Evening star., 1945-11-09
Gen. Woinwrieht's Own Story:
fThirty-Jourth OF a series.)
By GEN. JONATHAN M.
WAINWRIGHT.

On June D, l943, 28 OF the senior
officers and Allied civilian governors
and orderlies were separated from
the others in the .Tamazato camp on
Formosa. The remaining SO officers
and men were ordered to pack They
left us torattle around in Tamazato,
after our farewells and expressions
of hope that they would find better
treatment wherever they were going
and this turned out to be another
fruitless hope. -...-
1t was lonesome without them at
Tamazato. We had all beer. through
so much together that we had come
to depend heavily on our numbers
for comfort and the imperative de-
sire to go on living.
& But. on June % those of us who
were left at Tamazato were told to
round up cur belongings. We were
, to be sent to special camp prepared
for us near Muksaq, also on Formosa
. We went by train in three or four
/ hours, to Karenko. where we trans
ferred to dirty little coastal ship
and were jammed into the small
hold for the night.
Same Old Story.
1t was the same old story, as bad
as that of our last night of Jap
boat travel. Our group of 28 spent
. that night in space about IS feet
long by feet wide, and the shelf
on which we were told to sleep wa:
so small that to keep from breathing
in one another's faces we alternated
positions-one head against the wall
and one pair of feet, one head and
one feet, and so on down the line
None of us slept much that night
! Every time I dozed off the feet OF
Dutch general would come thump-
ing down on my chest or face.
+ We had carefully boarded the
last Of our South African Red Gross
packages, and it was just as well
We did. For we were fed nothing
else that day and night.
At 9 am, on June "a, 1943, our boai
docked at Kee-lung, the port town
of Taihoku, which is the capital OF
Formosa. We were marched through
the town of Kee Lung to the railroad
station-and curious band of for
mer officers and men we were, what
with our burdens. our emaciateo
conditions, the rags of what had
been uniforms and, anonymously
a fat pet duck which Sergt. Hubert
Carroll and another enlisted man
had picked UP at Tamazato. 1t was
the only healthy living thing in the
line of march.
Loaded Into Truck.
We were taken by train to Tai
hoku, which lies about 20 miles in
land, ordered out of the train and
all of us, including Donald (oul
inevitable name for the duck, were
loaded into one truck and moved
the remaining 6 miles to our new
camp, which lay near the village OF
Muksaq.
The new camps buildings were
made of rough pine board and were
placed on hill above a. valley OF
rice fields. The hill had originally
been an orange grove, but most of its
trees were gone by the time we
reached there. We were assigned
to a long, low one-story building
with straight hall down the center
and eight small rooms off each side
of the hall.
They were tiny-81a feet by 10, as
7 I~measured them-but each room
had an easy chair, bamboo cot and
a table for our meals and writing.
We were even given number of
books, seized from the British consul
at Taihoku by the Japanese alien
property custodian.
As a further test of our credulity
We received more rice at our first
meal than I had seen at one time
since my early days of captivity at
Manila. What is more, it was ac-
companied by vegetables.
We, were told that we could spend
100 yen of our prisoner-of-war pay
each month for cigarettes, even a
few cigars, tomato catsup, soya
sauce. tea and sugar. We would
even be given fruit, and we would
not be forced to work if we did not
care to do SO.
Too Good to Be True.
1t was all too good to be true, as
the enlisted men soon found out
A, few days after our arrival they
were handed the usual chunkers
and ordered to clear land for farm
But the officers were not made to
work at this time We sat by and
waited, wondering what the catch
was.
We did not have long to wait
About a week after our arrival we
were visited by beaming, con-
tented looking Jap colonel, a men,
ber of the staff of the commander
of the Taiwan (FormosanJ Army
He was almost outrageously friendly,
and looked astonishingly like a
benevolent ape.
II am Col. Sesawa," he introduced
himself with vast smile. "Is there
anything you want?" he asked soli-
citously. IF there's anything on
your minds, just let me know. I
will fix it. You can trust me"
We just looked at him, unable
to answer, knowing that there must
be a method in what was patiently
sheer madness.
Our first couple of weeks at
Muksaq were so quiet, and we had
become so accustomed to work, that
we found ourselves becoming rest
less. We had learned from bitter
experience, too, that we must be
about the business of raising food.
We had been removed from Tarlac
before our vegetables had half
matured. We had seen most of our
painfully raised goats taken from us
at Karenko, just when they were
large enough to be eaten, and were
permitted to bring only two of them
on from Tamazato-both males.
Bought Hogs and Chickens.
So we collected money and bought
10 half-grown hogs and some chicks.
Several of the senior officers also
tegan small gardens, planting toma-
toes.
We slaughtered the two goats
shortly after our arrival, for we were