The Wilmington morning star., 1945-11-14
CHAPTER 80
THIS is MY STORY.
-, GENERAL JONATHAN M.
~ WAINWRIGHT


Nv GENERAL JONATHAN M.
'' WAINWRIGHT
,convright, 1915, King Features
sN.ndicate, Inc. Reproduction in
e, nore or in part strictly pro-
hibited.)
had no notion where our group
:. senior officers was being taken
" W the morning of December l.
.oaa when we placed Major Gen.
1 rduard P. Kings litter on the
L L of the hard railroad car
parches at Sheng Tai Tun and be.
s s to speculate on what was in
t s Red Cross packages that lay so
tsmptingly close to us.
We discovered our destination at
na end of long, cold ride that day
ahen the train pulled into the Man
oburian village of Sian. Gen. Kings
litter was lifted on a waiting truck,
NTH the baggage, and the rest OF
&c we're piled into a bus. We were
tsken to our new prison camp
which lay beyond that quaint old
Manchurian settlement.
Our train had been frigid despite
The way in which we huddled
togetaer for warmth. But compar.
ID to the temperature in Sian it
was virtually a hotbox. Again we
ont the shakes and were glad to
reach our prison, long, one-story
building set on a hill above froz-
on barracks yard. Officers and en-
listed men, as well as Jap guards,
shared the building. The place was
eolipped for steam heat, but the
mines were as cold as we were for
the first "A hours.
Here AZ Sian we found our most
inouisitive camp commander. He
was first lieutenant named Marui
and never day passed that he did
not come into my room and make
thorough inspection of my clothes
and baggage while I stood there at
attention.
He was meticulous devil. Upon
our arrival he issued to each of us
an exhaustive list of instructions
telling US where every object in
our rooms must be placed. In my
room, for instance, certain articles
had to be kept on a certain shelf
and in a precise position. The
wastebox must be in it's exact
place, as must be the spittoon and
the fire bucket. 1t was only an an
noyance, but for men of our age it
was so Internally picayune that it
was source of perpetual irritation.
There is something degrading
about being baWled out loudly in
front of your men because a spit
toon is few inches out of its or
dained place.
LOANS BOOTS
Lieut.. Marui treated our enlist
ed men as cruelty as they had been
treated anywhere else, including
Karenko. In the bitterest weather
he turned them out to work without
proper clothing. I felt so sorry for
Sgt. Hubert Carroll, my orderly,
one day I lent him my Jap
army wooden stocking cap and the
boots that had been issued to me.
But Marui spotted him and made
him take them off, because they
were intended for officers.
The food was bad at Sian, but
at least We were done with our rice
diets. We would have cornmeal
mush for breakfast, a thick cruel
Tor lunch, vegetables and a kind of
soya curd for dinner - and when
ever some senior Jap officer or i'm
portant Jap civilian visited tn e
camp we were served with white
bread, after being warned not to
mention to the visitor that it was
not the usual custom.
Each man was allowed to have
one OF his American Red Cross
packages the day after we arriv.
co. but two days later we were
ofoered to give back what we had
1oV consumed or used, and there
alter the Japs parceled the sup
pileS out to us in the tiniest por-
lions possible.
l spent my third Christmas in
captivity at this Sian camp. Next
!" me one at Karenko in 1912 it
Was the worst.
lac Japs announced a day or
WV. n before that Lieut.. Marui was
pieaSeo to tell Us that he would
s-ve US one egg each and would
-, 1lve chickens to the "a officers
III our group. But we were also led
" Understand that he would give us
~ iedse one of our Red Cross pack.
ages Tor Christmas, to round out
snaf promised to be an insufficient
, la-e WITH that in mind we more or
ess contentedly went about deco
. lung our quarters with what
zap, ssp OF colored paper we could
ah1 L ana some greenery We were
-. I've 10 break off the frozen trees
VI me area. The spirit of Christ
t ti.aS uoes not die easily in a Chris
i. we longed for home and fami-
y 0Ao Ireslde as much if not more
*<<S<<%>11%ANAA1110AAA
I LAY.AWAY 3