Evening star., 1945-11-13
Gen. Wloinwrieht's Own Story:
fThi,,ty-eighth OF a Series.)
BY GEN. JONATHAN M.
WAINWRIGHT


Cross packages on the day we part
ed. But .the Japs took charge O.
dispensing the goods, and to make
certain that the men did not store
any goods away, against harder
times, the Japs punched holes ir
each can of meat and opened othel
foods in .Such way as to make
the matter go bad unless consumed
quickly. 1,
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 q
or Is 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 lodsened by beatings. Many
of the prisoners at Sheng Tai Tur
during that hard winter suffered
from assesses and their jaws were
swollen to a point where in some
cases they were not able to eat fol
as many as two or three days.
Often Walked Floors.
These r*en often walked the floors
day and night until the abscesse!
burst, after which they were af.
forded some relief.
Finally. the Japs listened to theil
constant pleas and permitted then
to hire local dentist, who was pro-
f1cient mainly in yanking teeth
The Japsi would not allow him any
materials with which to fill cavi-
ties.
To keep out temperatures thai
dropped as low as As degrees below
zero the prisoners pasted strips Of
paper over their loose windows ano
stayed close to their stoves, read
ing and re-reading their books
Enlisted men were beaten now ano
then for trivial infractions of the
rules. but the beatingS were not
widespread.
The officers formed their old
musical organization again n
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 aHti-aircraft regiments and
a survivof of Camp ODonnell, 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 aground which was frozen
as solidtas battleship's armor
But the JapS finally had their way
for they controlled the food which
the new flesh of our men so might
lily craved.
However, in the late winter when
the Japs insisted that the officers
begin working on the farm our men
rejected the demand as vehemently
as they had done at Shirakawa
They tolt the Japs of their bitter
experiences at that place, and re-
fused to listen to their new cap
tors wheu the latter promised them
that they would receive such food
as they raised. AS result, lists
we're ma5e 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 outside world An enlisted man
got the program under way. He
became friendly with a Jap sentry
who could speak little English
and MADE a bargain whereby he
would girse the sentry his wristwatch
in exchange for three Jap news
papers. tHe knew that Coils. Hoff-
man and Wood were expert trans
lators.
Those newspapers were perhaps
among the most expensive in the
history IF publishing. The sentry
dangerously stole them from the
camp commander Office and they
had to be returned to the COM
manderSi desk at a certain time
each nigAt. All concerned took the
risk, and expense-a high tribute
TO the value of a newspaper, even q
Jap paper.
ian Feared Execution.
The Jap soldier who stole the
bapers sent word to our men that
they must never discuss news with
in earshet of any other Jap, for il
suspiciorss fell upon him the Ameri-
cans wo:tld most surely be severely
punishecs and he himself would be
executes
The Fapers continued to be de-
livered % our men under cover OF
darkness and their wristwatches
and latf their fountain pens and
automatic pencils disappeared one
by one. They learned with mount
ing excitement that the war in
Europe was going well, and that
Japan proper was being bombed by
B-29s. They could not imagine
what a B-29 looked like, but the
bombing was enough. They learned
too, from these papers of Mac
Arthur's landings in the Philip.
pines and later of the death oi
President Roosevelt, and tn ey
spread ] these tremendous words
from mt7uth to mouth.
On May 20, l945, the Jap com.
mander;; of the camp angrily tolo
them t;nat since they refused tt
work hf was sending them to Muk-
den, why're they would find sternel
treatmet It.
They we're shipped to new pris-
on cam. which the Japs had erect
ed neal Mukden as permanent
home for Allied captives. Appar-
emily it was built on the presump-
tion th{t Japan not only would win
the wal: but would keep many priso-
ners at Rork for years to come. Fol
the met were told when they re-
ported hat if they obeyed all rules
"in the tnext 10 or 20 years to come
their relatives from America would
be permitted to visit them! Still
they refused to work.
Near Large Factory.
The hew camp lay close to q