Evening star., 1944-02-10
TEN ESCAPE FROM TOTO
Jap Guards Forced American Officer
To Bury Seriously Sick Soldiers Alive
BY COMDR. MELVIN H. MCCOY, USN and
1T. COL. s. NJ. MELLNIK,USA,
As Told to It. Welbourn Kelley. UsNR
Chapter v-Horrors Of Cabanatuan Prison.

not be able to make the march on
the following day.
Different methods were used to
dispose of these weakened prisoners.
There were many cases of burial
alive, often with the forced as
siStance of American officers. Some
of the prisoners were forced to dig
their own graves.
Maj. Gums worst memories were
intensely personal. They centered
things which he, an American Of
ficer, had been forced to do on
threat of death.
THE first time it happened" said
Maj. Gum. Il didn't know what was
up. An enlisted man had keeled
over-he had been stumbling fo1
hours-and the Japs dragged him
to a ditch about 100 yards from
the road. I was taken out of the
line and escorted to where the Japs
had placed this unconscious man
in the ditch. One of the Japs handed
me shovel Another jabbed a
bayonet into my side and gave an
order in Japanese. I did not un-
derstand.
A Jap grabbed the shovel out of
my hands and demonstrated by
throwing few shovelfuls OF earth
on the unconscious soldier. Then
he handed me the shovel. God!
. 1t doesn't help to tell myself
that the soldier and others later
were already more dead than
alive
Forced to Kill Soldier.
THE worst time was once when
a burial victim with about 6 inches
Of earth over him suddenly regained
consciousness and clawed his way
out until he was almost sitting up
right. Then I learned to what
lengths a man will go, Mccoy, to
hang onto his own life. The bayonets
began to prod me in the side and
I was forced to bash the soldier over
the head with the shovel and then
finish burying him"
When the Bataan prisoners finally
reached San Fernando, on the way
to O'Donnell, they were jammed 100
into a boXoar and, always in the
heat of the day, given two-hour
ride to Capiz, Luzon. Then they
marched the remainder of the way
to the camp.
Conditions at ODonnell were, if
possible, as bad as those along the
route of march. The camp COM
mander announced he had not been
notified that such a large number of
prisoners was being sent. He had
no facilities for them. There was
only one water spigot for the many
thousands and all the running water
in the vicinity rapidly became pull
luted by the sick and the dead. And,
in regular public speech to the
assembled prisoners the japanese
camp commander stated that he did
not like Americans, and that he did
not care how many died.
Col Melinik:
When the Bataan prisoners ar
rived at Cabanatuan the American
leaders in our group did their best
to compile list of those who had
died previously. This list was kept
up to date as others died at
Cabanatuan. AS far as I know the
list is still at Cabanatuan, and it
contains many hundreds of names
which have not yet been announced
by the japanese
The death rate at ODonnell. we
learned, had been frightful. Many
of the prisoners had fought On to
the end at Bataan, although wound
ed or i'll, After the death march
there was hardly a man who was
not clearly a hospital case. Careful
estimates from many of the officers
who survived place the number of
Americans who died there in April
and May at 1900. 1 have been
assured that this number is con-
servative. Filipinos were dying at
the rate of 500 a day, with Ameri-
cans dying at the rate of so day
The death rate finally became so
alarming that the japanese began
to discharge the Filipinos as soon
as they became i'll, hoping that they
would die in the bosom of their
families and thus free the Japs of
responsibility. American officers
say that, of the $4,000 Filipinos who
started out from Bataan on April 9,
1912, fully $1,000 had died by the
end of May, when the surviving
Americans were transferred to
Cabanatuan.
(Tomorrow: Unburied Dead.)
Copyright, 1914, by the Bell
Syndicate 1nc.)