Evening star., 1945-11-01

%*3ss3$;:%3 &e$sS over university
I Club at Manila.
- 50 He had been a
Gen. Wainwright. discus thrower
on the 1882 Japanese olympic team
at Los Angeles.
Probably at some risk to himself,
he sent out and bought cigarettes
for us on two occasions. With some
pesos I gave him, he also bought
me a small electric plate and a
little coffee pot in which we care
fully brewed the ever-diminishing
coffee which Sergt. Hubert Carroll
had rescued from Corregidor.
And so went our Manila stay until
the morning of June 9, 1912, when
cocky little 1t. Uramura entered
my room and loudly read off a
letter in Japanese from 1t. Gen.
MaSaharu Homma,s headquarters.
Then he translated, and we learned
that all organized resistance by my
troops in the Philippines had ended.
"Your high command ceases i'm
mediately," he said, looking at me.
"You are now a prisoner of war.
You and your staff officers will
be transported today to a prison
camp for senior officers at Tarlac."
Stared at by Filipinos.
The Japs had not left us much
to pack, but we bundled what we
had and were led down to the street
in front of the University Club
where curious Filipinos- gathered to
stare at us.
Our baggage was thrown into a
truck and we were thumbed into
two cars, driven out of the city and
onto Highway No. 3, which leads
toward Tarlac. 1t was another silent
ride, for we were not only passing
through land we had fought for and
lost, but 1 think all of us shared
my feeling that things were going
to be worse from now on.
The land of Luzon clearly showed
the heavy hand of war. AS we drove
through the town of Angeles I was
shocked at the destruction of what
had been a pretty little settlement.
We had left it untouched when we
withdrew from it during our long
trek from Lingayen Gulf to Cor
regidor. 1t must have been heavily
bombed after our troops departed.
We arrived at Tarlac ct pm.
that June 9, and found it as de-
molished as Angeles. We found also
that we would not be alone. Senior
officers from Camp O'Donnell and
Bilihid Prison had moved into our
new prison before us, including Maj.
Gen. George F. Moore.
1SO in Quarters for so.
The barracks to which we were
assigned had once housed 80 Philip
pine Army trainees. But the Japs
put 18O of us in there. The gen.
eral officers were each given a cot,
with the heads against wall and
the sides so close to one another
that we had to climb in over the
foot. Officers below the rank of
general were assigned to wooden,
double -decked hunks on which there
were, of course. no springs or mat
tresses. They gave us no blankets.
I had two with me and I gave one
to Brig. Gen. Lewis Beebe.
The cots and hunks were on the
second floor of the little building.
Downstairs was a small mess and
two smaller rooms, one of which we
turned into a hospital to care for
the brutalized men from ODonnell
The plumbingless latrine was in the
yard near the barracks, but in time
we built another farther from the
barracks.
Z We soon were told that we were
not to consider ourselves the equal
of any of our captors. We had with
us two Japanese-speaking officers,
Col. Wood, who had been stranded
in Mindanao when the Navy plane
that was taking him to Australia
was wrecked, and Col. Robert Hoff-
man. 1t was to these two officers
that the Japs gave the first in
structions bordering on our future
conduct. They spread the evil
word.
If hatless, we were required to
bow to any passing Jap soldier, re-
gardless of his rank or ours. If we
were wearing hats we were to salute
all Jap soldiers, and always had to
stand at attention when one en-
tered the barracks.
6 Gets Lesson in Bowing.
i got my first lesson in bowling
rom a Jap sergeant. I can still
feel the wish to reich that I felt
when I first was forced to do it.
The food at Tarlac was much
worse than at Manila. Our diet
consisted principally of rice, with an
ounce or two of either pork or beef
thrown in once every week or two.
1t was not nearly enough food to
restore the health of men already
weakened by the privations Of
Bataan and Corregidor and subse-
quent imprisonment.
1t is difficult for a wheat-eating
people to change to rice as staple
food. A mans whole digestive sys-
tenn undergoes radical change. All
of us suffered badly from diarrhea.
But we were able finally to per-
suade the Jap officer in charge of
our camp to permit us to buy ad-
ditional food and supplies with what
money we had. The Tarlac region
had been well stripped of many
needed commodities, but We were
able on rare occasions to augment
our starvation rations with tiny and
insufficient purchases of bananas,
canned milk, sugar, native beans
and native candies. We also set up
a kind of poor mans PIX whose
empty shelf was occasionally stocked
with few packages of Filipino
cigarettes and bars of carabao soap.
1t seemed, and was, pathetic fare.
Yet later we were to look back on
1T, and on Tarlac itself, as Paradise.
I'VE were required to do our own
little housework at Tarlac, such as
making our beds, If we had any bed
clothing to straighten, and sweep-
Ing. Many of the officers were next
to barefooted, but despite many ap-
peals we got no shoes. Instead. we
lost some of our remaining belong
lngs. The last piece of military