Blanket Fort Radio Theater

This week on Blanket Fort Radio Theater, it's the final installment of "The Undaunted Women of Nanking." In this final episode, we witness the aftermath of the Japanese occupation of Nanking and explore the lives of the Undaunted Women as they attempt to find peace after the horrors they have witnessed.

This week on Blanket Fort Radio Theater's production of "The Undaunted Women of Nanking," fresh water and beautiful weather lift spirits at Ginling as Bible classes and group prayers continue. More refugees arrive from the country, and efforts continue to reunite them with their families. Ginling begins mass vaccination of its refugees, but some are resistant.

Fresh water and beautiful weather lift spirits at Ginling as Bible classes and group prayers continue. More refugees arrive from the country, and efforts continue to reunite them with their families. Ginling begins mass vaccination of its refugees, but some are resistant.

This week on Blanket Fort Radio Theater's production of "The Undaunted Women of Nanking," Bible classes resume, and Minnie obtains books for her students. Tsen worries about illness in the camp and the distribution of vital supplies, but her caregiving efforts are rewarded. Meanwhile, more refugees arrive at Ginling, having escaped Japanese soldiers.

Efforts to dissolve the safety zone and its protections begin, and the closure of other camps brings a new influx of refugees to Ginling. Increased sanitary measures are instituted to help prevent the spread of disease. Meanwhile, Minnie Vautrin tracks the aircraft activity overhead.

With the arrival of spring, the women must confront the problem of waste disposal at Ginling in order to avoid the spread of disease. As Vautrin and Tsen say goodbye to a beloved foreign humanitarian, they recall the initial occupation of Nanking and discuss their hope for future projects at the College.

Continued good weather and the arrival of mail and food from Shanghai lift the women’s spirits. However, the bombing and looting continues, and Tsen Shui-fang surveys the destruction in the southern part of Nanking. Meanwhile, Minnie visits a prison and collects more stories.

Vautrin oversees the coming and going of refugees, some of whom have returned to Ginling after being assaulted in their homes by Japanese soldiers. Tsen focuses on logistical work, documenting the stockpile of food and the recent births and deaths in the camp.

Efforts to return to normalcy abound, Vautrin and Tsen find it difficult to reckon with their trauma. The beauty of the coming spring clashes with accounts of ongoing brutality. Meanwhile, the women hear rumors of Chinese nationalist troops approaching Nanking.

This week on Blanket Fort Radio Theater's production of "The Undaunted Women of Nanking," on the date refugees are ordered to leave Ginling, Minnie, though ill, oversees their departure while Tsen continues her work to acquire more medicine, and to document the births and deaths in the camp.

Vautrin and Tsen prepare, against their wishes, to send refugees away from Ginling. Tsen laments the women’s malnutrition, while Vautrin, witnessing continued attacks by Japanese soldiers, wonders what can be done to protect the women after they leave.

In the days leading up to the Lunar New Year, more arrangements are made for when the refugees will be ordered to return to their homes. Church services continue. Minnie still awaits mail from home as she and Mrs. Tsen prepare for New Year celebrations.

Vautrin and Tsen survey the horrific conditions of the city and campus, and Minnie worries about vendors selling looted goods in the safety zone. Refugees plan to celebrate the approaching Lunar New Year, andmore mail arrives.

Former abductees return to the city, bringing stories of their treatment at the hands of Japanese soldiers and their harrowing escapes. Minnie Vautrin continues her efforts to locate the missing families of refugee women, who have continued to return home despite conditions remaining unsafe.

The refugees continue to find comfort in church services as the weather worsens. Minnie assists refugee women in attempting to locate their missing husbands and sons. She and Shui-fang have a disagreement, but unexpected mail brings joy.

In the midst of an eerie calm at Ginling, Minnie struggles to cope with and move past the horrors she has witnessed. Meanwhile, Mrs. Tsen recovers from her illness. Church sermons bring fragile hope to the refugees and administrators alike.

Ginling College continues its cautious transition into peacetime, but Mrs. Tsen remains ill. We learn more of Minnie’s experience during the Nanking Incident and the impact of the Incident on Ginling.

A tenuous peace settles in the safety zone as more refugees return to their homes, hoping to salvage what they can. Tsen Shui-fang falls ill, and Ginling deals with food shortages.

As continued cold weather threatens occupied Nanking, Minnie and Shui-fang rejoice at the arrival of foreign diplomats. However, they are reminded that life has not returned to normalcy.

Minnie and Shui-fang manage to receive word of some of the horrors that continue to occur outside the safety zone, and they hope that their correspondence will reach its destination. Meanwhile, the residents of Ginling College attempt to recover from illness and exhaustion.

Religious services are revived in Nanking, just in time for the residents of Ginling College to celebrate the Chinese New Year. Chinese civilians continue to register themselves with the Japanese army, under the impression that it will protect them. Meanwhile, the Chinese government begins bombing the city. Minnie finds comfort in religion, while Shui-fang struggles to see past the ongoing horrors.

The registration of Chinese civilians continues as the first discussions of a postwar government take place. Japanese soldiers continue to block the entrances of the city and cut off communication. Meanwhile, the refugees at Ginling College do their best to celebrate the New Year.

Two weeks after the invasion, the Japanese army begins its effort to register all refugees in an attempt to identify and capture Chinese soldiers. Refugee numbers at Ginling continue to shrink, but the fires burn on, and bodies fill the streets. Minnie Vautrin and Tsen Shui-fang fear the purpose of the registration of women.

A period of relative peace settles over Ginling College in the days following Christmas. Refugees begin to leave the camp, but it remains overcrowded and unsanitary. The stress of protecting the camp takes a physical toll on Minnie.

Minnie negotiates with the Japanese military advisor, on Christmas Eve, about the ongoing abductions of women from the refugee camp. While the numbers of soldiers invading Ginling is slightly reduced, communications are still impossible and the growing cold worsens living conditions. Minnie finds a sliver of hope on Christmas Day.

As Christmas approaches, the atrocities continue and food becomes more and more scarce. We learn of Minnie Vautrin’s harrowing experience during the Nanking Incident in 1926 and her role in the preservation of Ginling College.

Minnie Vautrin describes the horrors she witnesses on the streets of Nanking as she continues to report the atrocities of the soldiers to the Japanese consulate. She and Tsen Shui-fang attempt to restore some order in the Ginling camp, which now holds thousands of refugees and remains without a method of communication with the outside world.

Food scarcity, looting, and daily incursions on Ginling College by the Japanese soldiers and military police enrage and demoralize Minnie Vautrin and Tsen Shui-fang as they attempt to protect their refugees and resources. Minnie Vautrin meets with the Japanese consul and shows him the inhumane conditions in the Ginling camp.

We hear Tsen Shui-fang’s account of the previous episode’s events. Having failed to prevent the assault of Ginling College by the Japanese soldiers, she and Minnie Vautrin take stock of the camp in the aftermath. They hope to expand the camp to make more room for the overcrowded refugees as the Japanese soldiers abduct yet more women.

The days following the fall of Nanking see the the city become a shell of its former self. Japanese soldiers enter the safety zone and conduct a thorough search of Ginling College campus under the pretext of searching for Chinese army deserters. Despite the best efforts of Minnie Vautrin and Tsen Shui-fang, the soldiers take food, money, and clothing from the refugees, and abduct several young women.

Nanking has fallen and Japanese soldiers invade the city, looting and burning as they go. At Ginling College in the safety zone, communications with the outside world are limited. Tsen Shui-fang receives yet more refugees who have been forced out of their homes, while Minnie Vautrin attempts to guard the gates of Ginling against growing numbers of Japanese soldiers searching for young women to abduct.

We hear from both Minnie Vautrin and Tsen Shui-fang in the days leading up to the Japanese occupation of Nanking. Overwhelmed by refugees, they must adapt their original plans for the camp at Ginling College under the constant threat of artillery. As the city burns around them, they care for wounded refugees and fortify their camp against the encroaching enemy army.

We are introduced to Tsen Shui-fang, a nurse and administrator of Ginling College during the Japanese occupation of Nanking. While other college and government officials fled the city, she remained at her post, opening the college campus to refugees and assisting humanitarian Minnie Vautrin in caring for thousands of women and children.

In this first episode we learn about Illinois native Minnie Vautrin and Tsen Shui-fang as they provide shelter to thousands of women and children in the aftermath of the 1937 Japanese occupation of Nanking, China.

In this concluding episode Tom Odle offers his final reflections on his past, his present, and his future.

Tom Odle describes life after the death penalty moratorium, and the process of working, getting an education, and interacting with other inmates in prison.

Tom Odle describes life after the death penalty moratorium, and the process of working, getting an education, and interacting with other inmates in prison.

Tom Odle endures the appeals process and the Illinois death penalty comes under fire after a series of wrongful convictions.

Tom Odle describes life on Death Row.

The trial of Tom Odle concludes, and he is sentenced.