Evening star., 1945-11-14
Gen. Woinwrieht's Own Story:
fThirty-ninth OF a. Series.)
BY GEN. JONATHAN M.
WAINWRIGHT.

Of senior officers was being taken or
the morning of December l, 1874
when we placed Maj. Gen. Edward
P. Kings litter on the backs of ths
hard railroad car benches at Shene
Tai Tun and began to speculate or
. what was in the Red Cross packages
that lay SO temptingly close to us.
We discovered our destination al
the end of a long, cold ride that day
when the train pulled into the Man.
churian village of Sian. Gen. Kings
litter was lifted on a waiting truck
with the baggage, and the rest of Us
were piled into bus. We were
taken to our new prison camp
which lay beyond that quaint. ole
Nanchurian settlement.
Our train had been frigid despite
the way in which we huddled to-
gether for warmth. But compared
to the temperature in Sian, it was
virtually a hotbox Again we got
the shakes and were glad to reach
our prison. a long, one-story building
set on a hill above a frozen bar
racks yard. tOffieers and enlisted
men, as we'll as Jap guards, shared
the building. The place was equipped
for steam heat, but the pipes were
as cold as we were for the first "a
hours.
Inspection Every Day.
Here at Sian we found our most
inquisitive camp commander. He
was first lieutenant named Marui
and never a day passed that he did
not come into my room and make a
thorough inspection of my clothes
and baggage while I stood there at
attention.
He was a meticulous devil. On
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 certain shelf and in a
precise position. The wastebox must
be in its exact place, as must be the
spittooon and the fire bucket. 1t
was only an annoyance. but for men
Of our age it was so Internally plea
yune that 1t was cource of perpet-
ual irritation. There is something
degrading about being bawled out
loudly in front of your men because
a spittoon is a few inches out of its
ordained place.
1t. Marui treated our enlisted 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. / felt so sorry for Sergt.
Hubert Carroll, my orderly, one day
that I lent him my Jap army woolen
stocking cap and the boots that had
been issued to me. But Marui
spotted him and made him take
them off, because they were intend
ed for officers.
Rice Diets End.
The food was bad at Sian, but at
least we were done with our rice
diets. We would have cornmeal
musn for breakfast, thick cruel
for lunch, vegetables and kind of
soya curd for dinner-and when
ever some senior Jap officer or i'm
portant Jap civilian visited the
camp we were served with white
bread, after being warned not to
mention to the visitor that it was
mot the usual custom.
q Each man was allowed to have
One OF his American Red Cross
packages the day after we arrived.
But two days later we were, ordered
to give back what we had not con-
sumed or used, and thereafter the
Japs parceled the supplies out to
us in the tiniest portions possible.
I spent my third Christmas in
captivity at this Sian camp. Next
to the one at Karenko in 1912 it
was the worst.
The Japs announced day or two
before that 1t. Marui was pleased"
to tell us that he would give us one
egg each and would send five chick
ems to the "a officers in our group.
But we were also led to understand
that he would give us at least one
of our Red Cross packages for
Christmas, to round out what prom
ised to be an insufficient fare. With
that in mind we more or less con-
tentedly went about decorating our
quarters with what scraps of colored
paper we could find and some green
cry we were able to break off the
frozen trees of the area. The spirit
of Christmas does not die easily in
Christian. We longed for home
and family and fireside as much if
not more than ever, and tried this
feeble Manchurian substitute.
Paid to Get Packages.
Instead of a package for each of
us-which would have meant a bit
of meat, milk, cigarettes and candy
we were given a small portion of our
canned butter, cheese and jam, and
told that because of this the future
deliveries of our supplies would have
to be reduced.
1t put us in the kind of mood no
one wanted to be in. That Christ
mas Day wrote in my diary:
What travesty on the day.
Christmas, hell! I only hope my
dear ones at home are happier than
II am"
/ Two fine boys, Pfc. Lloyd L. Kelly,
United States Army, and Pvt.
Johnny Kroeze, Netherlands East
Indies Army, endeared themselves
to me for life, and made my remain
ing months at Sian more livable
when they came into my room on
january /, 1945, bearing a chair they
had ingeniously made out of fold
Ing American cot they unearthed.
I hardly know of anything they
could have done for me that would
have been nicer. The chair had
arms, and shelf on one side on
which one could place 4 book. The
seat was made of canvas. I lowered
my old bones into it with a sigh,
while they stood there with delight
full grins on their faces.
But it got them in trouble. With
the chair they brought along a
homemade gift card. 1t contained
a suitable drawing for the season,
and underneath they had written:
Home Alive in As. October"
~. ro~ Es~Hr Co-I