History of Sorts

This blog is based on nostalgia and facts, although it could not be verified who made the cards.

However, the photos in the blog are of a real deck of cards that were made by one or more prisoners in Japanese captivity, it is not known where exactly though, and who made them. They were stored in a box, which must have been used later to store the cards. The box originally contained American-made playing cards that were sent as gifts to American soldiers and prisoners of war by the American Red Cross. The shipments were dated on the boxes. This shipment was from the stated date in 1944. The cards must have been made in 1942 when the Japanese camps still had a regime in which this was allowed. Later it was banned.

Picture of the deck of cards below was stored in a white cardboard box with a blue diamond pattern. The cards s are drawn and colored by hand. Some have images related to Camp Vught, in the Netherlands: including the Ace of Spades, the main building and the prison of the camp; on the Ace of Clubs the Roman Catholic Church of the camp, and on the Jack of Spades the ‘Jack’ is a camp guard in a barbed wire frame.

The nostalgia bit I was referring to is about a song I heard a lot when I was still a kid, the song was called “Deck of Cards,” but the version I would be familiar with was the Dutch version “Een Spel Kaarten” it was one of my mother’s favorite songs. Some of you might know it. “The Deck of Cards” is a recitation song that was popularized in the fields of both country and popular music, first during the late 1940s. This song, which relates the tale of a young American soldier arrested and charged with playing cards during a church service, first became a hit in the U.S. in 1948 by country musician T. Texas Tyler, and many others like Tex Ritter and Jim Reeves.

These are the lyrics:

“During the North African campaign, a bunch of soldier boys
had been on a long hike and they arrived in a little town
called Cascina. The next morning being Sunday, several of
the boys went to Church. A sergeant commanded the boys in
Church and after the Chaplain had read the prayer, the text
was taken up next.

Those of the boys who had a prayer book took them out, but
this one boy had only a deck of cards, and so he spread
them out. The Sergeant saw the cards and said, “Soldier
put away those cards.” After the service was over, the
soldier was taken prisoner and brought before the Provost
Marshall.

The Marshall said, “Sergeant, why have you brought the
man here?” “For playing cards in church, Sir.” “And what
have you got to say for yourself, son?” “Much, Sir.”
Replied the soldier. The Marshall said, “I hope so, for
if not I shall punish you more than any man was ever punished.”

The soldier said, “Sir, I’ve been on the march for about
six days, I had neither Bible nor prayer book, but I hope to
satisfy you, Sir, with the purity of my intentions.”

With that, the boy started his story:

You see Sir, when I look at the “ACE”, it reminds me that
there is but one God;
And the “DEUCE” reminds me that the Bible is divided into
two parts; The Old and the New Testaments;

And when I see the “TREY”, I think of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Ghost;

And when I see the “FOUR,” I think of the four Evangelists
who preached the Gospel. There were Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John;

And when I see the “FIVE”, it reminds me of the five wise
virgins who trimmed their lamps. There were ten of them, five
were wise and were saved. Five were foolish and were shut out;

And when I see the “SIX,” it reminds me that in six days,
God made this great heaven and earth;

When I see the “SEVEN,” it reminds me that on the seventh day,
God rested from His great work;

And when I see the “EIGHT”, I think of the eight righteous
persons God saved when He destroyed this earth. There was
Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives;
And when I see the “NINE”, I think of the lepers our Saviour
cleansed. And nine out of the ten didn’t even thank Him.

When I see the “TEN,” I think of the Ten Commandments God
handed down to Moses on a table of stone;

When I see the “KING”, it reminds me that there is but one
King of Heaven, God Almighty;

And when I see the “QUEEN,” I think of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
who is Queen of Heaven;

And the “JACK” or “KNAVE” is the Devil;

When I count the number of spots on a deck of cards,
I find 365, the number of days in a year;
There are 52 cards, the number of weeks in a year;
There are 4 suits, the number of weeks in a month;
There are 12 picture cards, the number of months in a year;
There are 13 tricks, the number of weeks in a quarter;
So you see, Sir, my pack of cards serves me as a Bible,
Almanac and Prayer Book.

And friends, this is a true story, because I was that soldier.”

The song may possibly have been inspired by a sermon by a
preacher in the late 1800’s.

This is the song:

This is the Dutch version, which is strangely enough one minute longer.

Sources

https://beeldbankwo2.nl/nl/beelden/?mode=gallery&view=horizontal&q=kaartspel&rows=1&page=1

https://cc.museon.nl/?query=search=ccobjectid=%5B4216%5D&showtype=record#/query/79bbd0ed-0435-4d7f-a21a-c99bb61c10f1

https://www.flashlyrics.com/lyrics/t-texas-tyler/deck-of-cards-13