Evening star., 1944-02-13

toward the end OF September we
learned that a thousand prisoners
were to be transferred to a camp or
the island of Mindanao, to tht
southwark. Both Mccoy and I were
< among those selected. We did not
know what to expect, but we both
felt anything would be an improve
1 ment.
Comdr. Mccoy:
At the time of the transfer none
of us as yet had formed any clear
plan Of escape, although 1t was
= always In our minds. There were
less than 200 Navy and Marine
Corps personnel in the camp, as
against some 5000 Army men, so a
portion of our number was allowed
to volunteer to go to the new camp.
I was one of the volunteers.
On october 26. 1912, the 1000
prisoners left for Manila. There we
were loaded into the holds of a
7.00O-ton freighter, but since there
was not room for all hands, num-
ber were placed on the deck. I was
one of the lucky ones topside, while
Mellnik was in the almost unbear-
ably crowded confines Of a cargo
hold.
During the 11-day voyage to Davao
Gulf the japanese at no time made
any effort to identify this vessel as
having prisoners of war aboard
I am sure that any number of my
fellow prisoners joined me in the
hope that one of our subs would pop
g. fish into her, letting us take our
chances in the water. The most
memorable high light of this trip
was the food. At noontime we were
given bit of dried fish with our
rice, and at the evening meal we
enjoyed g super-luXury-each of us
was given morsel of the canned
corned beef which the Japs had
captured when they took over the
Cavite navy yard.
Except for few with money, none
of us had tasted meat in months,
or little else substantial. can
remember how those on deck turned
this tioblt over in our mouths and
Auhul ldUcu III LIE UaSUe.
At 8 am. November we tied up
at the Lasang lumber dock near
Davao City. We were marched
ashore and, waiting for the extreme
heat OF the day, as was usual with
the japanese when moving Amer
lean prisoners, we began the 17-mile
march TO the Davao penal colony.
Col. Mellnik:
In prewar days the Davao prison
colony had been operated by the
Filipplne Bureau of Prisons, and had
contained some 1000 convicts. All
but $50 of these convictS had been
transported to another prison near
puerto PrlnceSsa, Palawan, the $50
being retained to aid in the manage
ment Of the prison farm. These $50
felons had been convicted of killing
their fellow man in all the various
degrees, ranging from manslaughter
to murder; but it is no exaggeration
to say that not one of them but was
kinder ana more human than anv
OF our japanese guards. In fact.
two of these convicts came along as
willing guides when 10 of us finally
got free.
AS we marched into the prison
colony we were lined up for review
by Maj. MAZDA, the japanese COM
mander. We could see he was furious.
He pointed at the great number in
our ranks who were so i'll they could
barely stand. He stormed about,
declaring he had asked for prisoners
capable of doing hard labor. Instead
he shouted, he had been sent batch
of walking corpses.
Maj. Mazda outlined the kinds of
work which awaited us, no matter
what our wishes in the matter.
This work included planting and
harvesting rice, corn, camotes and
mongo beans; logging, the building
OF field Notifications, barbed wire
entanglements and parapets for
rlf1emen; plowing, and the miscel-
laneous slavey.
You have been used to a soft.
easy life since your capture" Mai.
Mazda told us. "All that will be
different here. Now you will learn
about hard labor. Every prisoner
will continue to work until he is
actually hospitalized. Punishment
for malingering will be severe."
Maj. Maida,s orders were never
relaxed.
Shortly after our arrival, the to-
tai number of American prisoners at
Davao was brought to approximately
1000 by the addition of prisoners
captured in the Visayan Islands and
on Mindanao itself.
Relatively Healthy.
None of us will ever forget how
good these prisoners looked when
they first arrived-they were all in
good physical condition, by compari-
son, making us look like scarecrows.
They had not been exposed to pol
luton, disease and hunger as we
had, most of them having surren-
dered or been captured some time
after the fall of Corregidor. But it
did not take them long to Join our
ranks
When I escaped some five months
later, only l,l00 prisoners were
working. The other 900 were too
sick to work. American doctors in
the prison hospital told me that,
since almost no medicines were
available, very few had chance to
live.
Discipline at Davao was strict,
and we soon found that one of our
chief tormentors was First 1t. Ho-
sumo. We quickly named him the
Grown Prince of Swat"
According to a guard at the pris-
on, Hosume had distinguished him
self in a couple of actions by doing
his fighting at the rear. He seemed
bent on proving his bravery by
clubbing every American prisoner in
reach. I am only one of several
hundred prisoners who quickly
learned to cherish a fond hope of
meeting up with 1t. Hosume after
this war.
In some ways the Davao prison
was far suerior to Cabanatuan,
The food still was rice, but with
each meal we received some vege-