The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-11-11

GERS and orderlies, to which 1 was
attached, joined the courageous
men of Shirakawa early in Octo'
Der, 1914, in Japan. And together
we proceeded toward Manchuria.
We had no way of knowing it,
but this was to be the last mile
post of our long travail. All we
knew when told that we would be
sent far north was the sinking
feeling a man gets when he learns
that his prison sentence has been
prolonged. Had we been kept in
the Philippines we even now would
have been free men. For Douglas,
true to his promise to me on Cor
regidor two days before he left
for Australia, had come back .
come back with a great fleet to
support him and manpower be-
yond the dreams of defeated COM
manders such as ourselves.
However, we were far from the
Philippines by that time.
Before I was permitted to leave
Muksaq for the new prison in the
north, my personal belongings I'M
derwent their most complete
search by the Japs. l previously
saw such inspection being made
of the personal letters and docu-
ments of other men, so burned
certain possessions of mine which
l did not care for the Japs to See
or seize.
When my turn came on my final
day at Muksaq the Japs took from
me my lengthy written report of
the Bataan operations and the
supporting reports of my division
commanders, together with sew
eral valuable maps which had
somehow escaped earlier probings
of my effects.
I saved my little black dairy
and a file of personal and official
papers by means Of bit of
sleight-of-hand. My orderly, Sgt.
Hubert Carroll had just had his
own personal baggage thoroughly
checked. Before the inspectors
could get to me, however. I was
able to slip the diary and file to
him. He hid it in his already
checked baggage, and in this way
I was able to keep it-and it has
been of great assistance to me in
the preparation of this brief his
tory.
We entrucked at Muksaq at 10
p. M, on October s. 1914, were TAX
en- to Taihoku, put on a train and
got under way at II p. m. We were
in that miserable train all night
and until noon the next day. by
which time my sacroilliac trouble
was aggravated to point where !
more than needed the old light
walking stick which Gen. MacAr-
thur had given me.
Our destination proved to be the
town of Heito, near the southern
trip of Formosa. Here we were
transferred to a narrow-gauge rail-
way used for hauling sugar cane,
for we were in the midst of the
principal sugar-raising district of
the Japanese Empire. The train
took us eight or ten miles to a
thoroughly vile prisoner-of-war
camp. AS we entered the com.
pound I saw a large group of pris-
oners, mostly British but with a
number of Americans, returning
from work in the fields. They were
little more than skin and bone,
some of their depeted bodies
bronzed and some of them horri-
bly, burned by the sun. They were
the very epitome of human bond
age, and standing there watching
them drag themselves to their cup
of rice moved me to helpless tears.
Savage Lieutenant
Our group was then loudly or
dered to line UP before the most
savage-looking Jap lieutenant l
ever saw. We counted off, and then
were taken to long, low-roofed
bamboo shack, with sleeping
benches on the dirt floors.
We were given no midday meal.
A surly Jap soldier led one of us
to the opening of the shack to show
us our sanitary arrangements. Out
side was a bucket of dirty water
fer washing 1--WE were grimy from
the long and dirty train rides) and
a reeking wooden tub partly filled
with human excrement and urine.
saw the enslaved men limp
back at dusk that evening and lie
in an irrigation ditch in complete
WEAKNESS, and my mind was filled
with them that night as l tried to
find sleep on the hard bench that
was my bed,
We had lost most of the niceties
OF civilized living by this stage of
our captivity, but few of us were
able to stomach the sanitary ar
engagements the Japs provided at
this camp. One of those who reb-
elled against using the filthy tub
outside the hut was a British bri-
gadier.
Just before dark that evening
we heard Jap shouting, 'You
must use the tub" The brigadier
had been caught attempting to use
a corner of the prison reservation
to answer a call Of nature, and
had been dragged over to the tub
The sentry had called a ninter-
prefer and it was this Jap we
heard shouting.
But I can't do it, I simply
can't" the Englishman resisted.
i We could sympathize with him,
after seeing the condition OF the
sides of that awful bin.
Il The argument rose to a high