The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-10-19
Former White0ille Ma n Says He'll Too Good
FOR Japanese Who Held Him Prisoner 3 Years

'4.Aiss II counted them-We
were 1ed tripe, getting a piece no
larger than your thumb. Three or
,our times they'd throw us some
nai1-rotten fish, and once in a while
we'd be privileged to roast grass.
hcppers and snails."
summons is a big man, WEIGHING
10y pounds now, and weighing bet
ter than 100 pounds when he was
taken prisoner. At one time on the
rnlllpplnes his weight dropped to
20 pounds. And all the time he was
IN japan proper he never got over
118 pounds.
Boy, but did 1 put it on when
We got to that old CT chow!" he
exclaimed.
I gained between pound and
a pound and a-haH daily once !
sat down to some of Uncle Sans
best!"
Hunger was always present, Sim
mons recalls, but there were other
physical discomfortures, too. In the
bitter cold winters on Honshu the
prisoners Of war were given no ex.
ira clothing. Many froze to death.
Sack-cloth replaced shoes and as
their clothes wore out it was a case
OF scrounging for themselves.
Japs Not Smart
The Japs weren't. very smart,
Simmons declares, recounting that
on at least two occasions ne and
some other Americans accomplish
ed some serious sabotage work
without being detected.
Their first venture into this work
came while pushing 26-ton steel
lathe through the control room Of
the factory-the room where all
electrical controls governed ma.
chine operation throughout the mill.
eve saw that the lathe. on roll
ers, was likely to damage some
equipment if we continued through
passageway indicated by our
foreman, civilian. He insisted.
however, that we proceed. There
was a slight incline to the passage.
way, leading straight to the control
panels. We showed and pretended
the lathe got beyond our control
Before anyone could stop it it had
crashed into the panel. Sparks
flew everywhere and fire broke out.
That mill didn't operate for two
whole days." he adds with satisfac-
ton.
A second time, some months lat
err, Simmons work crew took ad.
vantage of situation on the docks
of Nagato and showed a lathe aria
several large electric motors into
the bay. a~ - '~s-
There were other acts Of sabo.
tage, too.
And the amazing thing is that
those dumb Japs didn't get wise!"
he declared.
Simmons kept fairly abreast OF
the wars. progress through the me-
dunn Of Korean labors who worked
alongside the Americans. Most OF
the Koreans could speak and resd
Japanese and they told us the
news.
At one time the Japs permitted
the prisoners to have small radio
in their barracks.
"They jerked that out in q hur-
ry after we picked up a broadcast
telling of an American naval VIC
tory off the Philippines!"
The prisoners got their first ink
ling that all wasn't going well for
the Japs last March. Two things
happened almost simultaneously
to give the mems morale a ire
mendous upsurge.
First was the appearance of
B-29's over Nagato; secondly was
different attitude their guards
began to show toward the Ameri-
cans.
where we had been treated as
dogs with no consideration shown
for our welfare, they began to
make inquiry about our health.
They cut our working hours lit
tie, too"
Thrilled by U. 5. Planes
The sight of those first B-29's
was the thrill of a lifetime" to
the. Americans and other Allied
prisoners, Simmons said.
"But the biggest thrill Of all
came when a flight of Gruman
fighters swept over Nagato and
bombed and machine gunned
everything in sight - everything,
that is, but the prison camp. They
must have known exactly where
we were because never bullet
landed in the compound"
From then on. Simmons relates,
it was a regular thing to see
American planes overhead. Maya
to harbor W S mined regularity.
Once an American mine parachut-
ed down right at the front door
to Simmons barracks.
1T had Mare Island lettered on
it. and we called it our first meal
from home'," he said.
A particularly detested civilian
foreman known as The Snake
was killed by mine dropped IN
the bay, Simmons remembered.
The prison camp received It's
first news that hostilities were
nearing an end on August IL.
1--WE lined up for work lorna
+;o,, nc usual that morning. After