Evening star., 1945-11-13
Gen. Woinwrieht's Own Story:
fThirty-eighth OF a Series. }
BY GEN. JONATHAN M.
WAINWRIGHT

ne m6Il Ildu W leave Uclllllu al
Shen Tai Tun, when the Japs mov-
ed me to my final prison camp
underwent miserable 1944-1945
winter. They, too, received Red
Cross packages on the day we part
ed But the Japs took charge OF
dispensing the goods, and to make
certain that the men did not store
any goods away, against harder
times, the Japs punched holes in
each can of meat and opened other
foods in such way as to make
the matter 90 bad unless consumed
quickly.
But the meat, cheese, canned but
ter and powdered milk in the pack
ages worked miracles with the men,
Gen. Beebe later reported to me.
They gained weight after we left
until most of them were within 20
or rs pounds of their normal weight.
Their long months of starvation
and their advancing years. however,
had caused serious dental troubles.
Some of their teeth had been brok-
en- or loosened by beatings. Many
of the prisoners at ,Sheng Tai Tun
during that hard winter suffered
from assesses and their jaws were
swollen to point where in some
cases they were not able to eat for
as many as two or three days.
Often Walked Floors.
These men often walked the floors
day and night until the assesses
burst, after which they were af-
forded some relief.
Finally, the Japs listened to their
constant pleas and permitted them
to hire local dentist, who was pro-
flcient mainly in yanking teeth,
The Japs would not allow him any
materials with which to fill cavi-
ties.
To keep out temperatures that
dropped as low as As degrees below
zero the prisoners pasted strips of
paper over their loose windows and
stayed close to their stoves. read
ing and re-reading their books
Enlisted men were beaten now and
then for trivial infractions of the
rules, but the beatings were not
widespread.
The officers formed their old
musical organization again an
were permitted to move from one
place to another in the camp area
putting on their shows. When they
ran out OF tunes, new ones and
lyrics were composed by Coils. Cor
don Sage, once commander of one
of my anti-aircraft regiments and
a survivor of Camp O'Donnell, and
Ted Lilly, another talented musi-
clan who made life at Sheng Tai
Tun more bearable.
Dig in Frozen Ground.
The first real trouble with the
Jap captors that winter came when
the men were ordered to dig fox
holes in ground which was frozen
as solid as battleShips armor
But the Japs finally had their way
for they controlled the food which
the new flesh of our men so might
lily craveo.
However, In the late winter when
the Japs insisted that the officers
begin working on the farm our mer
rejected the demand as vehemently
as they had done at Shirakawa
They tolo the Japs of their bitter
experiences at that place, and re-
fused to listen to their new cap
tors when: the latter promised them
that they: would receive such food
as they raised AS a result, lists
were made of the officers who re-
fused to work and their food was
cut Immediately.
But our: men had one great COM
fort at Sheng Tai Tun. They had
devised means of getting news OF
the outsid,e world An enlisted man
got the srogram under way He
became friendly with Jap sentry
who coula speak a little English
and made a bargain whereby he
would give the sentry his wristwatch
in exchange for three Jap news
papers. He knew that Coils. Hoff
man and WOOD were expert trans
Those tewspapers were perhaps
among tie most expensive in the
history Il publishing. The sentr!
dangeroufly stole them from th'
camp commanders Office and the,
had to fe returned to the com
mander's. desk at certain tim'
each night All concerned took tn,
risk, anof EXPENSE high tribut,
to the va tue of a newspaper, even {
Jap paptE.
Jat Feared Execution.
The Jap soldier who stole tn,
papers st1t word to our men tha
they must never discuss news with
in earshcS of any other Jap, for i
suspicion fell upon him the Ameri
cans would most surely be severel,
punished sand he himself would bt
executedt
The pspers continued to be de-
livered td our men under cover O.
darkness,i and their wristwatche!
and late:' their fountain pens ant
automatic pencils disappeared ont
by one. They learned with mount
ing excitement that the war il
Europe Mas going well, and tina
Japan proper was being bombed b.
B-29s. they could not imagine
what f3-29 looked like, but tn
bombing was enough. They learne'
too, frolt these papers of Mac
Arthur's !. landings in the Philip
pines arsi later of the death O
Presidens Roosevelt, and the,
spread these tremendous word
from mouth to mouth.