The Wilmington morning star., 1945-11-14
Gen. Wainwright Describes Reaction
of Men On News Of Allied Victory

less cigarets of the Jap military
smoked perhaps six of these q
day-all I could get-then cut ur
the butts and used their contents
in my pipe.
ALI of our teeth were in bac
condition at this late date in physi.
cal neglect, and after much dick
ering the Japs let us hire a JAP
dentist in February. He came with
rudimentary type of filling and
stocked it into our cavities with
primitive skill. Several of us, in
GLIDING myself, had teeth which
had been broken off at the gums,
but the dentist would not pull what
was left and we suffered greatly
from these nubs.
The theiving Jap supply men al
Sian, with their warped outlook
often offered to sell us things for
which we had no earthly use: jap
pictures, toy dolls, toy horses, Gig.
aret cases and-one day-several
sets OF curling IRONS
Loneliness Grows
A new loneliness crept in on us
as the endless winter continued.
All of our mail was cut off and
since we were permitted to hear
no official news as to the progress
of the war we began to feel more
abandoned than ever in our bleak
exile.
We did notice, however, that the
number of air raid drills increased
and more often than not, at night,
we were told to draw our blackout
curtains. We had no way of know
ing for certain, but we reasoned
that on more than one occasion
these exercises were more than
mere drills, though we heard no
planes or bombs. We ached for
some such harbinger.
It was still freezing at Sian on
March 81, but the Japs method
cally ordered us to turn in the
warm clothing they had issued to
u.s.. and they shut off the heat
for this was the first day of
Spring. BY April 3, when it was
16 degrees above zero, we all had
heavy colds or influenza. The Japs
then made a concession and turn.
ed the heat back on for an hour In
the morning and an hour in the
evening. But this stopped week
later.
They put the enlisted men to
work about this time, ploughing a
garden in the nearby ground,
though the ground was still frozen
from II to 10 inches deep. The
senior officers were given small
plots in which they might raise
vegetables. Sgt. Carroll, in addi'
ton to his heavy work, generous
ly planted me some string beans,
red peppers, melons and tomatoes.
Carroll and other enlisted men
began coming to me from time to
time in the early spring of 1915
to tell me that Jap soldiers with
whom they occasionally spoke had
told them the war was going well
for the Americans in the Pacific.
In captivity it is easy to grasp
at any comforting rumor. How
ever, I had had too much contact
with a quirk that is peculiar to the
Jap mentality. The Jap takes an
especial delight in lying. He uses
lies as means of building up a
captive to a greater letdown when
the truth becomes evident. So ]
tried not to let myself become ex.
cited over these rumors OF sue
cess-and the hope of early liberia.
tion-and set to work to try to
figure the length of the war as
accurately as my military training
permitted.
I first concluded that the war
could never end until we landed
a strong force on Japan proper.
1t seemed imperative, therefore,
that we must gain possession Of
an island near enough to Japan tc
permit a landing on the mainland
supported by 1and-based aviation
as well as by the fleet. I decided
that it would take the better part
of a year to build up suitable
invasion force after the island had
been captured.
With the hypothetical island in
our hands sometime in 1915 I be.
lieved that it would take until
nearly the end of 1916 to build up
the base, assemble the necessary
troops and aviation and attend to
the training for the invasion.
No knowledge
I, of course, had no knowledge