Evening star., 1945-11-10
zen. Woinwright's Own Story:
General Tells How Americans at One Jap Camp
Were Beaten for Stealing Food to Keep Alive
(Thirty-ftth OF a Series.J
BY GEN. JONATHAN M.
WAINWRIGHT.

4 SA<3Ns SoRNh hh4N 3xAs
WAINWRIGHT.
Christmas of 1943, at Muksaq on
Formosa, was hardly an old-time
Christmas. But 1t was so much
better than our previous Christmas
at Karenko that there can be no
comparison We were permitted to
slaughter the first of the hogs we
were tending and, though the Japs
promptly moved in and took the
hams, shoulders and chops. they
left us with the head, feet and the
less delectable organs. On top of
that the commander of the post sent
us two small turkeys.
I had Sergt. Hubert Carroll, my
orderly, come to my room and have
Christmas dinner with me. He and
the other enlisted men were as
badly treated as all of us had been
at Karenko. with the exception Of,
the beatings. If possible, they were
worked harder at Muksaq than at
Karenko. They were so miserably
housed that it made me ashamed
of myself to have a little room of
my own.
The enlisted mems quarters con-
sisted of single room with a ce-
ment floor. On each side of the
room was a long bench extending
about 7 feet out from the walls.
This was their bedplace. Each
bench slept 16 men and the only
insulation between them and the
rough boards were their blankets.
Captain Made to Work.
With them lived British Capt.
Round Turner. He had been the
aide of C. r. Smith, Governor of
British North Borneo, who joined
us at Muksaq not long after our
arrival there. The Japs refused to
permit Smith to bring an aide, so
Capt. Turner volunteered to come
along as Smiths orderly. Upon
his arrival the Japs insisted that
Turner join the enlisted men,
which he willingly did, though it
meant much cruel hardship, long
hours of back-breaking work in the
fields and the worst kind of work
around the barracks and latrine.
Capt. Turner and the enlisted
men ate their starvation fare-aug-
mented by what we could raise or
'slaughter-at q table which was
placed down the center of their
barren room. They would sit on the
edges of their sleeping benches and
lean over for no chairs were pro-
vided.
Muksaq lies $50 miles north of
Karenko and farther inland. The
winter We spent there was a bitter
one, for our buildings were of loose,
tropical construction. We were able
to buy little clothing out of our
prisoner r-of-war pay and these
clothes we wore over the Philippine
summer uniforms we had brought
with us into captivity.
Early in 1914 Col. Sasawa came
to Maj. Gen. Edward P. King and
me and told us that the American
Red Cross had arranged for him
to make 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 would do it If 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 families we
were still alive and that we could
mention a number of other men In
our camp to indicate that they, too
we're alivea ls
Made NewsreeI. -a5 -
King 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 skeletons now
but still about 80 pounds under
the weights our families remem-
bered.
SaSawa made one more effort,
though. In the early spring of 1914
he took us fishing in a beautiful
river that emerged out of a nearby
mountain gorge, and treated us to
another picnic lunch. He made
another speech, half of it a scornful
summary of United States and
Allied war efforts and the rest of
it a plea for use to write to our
War Departments and tell them
how well We were being treated.
Again we Just sat there and stared
at him and he stomped off angrily-I
looking more like an ape than ever
and gave us up as q bad Job. His
tacit appeals to us to end the war
as If we could!-were comforting in
the extreme. We knew the Japs
were beginning to worry.
The new prisoners at our camp
brought news of their hardships
and grim reports on many old
friends. From them I learned of
the death of Capt. Rocks, skipper
Of the cruiser Houston, which had
once been President Roosevelt's IA
vorite warship. The Houston went
down in the Battle Of Java and,
though the Japs picked up 800 Of
f1cers and men, learned later that
they chose not to report this to the
United States through the Red
Cross.
Among the 800 survivors was Capt.
Rocks. He died of dysentery ut a
prisoner of war camp at Batavia
about May Is, 1912. Eyewitnesses
also reported to me that the Houston
went down at $50 pm. on February
28, 1912, near Sundra Strait, with