests to see who could kill the most flies or rats.”
Food was scarce and often spoiled. “One time they realized they’d been boiling rats with the potatoes,” she said. Prisoners foraged for weeds to eat, and once, a dead horse was left to rot before they were allowed to cook it.
Amid the filth and fear, Horton said the experience taught her powerful lessons about faith, equality, and perseverance. “It didn’t matter if you had been rich or had cars in your driveway back home — everything was gone. We were all the same,” she said.
Their teachers continued to hold classes, assigning chores and lessons to keep structure and hope alive. They quietly encouraged kindness and faith, teaching children about love and perseverance even as they hid their own fear. Letters home were censored and often never delivered.
Then, after nearly four years of captivity, liberation finally arrived. On August 17, 1945, the day after Japan’s surrender, a B-24 bomber nicknamed “The Armored Angel” appeared overhead. Seven Allied rescuers parachuted into the camp in a daring mission called “The Duck Mission” — part of a series of last-minute operations to prevent the massacre of POWs.
“People were screaming and rushing for the gates,” Horton recalled. “It was the first time we’d been outside in two years.”
At just 12 years old, Audrey had survived unimaginable hardship. Reunited with her parents in 1946 after seven years apart, she went on to dedicate her life to ministry. She and her husband Mahlon spent 40 years planting churches across Canada before retiring to Newville, Alabama, to be near family. Together they raised seven children, 28 grandchildren, and nearly 50 great-grandchildren.
Decades later, Audrey Horton was able to locate two of her rescuers: Eddie Cheng-Han Wang, the young Chinese interpreter who risked punishment and retribution so that he could help the Americans, and Sgt. Tad Nagaki, a Japanese-American soldier who helped liberate the camp. Horton met both men’s families and personally thanked them for saving her life.
Now in her 90s, Audrey Horton continues to share her remarkable and inspiring story — one of courage, endurance, and unshakable faith. Her life stands as a reminder to us all that freedom comes at a cost, and that even in the darkest times, hope can never be fully imprisoned.
