The Chronicle-star combined with the Moss Point advertiser., 1945-11-09
Veteran Of Death March, Three Years
In Jap Prison Camps Returns H O e

Minus some teeth and plus a
imp, TISgt. James Donovan Gau-
Ter, Jr., is at home again after
acre than three years as a jan
nese prisoner.
Taken prisoner on Bataan, Sgt.
iautier was on the infamous
leath march and was for nearly
year listed as missing. During
he entire perior of Imprisonment
sgt. Gautier's parents who live
a kreole, had only infrequent
nd sketchy news of their son.
st. Gautier is a member of a
rominent Jackson County fam
ly and is himself we'll known
4 this section.
How he purposely drove a
ruck off a 500 foot cliff and put
2 japanese permanently out of
he fighting, how he pulled his
,Wna infected teeth with pliers
nd arranged an operation on
his leg to escape work in the
japanese coal mines are tales he
els with a grin and a depreca-
Try manner. But he is inclined
} pass quickly over the death
1areh when he carried his best
riend until ne could no longer
.tand up under the load and
men saw the japanese kill his
juddy.
He was taken prisoner April IL,
942, and he and the hundreds of
,ther prisoners YER marched for
our days and five nights. In
irequent rests consisted of being
allowed to sit in the broiling sun
or o little while, he said.
Sgt. GATHERS best friend was
weakened by malaria and was un-
able TO keep up on the march. He
arried him as long as he could
nd then attempted to slide him
nto the bushes by the side of the
cad where the Japanese guards
night pass him by. But his eff
orts were not successful and he
ooked back just as one of the
japanese drew his bayonet from
he body of his friend.
Drives Truck Off Cliff
He was put to work as a truck
ifiver and mechanic in Baguio in
he mountains with only a few
Jther prisoners and their accom-
modations nor their treatment
vas too bad, he said.
Things just piled up on me,
shough,n he said land one norm
.ng | had IA members of the
~ lneaa propaganda force in
truck and | drove it off a
500 foot cliff, jumping out myself,
II course, as it left the road. Six
d the Japs we're killed, six were
permanently crippled and two
affected mentally. | saw them
alter aud they would stand and
stare, realizing l was familiar
but unable to remember where
hey had seen me. The only thing
that saved me from being killed
Mas that the interpreter, an Am
erican Jap who was asleep on
the front seat with me testified
that the whole thing was an ac-
eident. And il did look like one.'
During his time as a prisoner,
4 guard struck him across the
mouth with a rifle and broke off
several front teeth. Later as one
b. one the broken teeth would
become infected and begin pain
ing him, he would take a pair
Of Eliers and pull it out.
He was finally taken to the
coal mines in Japan itself where
the work was long and hazar-
dous. He had suffered from "a
ricose veins in one leg before
entering the service and he seiz-
ed on this as an opportunity to
transfer from the mines to the
hospital for an operation. But
as a result of the operation per-
form, d without proper equip
nent, Sgt. Gautier will have to
from six months to a year
in a government hospital in the
States.
For a time a captain in our
group operated guerillas through
q K. p. in the prison camp" he
said, but the Japs found out
about his activities and one day
they took him away. We follow
ed him through information
brought us from outside and
learned that he had been be-
headed"
Sgt. Gautier, before entering
the service, worked at the In
gals Shipyard but now he ex-
poets to make the Army his ca
reer.
Treatment in the camps was
pretty rough he said, "but /
could speak and understand a
little japanese and that saved me
lots of brutality. The Japanese
are like ignorant animals and
their minds are easily diverted.
If you would shift their atten-
ton to something else you could
frequently escape a beating"
Sgt. Gautier wears the ribbon
and two oak leaves denoting three