Back From The Living Dead by Bert Bank (book series for 12 year olds .TXT) π
We found out that the Japs meant this order. They took everything they desired from us when we started this march. They took all the clothing that they wanted for themselves, all watches, fountain pens, etc. During the noon hour every day they would give us 'about face' and march us for five or eight miles to the rear, between noon and 2 P.M. when it was terrificly hot.
Hundreds were killed by the guards or died from exhaustion.
The Japs were moving vast amounts of equipment south and installing guns along the beach preparatory to landing on Corregidor. During this march the Americans on Corregidor were firing at the Japs and we had many men who were injured from this shell- ing from our own lines.
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rata, and devoured them frequently. Lizards and frogs
were eaten constantly.
Black Market Traffics in Stolen Food and Money
A βBlack Marketβ was operated by the Japs who
worked in the kitchen along with the American enlisted men who also worked in there. Many of the
Americans managed to bring in quite a pile of Filipino
money, and were able to get the Filipinos to smuggle
money into camp. This later turned out to be quite a
large smuggling racket. The Japs in the kitchen would
get canned fish and corned beef, and soups and any
other American products that they were able to pro-cure and give it to the Americans to sell in the camp
to the other prisoners. They would give the Americans
a certain portion of the profit and many of them made
thousands of pesos in camp and loaned it out to others
for gold, given either in notes or checks. They would
charge 10 pesos for a can of corned beef or fish and
it cost them maybe 80 centavos which, of course, is
40 cents. This racket was worked for a long time but
finally stopped. Later the money was no good at all
and all you could do with it was play poker or, if you
were fortunate enough to get any tobacco from the
Filipinos, you could us this paper to wrap the tobacco.
We had wells here dug by the Filipinos and while they
were working in the compound digging the wells we
could make contact with them and get them to bring
in money and what food and medical supplies they
were able to get. The Japs watched them very closely
and many were punished for talking to the Americans.
The Filipinos did much to help the Americans and
many in camp who had been civilians in the Philippines before the war made many good contacts with
the Filipinos. These would bring food and medical
supplies into camp from their friends in Manila. Many
of these men who did have connections were very
generous and shared their money and food with the
other Americans but, of course, you found a few who
did not share one penny with their fellow prisoners.
Red Cross Barred from Camp
Colonel Mori, the Japanese commander, was about
55 years old and in speeches would tell us how he was
praying for us and how he was doing everything to
help us. But he never mentioned the times when he
refused to let the Red Cross in Manila bring us food.
I know of two occasions when trucks loaded with food
and Red Cross supplies came to the gate and the Red
Cross tried to persuade the Japs to let them give
supplies to the Americans, but they were driven away
mid told that if they returned they would be shot.
Officers, Attempting Escape. Tortured and Shot
Two lieutenant colonels and an ensign attempted to
escape one night. They tried to crawl out of a drain-age ditch but were caught by an American who asked
them not to gβ. One of the lieutenant colonels made so
much noise that he attracted the attention of the
guard who took the three to Colonel Mori and he had
them beaten severely and then tied to the telephone
pole on the main road leading to Cabanatuan which
ran by the compound. Every American and every
Filipino who passed by these three men had to beat
them with a 2x4. The Jap guard would show us how
they wanted them hit and if you did not hit them hard
enough they would beat you. They had them tied in
the sun for three days and after that took them down
the road where they put them in a truck with a group
of guards and a detail to dig a grave. They were carried away and executed. The Japs later told us that
two had been shot and one had his head cut off. These
men welcomed death, I am sure, because they had been
terribly tortured for three days at the hands of the
Japanese. On another occasion I remember that five
men had been going out each night to a nearby store
to get food. They would come back in the early morning by crawling through the fence. They were caught
and tied on the main road as the other three had been.
They were beaten by everyone who had to come by.
We would try to avoid going by these men, but we
had to when we went to work. I will never forget how
one of the fellows broke loose and ran into the camp
and into his barracks. The Japs came in and got him
and, getting the four others, they took them out and
shot each of them.
Jap Lieutenant Proves to Be Head Hunter
Late one evening approximately 60 guards went
out with a Lieutenant Hosume, whom we had been
told had royal blood. He hated the Americans and
we were later told in Mindanao, where he was sent
with us, that he had been on Bataan, but because of
neglect of duty there, he was sent to guard the prisoners. He was retaliating against the Americans by being
as cruel as possible. He had with him on this detail
this particular evening an interpreter, whom we called
βPittsburgh,β as he had told us he had been in Pittsburgh. You must remember that we did not call the
men these names to their faces. We only called them
these names among Americans. Anyway, they went
out this evening with full field packs and ammunition.
We were told that they were going to suppress some
guerrilla activity. Early the next morning this group
returned carrying the head of a Filipino on the end of
a string, tied to a long stick. They hung the head on
the main road with a sign written in English, Japanese, and Filipino staling βThe bad man of the woods.β
The Japs were afraid of the guerrillas and we were
to learn more about this when we arrived in Davao.
Japs Label Escapees with βDo Not Escapeβ Signs
We started a large farm at Cabanatuan for the Japs
which was finished after T left. Several men escaped
but were later apprehended. Colonel Mori would hold
meetings of all prisoners and lecture to them on the
futility of trying to escape and tell us that the Americans would never be back and that we would be turned
in by the Filipinos. Each of the men who had attempted
to escape had signs on them saying. βDo not escape,
etc.β Three ensigns who had successfully escaped very
early in our imprisonment gave themselves up after
reaching the southern islands. They had acquired a
severe case of malaria and also were afraid that the
Filipinos were going to turn them in. They returned
voluntarily. They were required to make speeches to
us periodically about futility of attempting to escape.
It is my opinion, after seeing the attitude of these
Japanese commanders, that they themselves are punished by higher authorities when someone escapes.
Sometimes they would promise more food and other
things if no one tried to escape, but, of course, they
never carried out any of these promises. They believe
in mass punishment and this is what we were always
fearing. If one man violated a regulation on detail they
would punish him as well as the rest of the detail and
you never knew what type of punishment they were
going to think of. You could always expect someone
to violate a regulation with 10,000 Americans in camp,
and we were living in fear of who would be the next
one to be shot as a punishment.
Guards Swindled Through Yankee Ingenuity
The Jap guards were all interested in getting American clothing, and after they had taken all they could
away from us, they began trying to trade for anything
we had left. They liked American socks, underwear
or anything on that order. They would give you cigarettes for these articles. I remember once the Jap
commander, evidently suspecting his guards of trading with the Americans, had a surprise inspection. It
was amazing how much American goods was found
on the Americans on that detail. We had tooth brushes,
clothing, and many other supplies. Much of this had
been brought in by the Filipinos. After this the guards
were reluctant to trade with the Americans, because
they had been punished along with the Americans for
trading. Approximately 95 per cent of the Jap guards
have venereal diseases and on detail they were very
anxious to trade for sulfathiazole tablets. But they
were only interested in getting tablets with a βWβ
on the back, a tablet made by the Winthrop people.
The Japanese are very stupid about such things. For
example, they were only interested in a Parker pen.
You could show them a $10 Sheaffer and a 25c Parker
and they would take the Parker. Anyway, they would
offer us cigarettes for the tablets, but they did not
care for any tablets except ones with a βWβ on the
back. They had issued us some Japanese tooth powder
which was no good. The first time that we used it
it took all of the enamel off of our teeth, and we used
it for washing mess kits only.
Some of the boys began using their American
ingenuity and thought of this idea: We took this
Japanese tooth powder and, using a cartridge to make
a form, began manufacturing tablets with a βWβ on
the back, just as they asked for them. The Japs would
take these tablets on detail without any water at all,
and I have seen them take as many as 10 at a time.
They would give us cigarettes, but after a while they
discovered that these were fakes and this did not
work anymore. The Americans built an airport for
the Japanese about half a mile from our camp and,
although there were many complaints during the construction by the Americans, it was probably worth
the time and sweat for we saw the American planes
bomb and shoot down planes taking off from this field
later.
General Orders βMore Exerciseβ for Famished P.W.βs
After each escape at Cabanatuan, or, rather after
each attempt to escape, we had no idea whether or not
they were going to shoot anyone or not. After one man
attempted to escape they punished everyone by making us close the windows in the barracks, and allowing
no one to go to the latrine without two others. It was
terrible stuffy and hot, but these conditions existed
for a week. Everyone had kidney trouble and visited
the latrine as many as 30 to 40 times a night. I
remember that I went for three weeks without a bowel
movement, but it did not bother me. This was common
among all of us, as we were not getting enough food.
A general came out from Manila to inspect the camp,
and we were required to put on our best rags for the
inspection. The American CO showed him the small
amount of rice we were getting for dinner, and asked
him if he could not increase the ration. The general
said that it was enough for Americans and that what
we needed was more exercise. Even though 48 men
were dying a day, we needed more exercise and no
more food. The Jap doctor here was very ignorant
concerning medical knowledge. He would look the
patients over and that was all he knew to do.
Cyclone Destroys Camp Barracks
We were living in bamboo barracks, and in October
of 1942 a cyclone hit the camp and destroyed most of
these. We built a few back
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