Darlene Deibler Rose was a born-again Christian

missionary A missionary is a member of a Religious denomination, religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Tho ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

in what would later be the Western Highlands province. She was the first American woman to enter the

Baliem Valley The Baliem Valley ( id, Lembah Baliem; also spelled Balim and sometimes known as the Grand Valley) is a valley of the Central Highlands in Western New Guinea. Specifically in Highland Papua, Indonesia, which is inhabited mainly by the Dani peopl ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

, working there with her first husband, the Rev. Russell C. Deibler. After WWII broke out, the Deiblers were sent to separate prison camps. Russell died at

Pare Pare Parepare is a city (''kota'') in South Sulawesi, Indonesia, located on the southwest coast of Sulawesi, about north of the provincial capital of Makassar. A port town, it is one of the major population centers of the Bugis people. The city had a p ...

in 1944, but Darlene survived four years in a camp for women at Kampili, where she developed

beriberi Thiamine deficiency is a medical condition of low levels of thiamine (Vitamin B1). A severe and chronic form is known as beriberi. The two main types in adults are wet beriberi and dry beriberi. Wet beriberi affects the cardiovascular system, r ...

. Her Christian faith sustained her during those years. Her experience is documented in the autobiographical ''Evidence Not Seen: A Woman's Miraculous Faith in a Japanese Prison during WWII'' ( Harper & Row, 1988), which has been optioned for a possible film. After the war, Darlene married Jerry Rose and resumed missionary work in New Guinea. After nearly thirty years in New Guinea, they relocated to the Australian

Outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastlines and encompass a n ...

. She died on February 24, 2004.

References

External links

Audio of Darlene Deibler Rose telling her experiences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, Darlene 1917 births 2004 deaths American women civilians in World War II Protestant missionaries in Papua New Guinea Female Christian missionaries American Protestant missionaries Protestant missionaries in Australia American prisoners of war in World War II World War II prisoners of war held by Japan American evangelicals American expatriates in Papua New Guinea American emigrants to Australia