The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-11-10
Gen. Wainwright Describes Euents Oh, Christmas Day
At Muksaq Prison Camp And Courage Ofl7is Officers
CHAPTER IS
THIS is MY STORY
TDar JONATHAN NJ

-, GIN GNIAA
by ' WAINWRIGHT
copyright 1s45, King Features
.u rpdicate. Inc. Reproduction,
syn nrhoIe or in part strictly pro- &.
i'll "" hibited)
..4noas of 1913, at Muksaq on
Cnl aosa was hardly an old-time
t 0ln. But it was so much
Cn l.sr Inn our previous Christmas
ps'1 Tarpnko that there can be no
at No aarison. We were permitted to
e Slpbter our first of the hogs we
'+su s lending, and though the Japs
Ssl .,ntlv moved in and took the
plulsp shoulders and chops, they
hsnl >, with the head, feet and the
e'' " J5oInctable organs. On top OF
less The tbe commander of the post
ulet ne two small turkeys.
SEN had rr Sgt. Hubert Carroll, my
LAW come to my room and
so Christmas dinner with me.
. 10 as' md the other enlisted men were
he s snd treated as all of us had
a. 49, at Karenko, with the excep-
PEE oesA If the beatings. If possible,
a 1iuu were worked harder at Muk-
'le' than at Karenko. They were
SAY n,iserably housed that it made
50 a al.hanoed of myself to have a
, ,itt room of my own.
'I The enlisted mems quarters con-
.isted of single room with a &C.
s sls,,4 floor. On each side OF the
n.en, WAS a long bench extending
! .Ion+ seven feet out from the
sDJ This was their bed-place.
T vsnb bench slept 16 men, and the
anlv insulation between them and
olly no l, boards were their blan-
S1 with them lived British Capt.
Donnd Turner. He had been the aid
&c R. Smith, Governor OF Brl-
t;sh North Borneo, who joined us
If Nuksao not long after our ar
d a;,ai there. The Japs refused to
rernit Smith to bring an alde' SO
r.n+ Turner volunteered to come
e s1ong as Smiths orderly. Upon
his b arrival the Japs insisted that
Turner join the enlisted men,
rhicb he willingly did, though it
meant much cruel hardship, long
h ,, of back-breaking work in the
selds and the worst kind of work
aro,,nd the barracks and latrine.
Capt Turner and the enlisted
mon ate their starvation fare -
anpmented by what we could raise
~ slaughter - at a table which
was placed down the center OF
+beir barren room. They would sit
m the edges of their sleeping
benches and lean over, Tor no
chairs we're provided.
BITTER WINTER
Muksao lies $50 miles north OF
ysrenko and farther inland. The
winter we spent there was a bitter
onp for our buildings were OF
hose, tropical construction. We
we're able to buy little clothing
out of our prison-of-war pay,
and these clothes we wore over the
Philippine Summer uniforms W
had brought with us into captivity.
Early in 1914 Col. Sasawa came
TO Major Gen. Edward P. King and
me and told US that the American
Red Cross had arranged for him
to make a talking newsreel OF the
two Of us. After one look at his
prepared script we refused. But
upon more mature consideration
We told him we woul do it, II
we could alter the script. We felt
that as innocuous as the new script
would be, the film would at least
give American audiences proof OF
our condition, prove to our faml-
les We were still alive and that we
could mention a number of other
men in our camp, to indicate that
they. too. were alive
Kiag and I made the neWsreel,
but I do not believe it was ever
sent to the Red Cross. Perhaps
The sight of us on the screen was
too much for the Japs to release.
Both Of us were more than skele-
tons now, but still about 30 pounds
under the weights our families re-
membered.
Sasawa made one more effort,
though In the early spring Of 1914
ne took us fishing in a beautiful
river that emerged out of a near
by mountain gorge, and treated us
to another picnic lunch. He made
ahc,ler speech, half of it scorn-
i summary of U. S. and Allied
war efforts and the rest of it
plea for lis to write to our war de-
partments and tell them how well
we were being treated. Again we
Just sat there and stared at him,
and he stomped off angrily look
ing more like an ape than ever
ana gave US up as a bad job. His
'aclt appeals 10 us to end the war
as If we could. - were comfort
ing in the extreme. We knew the
'aos were beginning to worry.
The new prisoners at our camp
Drought news Of their hardships
ana grim reports on many old
friends. From them I learned of
ae death of Capt. Rocks, skipper
VI Inc cruiser Houston, which had
oace been President Roosevelt s
laVorlte warship. The Houston
went down in the Battle of Java
ana ana though the Japs picked up 300
ulllcers and lnen, learned later
u tlSI 'hev chose not to report this
70 the United States throupi1 the