Evening star., 1944-02-15

MELLNIK, U. s. A., as Told to
CHAPTER x-ESCAPE DELAYED
BY JAPS.
Comdr. Mccoy:
In early March our plans were
given an entirely new twist. At that
time was approached by Capt. A.
C. Shofner, Marine Corps. Shofner
reported that he and five other
Army and Marine Corps officers
were planning an escape. They
would lkie me to take charge If ]
so desired.
Capt. Shofner's party was head
ed by himself and Capt. w. E. Dyess
the famous Bataan ace, who was
later killed in plane crash after
our escape. In addition, there were
two other Marine Corps officers
first Its. Jack Hawkins and Michael
Bobervich, and two other Amy Of
f1cers. Second Its. Samuel Grashio
who had flown with Dyess on Ba-
taan, and L. A. Boelens.
Our two groups now merged, and
we added to our party two Filipino
convicts who were serving time for
murder, Beningo de la Cruz and
Victorio Jamarung.
Il will need sextant,' I pointed
out, during a furtive meeting of our
little group.
1t. Boelens said that he could
make a sextant in the prison work.
shop. He not only kept his promise
he did a bang-up job in the bar
gain. In some manner, Mellnik
was able to lay his hands on book
of astronomy, and I was able to
obtain the necessary data on the
principal stars, and also the equa-
tion Of time. We were also able to
obtain the proper altitude correc-
tions; and since I could compute
the correct ascension and declina-
ton OF the sun, I felt prepared to
navigate within reasonable limits.
also had pocket watch which
had a fairly constant rate, and
whose error I determined by COM
pairing the watch with the time of
apparent local noon.
1t. Col. MelInik.
We selected March % as the date
for our escape. This was a Sunday,
and We figured that once clear we
would have as much as eight hours
start before the Japs discovered
our absence
Things were steadily getting worse
In the prison camp, particularly
among those prisoners who were
too weak to go on work details, and
thus were unable to steal any food.
The problem of smuggling in food
to these prisoners was also becom-
ing harder, as the Jap guards had
begun to search most of us when
we returned from the prison farm
at the end of each days work.
Conditions in the camp only spur
red our determination to make a
break. Of the working prisoners,
few had footgear of any kind. 1t
is still a nightmarish memory to
think of American prisoners, their
bodies weakened by malaria and
beri beri, working in rice paddles
with mud and water up to their
waists.
Eight hundred of the prisoners
were in a separate compond as
unfit for work. These were the
prisoners partially or totally blind
due to diet deficiencies, those whose
beri beri kept them from walking,
those with severe hernia and others
with various illnesses.
Two hundred others had already
been removed to the hospital as
totally unable to care for them
selves, and this number was in
creasing daily. Almost no medi-
cines were available for any of these
prisoners.
Officer is Badly Beaten.
At about this time-early in the
second week in March-an Army
lieutenant colonel in charge of
sugar cane detail attempted to
smuggle some cut sugar to the
American prisoners in the hospital.
The lieutenant colonel was caught
by a guard, cuffed about, and taken
to Jap headquarters. AS punish
ment, the American camp COM
mander and his adjutant - both
chosen as such by the prisoners
themselves-were severely slapped.
The lieutenant colonel was tied to
a stake for "a hours. He was beaten
severely; and although he did not
die at once, it is doubtful if he is
still alive.
On March IA, we rehearsed our
carefully-planned escape route, but
without taking any of our equip
ment. We were overjoyed to find
that we apparently had not been
spotted from any of the watch
towers or observation posts. Then
on March 26, we began to sneak our
equipment into the jungle. (The
Japanese, incidentally, will not
voluntarily go into the Philippine
tungles unless they are armed and
in force)
We continued to sneak our equip
ment into the jungles on the next
day, which was Saturday. One of
our worst danger points was a
guaToIOuSe, Wnlcn had to be passed
If we were to get our equipment out
safely.
Capt. Dyess remembered that the
sentries at this guardhouse were
partial to the fruit which was gath
cred for use by the Japanese, and
which usually was brought by this
spot. On the day before we
planned to escape, we placed our
equipment in the bottom of a bull
cart driven by Dyess and Mellnik.
The equipment was then hidden by
covering it with small logs. On the
back of the cart was placed a burlap
bag of star apples, such as was often
delivered in this manner to the jap
anese quartermaster.
That Al