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Cover
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Title + dedication
Sheet 1
Story spreads
12
The real story
11 quotes · 1 photos
Back cover
Blurb + brand
Children Down from the Mountains
Children Down from the Mountains
This story belongs to
— — — — — — — —
Children Down from the Mountains
KindredPages
Spread 1
The guns had stopped. The ships in the harbor sat still. Wayne Wilberg, a young Marine far from home, drove his truck through a quiet that felt strange after so many loud and terrible days.
1
Then - at the edge of the trees - something moved. A child. Then another. Then so many more that Wayne stopped the truck and could only stare. They came out of the mountains like swarms of ants.
2
Spread 2
Spread 3
Wayne learned what had happened. The children's parents had been killed in the fighting. The children had been sent up into the hills to hide from the war. They had been there so long, with nothing to eat, that many of them did not make it back down.
3
The army, the Red Cross, and soldiers like Wayne began setting up camps. They brought food and blankets. They called out to the children: "Come down. Come down. You are safe now."
4
Spread 4
Spread 5
One afternoon Wayne's group was out when they found a boy of twelve - alone, standing very still, watching them from the shadow of a tree. He did not run. He was too hungry to run.
5
Wayne reached into his pocket and held out a candy bar. The boy took it. Then - in about two bites - it was gone. "We gave him a candy bar and he gobbled it up," Wayne would say later, and he never forgot the look on that boy's face.
6
Spread 6
Spread 7
The soldiers made the boy a bed and snuck him inside after dark. They knew they were breaking the rules. "If they found out we had him," Wayne said quietly, "we would have been court-martialed." But nobody said go back.
7
For several days, Wayne's group took care of the boy. They could not speak his language. He could not speak theirs. But they began to understand each other - in the way you understand someone when you share a meal and a roof and keep each other warm.
8
Spread 8
Spread 9
Then the soldiers found him a job. They set him by the telephone and told him - with waving hands and pointing fingers - that when it rang, he should run outside and shout until someone came. He could not speak any English. But he could listen. And he could run.
9
BRING! went the telephone. And out flew the boy - bare feet slapping the ground - yelling at the top of his lungs. "Telle! Telle! Telle!" he shouted, until someone came running to answer it.
10
Spread 10
Spread 11
Later, the soldiers were able to make arrangements for the boy. He would be cared for. He would be safe. He was no longer lost up in the mountains. He was found.
11
The day Wayne's unit shipped home from the war, the boy was standing on the docks, waving goodbye. Not hiding in the mountains. Not hungry. Not silent. Just waving - and waving - until the ship was gone.
12
Spread 12
Behind the story
The real words behind it
Wayne Wilberg was a real Marine who drove trucks during the occupation of Japan after World War II. He wrote about what he saw in his own journal - children coming down from the mountains in large numbers, hungry and without their parents. His unit picked up one twelve-year-old boy, brought him back to base, and gave him a candy bar. They made him a bed and found him a small job: listening for the phone to ring. They kept him hidden, knowing they'd be in serious trouble if anyone found out. Wayne wrote it all down, in his own words. You can read those words and see the real photographs on the next pages.
The real story · photographs
Wayne Wilberg
Wayne Wilberg
Behind the story · 1 of 3
Page 1
Page 1
"I participated in the battle of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and the occupation of Japan."
Page 2
Page 2
"they came out of the mountains like swarms of ants"
Page 3
Page 3
"Their parents were shot and killed. The kids were sent to the hills to get away from the fighting. They eventually were starved out. Many of them ended up dieing."
Page 5
Page 5
"One time my group picked up a 12-year boy and took him back to the base with us."
Behind the story · 2 of 3
Page 6
Page 6
"We gave him a candy bar and he gobbled it up."
Page 7
Page 7
"We made him a bed and snuck him in. If they found out we had him we would have been court marshaled."
Page 8
Page 8
"We took care of him for a few days."
Page 9
Page 9
"We had him set by the phone and listen for it to ring. If it would ring he was to quickly run outside and yell to us that the phone was ringing. He couldn't speak any English."
Behind the story · 3 of 3
Page 10
Page 10
"He would run out and yell, "telle, telle, telle" until someone would go answer it."
Page 11
Page 11
"Later we were able to make arrangements for him."
Page 12
Page 12
"The day we shipped home from the war, he was standing on the docks waving goodbye to us."
ABOUT THIS RECORD
This book was drawn from the journals, kept 1944-2013.
KindredPages
Made with care · 2026
The war is over, but the mountains are still full of children - thin, quiet, making their way down through the trees with nowhere to go. Wayne Wilberg is just a truck driver. He doesn't speak the language. He doesn't know what comes next.

But he knows a hungry kid when he sees one. Some things don't need translating.
Created with KindredPages
kindredpages.studio
 
Cover
direct Verbatim from the journal paraphrase Same meaning, child-friendly wording bridge Connective tissue we wrote
Page 1
Page 1
The guns had stopped. The ships in the harbor sat still. Wayne Wilberg, a young Marine far from home, drove his truck through a quiet that felt strange after so many loud and terrible days.paraphrase
Page 2
Page 2
Then - at the edge of the trees - something moved. A child. Then another. Then so many more that Wayne stopped the truck and could only stare. They came out of the mountains like swarms of ants.direct
Page 3
Page 3
Wayne learned what had happened. The children's parents had been killed in the fighting. The children had been sent up into the hills to hide from the war. They had been there so long, with nothing to eat, that many of them did not make it back down.paraphrase
Page 4
Page 4
The army, the Red Cross, and soldiers like Wayne began setting up camps. They brought food and blankets. They called out to the children: "Come down. Come down. You are safe now."bridge
Page 5
Page 5
One afternoon Wayne's group was out when they found a boy of twelve - alone, standing very still, watching them from the shadow of a tree. He did not run. He was too hungry to run.paraphrase
Page 6
Page 6
Wayne reached into his pocket and held out a candy bar. The boy took it. Then - in about two bites - it was gone. "We gave him a candy bar and he gobbled it up," Wayne would say later, and he never forgot the look on that boy's face.direct
Page 7
Page 7
The soldiers made the boy a bed and snuck him inside after dark. They knew they were breaking the rules. "If they found out we had him," Wayne said quietly, "we would have been court-martialed." But nobody said go back.direct
Page 8
Page 8
For several days, Wayne's group took care of the boy. They could not speak his language. He could not speak theirs. But they began to understand each other - in the way you understand someone when you share a meal and a roof and keep each other warm.paraphrase
Page 9
Page 9
Then the soldiers found him a job. They set him by the telephone and told him - with waving hands and pointing fingers - that when it rang, he should run outside and shout until someone came. He could not speak any English. But he could listen. And he could run.paraphrase
Page 10
Page 10
BRING! went the telephone. And out flew the boy - bare feet slapping the ground - yelling at the top of his lungs. "Telle! Telle! Telle!" he shouted, until someone came running to answer it.direct
Page 11
Page 11
Later, the soldiers were able to make arrangements for the boy. He would be cared for. He would be safe. He was no longer lost up in the mountains. He was found.paraphrase
Page 12
Page 12
The day Wayne's unit shipped home from the war, the boy was standing on the docks, waving goodbye. Not hiding in the mountains. Not hungry. Not silent. Just waving - and waving - until the ship was gone.direct
Trim
8.5″ × 8.5″
Pages
34
Spine
0.255"
Format
Print-ready
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