Evening star., 1945-02-17
By the Associated press.

rible march Of Bataan was "a picnic
compared with two weeks spent in
the 'hell-hold' Of a Jap prison ship"
before it was torpedoed by an Allied
submarine last october, with only
five survivors thus far known of
1900 aboard en- route from the Phil
ippines to Japan.
1t. Robert s. Overlook wasn't on
Bataan-he was captured when
Corregidor fell-but he was one Of
the five who lived to tell OF ''in-
human living conditions on the
Jap freighter. Two Of the five who
were in the death march told him
what they went through on the ship
was much worse.
In Washington, the War Depart
ment said 1t had sought conflrna-
ton from the japanese that the
ship had been sunk, but has re-
ceived no response. It Is continuing
Its efforts to learn the names of the
prisoners aboard the ship.
Overlook Jap Lifeboat.
But for the fact that 1t. Overlook,
%, was a powerful swimmer and
able to endure long enough to catch
up with an abandoned Jap lifeboat
being driven away by a strong wind,
there possibly would have been no
survivors among the Allied prisoners.
Back in his native Baltimore for
the first time in seven years, 1t.
Overlook talked somewhat reluc-
family yesterday of the terrific
heat, terrible thirst, sinking sani-
tary conditions, aching and cramped
muscles and sickness among non
complaining, but suffering men"
that went on for fortnight.
1t. Overlook, civil engineer near
Manila, joined the Army when the
war started. After more than two
years in prison camp, he was taken
from Bilibid Prison in Manila and
put aboard the 5,000-ton Jap
freighter last October II.
There were 1900 men, 1t. Over
beck said, crammed into an area
8 feet high, SO feet wide and 90 feet
long, divided into three tiers each
3 feet high. They couldn't even sit
erect.
Heat Nearly Unbearable.
Their ship hid in islands nearby
until October 20. The heat was
almost unbearable, with the sides
Of the ship 80 hot nobody could
touch them as the men lay naked.
Jap machine guns were trained on
a tiny entrance to the hole so small
only one man could pass through
at time. Only 10 men who cooked
rice for them were allowed on deck
They got only about two hands full
Of rice day and had so little dirty
water" to drink they couldn't eat
that.
The ship left and the men were
told they were headed for Japan az
part of a convoy guarded by jap
anese destroyers. On October "a
four days later, their ship was tor
pedoed in the China Sea about 25t
miles off the China coast.
'Nips Scared as He'll"
They knew there was commotion
on deck among the Japanese a
torpedoes swished past, fore and aft
"The third struck squarely amid
ships and buckled the vessel, but II
didn't break In two" 1t. Overlook
said. by then the Nips-300 OF
them on deck-were scurrying
about, scared as hell. The boilers
exploded.
"I don't think any Of US got hurt
in the torpedoing or the explosion,
he added, saying that most prisoners
were Americans, with few British.
That was about 5 pm.
The Japs took the only two life
boats aboard as all 800 abandoned
ship, but not before cutting ropes
leading into the forward hold where
600 prisoners had been moved to lie
on loose coal. The ropes were the
only means of escape.
For about Is seconds there was
panic among us, but there were five