Evening star., 1945-11-04

were the only Americans on tn,
ship who were being treated a.
something more than cattle. AL
others were jammed in the hold il
scandalous style.
They slept on two long wooder
shelves extending 6 feet out from
the walls and arranged one over the
other. Each man was granted 81:
feet of space on. the shelves, with
no bed-clothing and the most prim-
itive toilet arrangements.
The ship lay all that night beside
Pier 7, then pulled out and anchored
just outside the breakwater, where
she waited until pm. before mov-
ing again. 1t was obvious the JAP
skipper was afraid to get under way
much before dark because of Amer
lean submarines operating off the
Philippines.
When we did begin to move I had
visions of seeing Corregidor again
for we were to pass The Rock. ]
wanted to see what the Japs had
done to it since I was led away from
it three months before. But as we
came within range of The Rock a
Jap guard came into our stateroom
and made us close and black out
the portfolio.
Barred From Men.
When I first heard about condi-
tions below decks I made an effort
to get down there to see my men
but I was stopped and told to &c
back to the cabin. Johnny Pugh
Tom Dopley and Sergt. Carroll all
managed to get up to our space for
short periods, to fill me in on what
was happening.
On August IA, 1912, at the enc
of a two-day voyage, we arrived
outside the breakwater of the almost
completely land-locked harbor at
Takao, on the west coast of For
mosa. The hills along the shore
line had been cut through by a
canal and apparently what was now
the harbor had been low-lying
ground or a swamp area which had
been dredged. There were no docks
in the harbor, which was, indeed
a striking one.
Our ship came in through the
canal and anchored just off the
stern of the old President Harrison
OF the President Lines. The Japs
had seized this fine American liner
IN the early days of the war after
it went aground, while trying to
escape, on one of the small Islands
below Formosa.
We stayed aboard our ship until
afternoon, when we were all lined
up and submitted to a distressing
physical examination TO guard
against our carrying any commun-
Icable diseases into their fair land.
But it was done at last, and we
were put in small boats and trans
ferred to small coastwise steamer
anchored nearby.
Herded Below Decks.
My n-traveling ended there,
and so did Kings. We were ferded
below decks into the forward hold
with 80 others. The $50 others in
our party were similarly jammed
into another hold. The matches
were Immediately battened down
and the temperature in the holds
rose to far over 100 degrees. AT
dusk We were ordered to close the
portfolios and draw the blackout
curtains, which made our black
holes that much more suffocating.
Our hold was alive with bedbugs.
There seemed to be millions of them
crawling over us the rest of that
miserable night, and there was so
little air in the place that many of
us feared death by suffocation. 1t
was 8 O'Clock the next morning
before Te were permitted to open
the por1 1holes to suck in some air
and tofgain enough light to see
and pit < the vermin from our
The n lxt morning I was led out
on the Ships deck, and over nv
protests: made to pose for a jap
artist. he was doing a painting
of my surrender to Homma. It was
TO go to the Imperial. Palace in
Tokyo when completed. It was an
ambitious affair, for at Manila I
had been forced to seat myself at
a table-formerly the University
Clubs main dining table-and ar
range Beebe, Pugh, Dooley and Car
roll about me, as we had been on
the day we met Homma. MANY
photographs of us had been taken
that day at Manila, to help the
artist now making sketches of nv
face. He was pretty overwhelmed
by the fact that the painting. when
finished, would be presented to
Hlrohito. I remember saying to
myself, as I sat there posing on
the little steamer going to Karenko
Douglas will get that painting one
OF these fine days..
Remaining Hope Dissolves.
We reached Karenko at noon,
and the remaining hope the jap
general had given me Just about
dissolved when looked at the hot.
barren and dirty little harbor.
We waited two steaming hours
before being allowed to leave that
evil little steamer, then were
roughly ordered off the boat
checked and counted.
We picked up our luggage. were
formed into a column and marched
through the city. It was a depress-
ing experience. The streets were
lined with thousands OF silent Japs
and Chinese, staring at us as if we
were freaks. S
AT 8 pm. we arrived at our new
prison camp, beautiful" Karenko
It was large square of about $50
yards formed by barbed wire
Within the boundaries were about
a dozen buildings, the largest of
which was a two-story barracks.
probably built originally for q bat
talon OF Jap troops. It was rather
good looking building with coating
OF gray cement and a black tile
roof, as is the custom in Formosa.
Behind it lay the toilets. On the
barracks back porch were troughs
and water spigots for washing. In
front OF the barracks lay grassy
parade ground, and across it, about