Evening star., 1945-09-22
Former Orderly Of Jap
Al Prison on Luzon
Finds Romance Here
By MALvINA STEPHENSON.

Sergt. arthur A. CnenOWeth O1
524 Quackenbos street NV, claims
the dubious honor of having beer
the only American orderly to jar
officer
1t wasn't a matter of choice. The
plucky little sergeant simply had tt
take it and make the best of things
Most of the time the treatment was
pretty rough.
That's part of the past now. Tht
sergeant is looking forward to Oc.
tober 81. when he and Miss Donna
Cline, %, of 1448 Oak street NV.
Commerce Department secretary
will be married. They met at the
Ambassador Hotel swimming poo
last April.
Sergt. ChenoWeth served on the
staff of Col. Ito. the commanding
officer for the area in which Camp
ODonnell, notorious prison on
Luzon, was situated He doesn't
know what happened to the AFRO
CANT and merciless Jap, but he trusts
it was nothing good"
slapped and hlcked.
"He slapped me and kicked me
around" Sergt. Chenoweth said.
HE was strictly a bad egg. but he
was abusive to all his men. On
that point, his Jap orderly and
had something in common"
Sergt. Chenoweth has a knack for
picking up new language. He be-
heves his knowledge of japanese
was probably responsible for his
selection as an orderly. Among
other things, he served as interpreter
and liason agent between Col. Ito
and the Americans at Camp
ODonnell.
Besides that. I cleaned up his
Office and did other chores" Sergt.
Chenoweth said. Il also prepared
his tea every afternoon"
Struggled Out Tea.
At this close range, Sergt. Cheno-
veth occasionally was able to
smuggle out bit of tea and precious
quinine. That was the only way
we could keep alive" he says al
most apologetically,
This close association with the
Japs was packed with ridiculous
incidents. He tells this story about
Col Ito:
THE colonel had a little lemon
plant in his Office, with one tiny
lemon. He tended to it himself
every day and watched the precious
lemon grow. The lemon was not
only rare over there, but I think the
colonel was kind of plant Wor-
shipper.
"One day another prisoner and !
were carrying some big boxes down
the hillsides for the colonel and we
stopped to rest. The boy took out
Of his pocket little yellow object
and to my horror I Immediately
discovered it was the coloners
lemon. I warned him and begged
him to return it, wire it back on
the plant. or do anything. I knew
there'd be plenty to pay when we
got back.
Blames 1t on Monkey.
THE colonel was furious. He
kicked and slapped us, while we
made strong denials. Finally, l
pointed to pet monkey, implying
that the monk was the guilty fellow
Whereup, he grabbed the monkey
and threw it with a mighty swing
The monkey survived, but never for
got. And he was a good warning
signal for us. Whenever the COL
onel approached the Office head
quarters the monkey Immediately
would scamper to the other side of
the camp. He never would put in
an appearance until the colonel had
withdrawn again. That monkey
was certainly uncanny.
Early in 1943 Sergt. Chenoweth
was assigned to the Jap Navy as a
laborer and interpreter. Next, he
went to Nichols Field, where he re-
ceived the worst treatment of his
entire imprisonment.
At Nichols Field Sergt. Cheno-
weth said he was beaten with pick
handles and on two occasions his
back was burned with iron rods at a
blacksmith shop. They were pun
1shlng me for not getting enough
work done" Re explained. Again
somebody stole some rice and I got
the blame"
For these burns, Sergt. Chenoweth
was given Oak Leaf Clusters. in
addition to the original Purple Heart
he received for battle wounds on
Bataan. The recognition, of course,
did not come until after he was
liberated in March. He has four
Oak Leaf Clusters altogether, and
for gallantry in action, he was
awarded the Silver Star and a Presi-
Dental Citation.
Considers Wainwright Hero.
Sergt. Chenoweth considers Gen.
Wainwright hero and a great man
but he does not warm to the mem
ton Of Gen. MacArthur's name. He
said there was some resentment over
the wording of the bulletin Gen.
Macarthur left nailed to the trees
on Bataan. He quoted it as follows:
i am leaving to 60 to Australia
Fight on. If you do not, you will be
destroyed. I shall return
The third sentence of the warning
did not seem to hit just right with
the boys left behind, he said.
At Bilibid, at the time of the
liberation, Gen. Macarthur entered
and singled out Sergt. Chenoweth
for a greeting before the movie
cameras. Il guess it was because I
was about the worst-looking person
in the prison" Sergt. Chenoweth
explained smilingly. MY hair was
clipped short and I only weighed
80 pounds. I had had 81 recur-
rencies of malaria and every kind
OF disease out there you could
think Of"
Sergt. Chenoweth, however, re-
cuperated rapidly. He gained 40
pounds the first month. After two
weeks at Letterman General Hos
pital in California, he was brought
to Walter Reed Hospital here.
Npy, he ;e ~, = +l.~a.