Evening star., 1944-02-09


There was feeling. PARTICULAR.
among the enlisted men, that Uncl
Sam had merely been caught of
balance by puny but cunning TO,
in the first round, and that tn.
knockout punch even now was OF
the way. In Old Bilibid Prison, II
Manila, this feeling was expressed
in such statements as I'VE won't bt
here long-a couple weeks. maybe
or a month"
But those of us who had served
as staff officers knew something ol
the problems involved and were moi
so optimistic. We knew that the
United States had suffered hel
worst defeat in history and we knew
that the job ahead would be long
and hard.
From our few furtive contacts
with civilian Filipinos outside our
prison walls, we learned the Japs
were losing no time in bringing the
New Order in East Asia to the
Philippines. We had the additional
advantage of two listening points
one of us (Comdr. Mccoy being In
prison with staff officers at Pasay
and the other (Col. MellniR in Old
Bilibid.
All Filipinos, we learned, were
forced to bow to the Japanese. All
streets with American names were
being given Japanese names. All
commercial enterprises were being
given Japanese direction. Cultured
Filipinos were being told subtly that
their place in the greater East Asia
co-prosperity sphere was in the rice
paddles and abaca fields. In ad-
dition. the English language (spoken
BY almost every Filipino over 35) was
to be forbidden, and was to be re-
placed by Nippon-Go, a sort of SIM
plified basic Japanese"
Col. Mellnik:
Comdr. Mccoy still was at Pasay
when learned on May 27, 1912, that
I was to be transferred to the pri-
soner-of-war camp at Cabanatuan,
about rs miles north of Manila in
Luzon.
AS was their custom when Amer
lean military prisoners were to be
moved, the japanese waited until
the heat had reached its peak before
loading some $500 Of us into iron
boXcars. There were 100 men to
each car, with no room to sit or lie
down. The cars were tightly closed
so that there was no ventilation.
The inside of the car was like an
oven, with no water or sanitary
facilities. Several men tainted, but
there were no deaths.
When We got off the train at Ca
banatuan we were put into an open
field surrounded by barbed wire and
patrolled by sentries. We were told
that we would remain overnight.
Filipino civilians watched us from
a respectful distance, some of them
bearning bananas. papayas and
mangoes, but the Jap sentries kept
them warned back with their bayo-
nets.
Guard Buys Fruit.
1t. Col. Carl Eaglehart and I
were trying to keep cool under a
pup tent which we had put up. The
sight of the fruit was tantalizing
beyond description. Carl had been
a language student in Japan and,
finding few pesos between us, he
spoke in japanese to nearby
guard, asking him to buy us some
fruit.
The Jap seemed delighted at
hearing an American speak his Ian
guage. Much to our surprise he got
us the fruit, and then hastened
away. We were wolfing down the
fruit when the guard returned,
smiling and bowling. He spoke to
Carl in Japanese.
Something's up" Carl said to me.
The Jap c. o. wants to see US
The guard escorted us to the COM
manding officer. He greeted us in
perfect English, but we could see
that he was in murderous mood.
After the greeting he fixed us with
what seemed an interminable seoul
Then he spat at us suddenly: What
did you Americans mean by bomb
ing and machine-gunning Japanese
cjtieso"