Toy Guns: Childhood Memories of War

By Mirella Coacci van der Zyl

Toy Guns is a collection of stories and memories of the authors family, friends, and acquaintances who lived through war, from World War II to Vietnam. Centering on the experiences of children growing up in war, Mirella Coacci van der Zyl brings to life the memories of difficult years of terror, hunger, fear, and need.
The stories in Toy Guns illuminate just how destructive and life-changing war is, a lesson for younger generations. They must understand what happened to families in the past and learn, from those experiences, to never take life for granted and to find nonviolent solutions. Many children of war have died or will die soon, and their stories must not be lost to future generations.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Jun 2, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496916310

Mirella Coacci van der Zyl

Mirella Coacci van der Zyl, was born in Torino, Italy, during World War II. She was the second of five children of a Baptist minister in Italy. She grew up knowing the war and also the life of the Church. She came to Canada in 1965 and followed theological studies. Eventually Mirella was ordained to the ministry with the Canadian Baptists of Ontario and Quebec. After almost twenty years in ministry as a chaplain in various hospitals, she retired in 2005 and began her writing career. Her stories have appeared in the local newspaper ‘The Expositor” and religious magazines. She is also the author of On Call for God, a book about her experiences as a chaplain. She lives in Mt. Pleasant, Ontario, with her husband, a nature photographer and bird watcher.

Book preview

Indonesia: Ernest

In 1939 Europe was going up in flames. At the time, my family was in Indonesia, West Java, and was going through hard times, even before the onslaught of the war reached us. My father had difficulty keeping a job, and my mother was at home with me, an infant. Father and Mother decided to divorce, and he joined the Dutch Army.

There was no work for white women outside the home, not even on the plantation where we resided. Secretarial work was done by educated local people. Despite being a fully qualified nurse, there was no work for my mother.

Rumors and sketchy news from the Netherlands, our homeland, about the war there disturbed us deeply. In May 1940 the Netherlands capitulated to Germany, after four days of violent fighting. Closer to home, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, and the United States declared war on the Japanese. During the ensuing months, the Allies lost every single battle with the Japanese. My family was fearful of what was happening.

My mother married a close friend of my father’s. Her new husband worked on the tea plantation.

My stepfather was betrayed by the plantation administrator for destroying the gasoline supply, as his government had ordered him—and others unsympathetic to the Japanese—to do. He was imprisoned, tortured, and interrogated.

The most traumatic event for me at this time was impaling my toes on the garden rake. I was almost two, and I still remember how it hurt.

During my stepfather’s absence, almost everyone on the estate made sure that Mother was provided with adequate food.

By then I had a little brother, Nick, and stayed with mother on the estate, fed by the locals who came daily with food. Mother got along well with these people because she knew the language and worked hard to be their friend. For example, before the war, one man was so devoted to her that he bought, at his own expense, several orchid plants and transported them on top of a bus to our home, where he planted a lovely garden for