| January 4, 1945 | |||
| It was a beautiful, clear day and I did not miss anything that flew over us. Right on schedule, after breakfast, the flight of bombers passed over high and went North. There were 8 B25 type bombers (having the distinctive long nose, two motors, and twin rudder). This was at about 11:30 a.m. and they were the first of this type we’ve seen. The routine flight of B24’s were the ones that came over after breakfast (about 9:30) and there were twenty-five of them with eight P38 escorts. Other flights of planes were seen later—I have a hard time keeping track of them. It seems useless to keep on recording these flights every day. Our planes have been over regularly since December 31, and every morning they swarm like hornets. We heard some detonations this afternoon, but nothing regular enough to portend landings. Did not see any Japanese planes at all today, not even in the late afternoon. I’m greedy for more and more action—hope for more strafing. The other day a fellow called O’Brien killed a rat, skinned it, and ate it raw. This is no story either. But he is believed to have cracked anyway. He was the first one to start scavenging garbage cans. Doctor Nance killed and ate a dog the other day. He is head of the camp medical staff. Two sons and a son-in-law of the owner ganged up on that doctor and roughed him up a bit as a result. It sure is strange the things that happen here. Imagine fighting over a dog—but these are very strange times. | |||
| January 6, Morning | |||
| Yesterday was unusually quiet. We saw no planes—ours or Japanese; but we heard some small formations that sounded like ours. But today things really did pop! After breakfast 24 four-motored bombers went towards Manila and ten minutes later all hell broke loose over the city or in that direction—a.a. bursts—and very heavy bombing which lasted twenty-five minutes. Then they returned and flew over camp. More planes passed west of the camp but we only heard them. Later in the morning there were intermittent detonations to the North, Northwest, and South. At one p.m., we heard a formation to the North and two planes (2 motored planes said to be A20A’s) dropped down and strafed within a kilometer of camp, and then hedgehopped West. Some say that they shot down a low-flying Jap but I have not spoken to anyone that saw this. I just came out of my quarters in time to see them disappearing. Throughout the afternoon we heard bombing going on at Manila and other places. I was in class and did not see any planes. But at approximately three and 3:20 p.m. formations were seen: a large formation (60 some say) over Manila and four (A20A’s) going West south of the camp. And I forgot to mention four fighter planes (Vaught-Sikorsky F4U, or P48 Vultie Vanguard) that passed almost over camp at 4:15 p.m. going South, low at about 800 feet. There were further detonations after dinner and the last planes were heard at 15 to 5 p.m. | |||
| People are elated something terrific. All indications promise an early delivery. The consensus of opinion is for before the end of the month. The commandant went out in a camouflaged car before the strafing, but returned. It is rumored that we are going to get a new commandant. Last night the Japanese office staff was seen burning papers and they are digging fox-holes by their barracks in camp. Today Manila was bombed for the first time with four engined planes—to our knowledge and it took a hell of a pounding all day. It might not have been at Manila but it was mighty near and the location of the a.a. puffs correspond with those we saw when we knew Manila was bombed. When the 25 bombers returned we got our closest look at them yet—I figure they were at eight or ten thousand feet—and they looked wonderful. Incidentally, we did not see any escorts—a good sign. Imagine the stupidity of trying to carry on studies with a battle going on around us. But classes keep up and I have to attend if I want to make the scholarship—the effort is worth it and my chances for winning better as more fellows drop out and quit trying. It sure is grand being able to look ahead to the next day and expect bigger and better things. But man! Am I impatient for the biggest thing!! | |||
| January 7—WE’RE FREE!! 7:45 a.m. | |||
| Oh! What a day! What a day! But let me tell this as it happened, not as I saw it all. At 12 midnight, George Gray of the committee was awakened by a Japanese staff member who called the committee to a conference. At the conference the C.O. informed them that they were pulling out and that the camp was free though there were guards in the area outside. The supplies in camp were turned over to us. This was at three and the camp already was aroused because the Japanese had called for all picks and shovels to be turned over to them and the monitors passed the word around. People were running around like mad. I was awakened by loud talking in the bathhouse and by my monitor going down the hall shouting we’re free—the Japanese are pulling out! I got dressed and beat it over to the folk’s place and then to the kitchen where I heard a pig of the Nip’s being looted. I got a cigarette rolled and went over to see Ken. We went to the office where the day’s plans were being made. I heard that the Japanese quarters and private and camp gardens were being looted. At 4:30 the day’s menu was made-— lunch meal and a big night meal and they were arranging for a flag raising ceremony. The flags (British and U.S.) were brought by internees and a flag pole put up in front of barracks 15. Paul Smith came with Ken’s trumpet. I went back to my quarters and found some of my cubicle mates cooking up Spam, so I opened a tin and fried some and then went over to the folk’s place to get them and watch the ceremony. It was now 6:15 a.m. and the camp was in an uproar – people in the streets had to be kept from going to see if the Japanese had left (this earlier). It was dawning and everyone congregated outside of the administration barracks in front of the flag pole. An amplifier had been set up and George Gray announced the events that had transpired. Murray Hiechert, the chairman, said that the Nips had left food for two months—but this on old rations—there was tremendous applause. He announced the menu, that people should not try to leave camp because the Japanese still occupied the area; that we had set up the facilities necessary for communicating with our forces and that we would be informed of any developments; that we should keep calm and keep camp organization going for the good of all; that a special patrol was organized; that breakfast would be early; and that the new camp government would be later described under the title of “Camp Freedom”. He said that there was no knowledge of landings on Luzon though it was known that we had landed at Mariuduque. George Gray, the first speaker, had described how excited the Japanese had been—hurrying to pack and leave. | |||
| Then Bishop Binstead read three prayers: The Lord’s Prayer, and two prayers of Thanksgiving. The first light of day was tinting the sky over the hills to the East. Stars spangled the darkness overhead. Paul Smith played reveille and then the Stars and Stripes ascended side by side with the Union Jack. The troop of Cub Scouts came to salute and a magnificent recording of the Star Spangled Banner glorified the occasion, to be followed by God Save the King. And then the flags were lowered, since Hiechert had said that they would not risk antagonizing the Japanese outside. I later learned that internees had cleaned out the Jap barracks—personal effects, food and some firearms. Also a flash was passed around that landings had been made yesterday at Antimonan on the island. And I forgot to mention that during the ceremony three of our planes passed going South. Today’s entry is rather jumbled but so are my wits, and I’m too happy to care. | |||
| 10 a.m. Flash! Over the radio. We’re 30 miles in from Antimonan. We hear planes overhead in the clouds all the time. There is intermittent bombing going on. I am told that at 10:30 a States radiocast will be broadcast over our amplifier. Boy we’re lucky to have had radio equipment hidden in camp. | |||
| 11:15 Note: Later—Antimonan story seems to be mere rumor. Just heard a broadcast from the camp amplifier. The dope on a transmitter being in camp was due to a mis-statement over this morning’s announcements. A receiver left behind by the Japanese is under repair and our office expects to have it ready later today. They informed the camp that our buyers are making arrangements with Filipinos to get foodstuffs in. They cautioned against looting. Also, some internees are making arrangements to receive Filipinos desiring to visit friends and relatives here—this is being done through our camp office. Everything is going to be kept under control and work will continue per usual. All this news seems to be premature but when the radio is fixed, we’ll know how the war goes—it will be easy to wait. | |||
| 9:15 p.m. At 3 p.m., a rebroadcast through our speaker was made of a Kobe broadcast—Australian war prisoners talking to their homeland. At 5 p.m., I heard Radio Freedom from General MacArthur’s headquarters in the Phillipines and we got all the news. No landings on Luzon as of two days ago but three task forces threaten its shores. Things look good in the East but bad in Europe. The Germans are putting up a hell of a fight. God! That broadcast sounded good! Then from 6:30 to 9 we listened to KGEX and heard repeats of the news which give hope that operations against Formosa by our air forces are a preliminary to landing in Luzon. And we heard a recording of Roosevelt’s address on the past year and plans for the future. Oh! It was grand! The news mentioned the air attack on the Los Baños railway function. Arrangements have been made for buying supplies on credit. Visiting with Filipinos was going on this afternoon at the camp gate and I saw the Cub Scouts chumming with the native children. It was awfully good to see our men sitting in the Jap guard house. There are five or six guards who seemed to have been marooned here by the C.O. They did not know he had left and were standing around forlornly this afternoon—over in a corner of the camp. They came to our kitchen and asked for food. It’s a devil of a funny situation for them. Our committee has occupied the barracks of the Jap office staff and we’re in complete control here. Oh! What a day. I can’t hope to describe the jubilation in camp. People were full today for the first time. We have a good supply of meat—the beef and pigs the Japanese left behind. There were camotes, greens, pork and beef stew and mango beans for dinner. The sourest faces are grin-split today. But I could go on and on. | |||
| January 8 a.m. | |||
| Last night a unit of Japanese guards arrived at the camp gate and now patrol around the fence of the camp. They are not expected to interfere with our freedom but this morning they did stop visiting between internees and Filipinos. I hope they don’t stop the influx of food-stuffs which had been arranged for. It’s been too good to be true, not having the Japanese in our way. If landings have been made on Luzon, will hear it over the radio in a day or two. I can’t help but feel that yesterday’s activity was due to a landing—but I’ll not be impatient. Formations of our fighters and bombers have been going back and forth all morning in numbers from 14 up to 20 planes, and last night and this morning there have been detonations of considerable magnitude and frequency. | |||
| p.m.—Foodstuffs entered camp today and visiting took place at the side gate unknown to the guards. Two bulls were slaughtered today and we had corned beef in our evening stew. Rations are plentiful and everyone gets plenty to eat now. There were detonations during the afternoon and I hear that the news came over our radio of landings in San Fernando La Union and a large convoy sighted off of southern Luzon. There will be no newscast amplified tonight but news will be sent around via transcripts given to monitors. I hope to hear this news verified in an hour when my monitor makes his announcements. | |||
| January 9 Midmorning | |||
| Last night the news was that according to Radio Tokyo, a large convoy was off of Lingayen and one off of Southern Mindora, and another approaching from Saipan. And the Japanese admitted that it was only a matter of when and where landings would be made on Luzon. Our radio said that the Japan force was homeless and practically non-existent; we were bombing gun emplacements on the coast and hitting all air fields; landings at another point on Mindoro. Last night there were the explosions of heavy demolition work. Today from before dawn until after breakfast, there were the rolling detonations of what sounded like shell fire. The explosions were so continuous and widespread that we could not exactly place their origin. After breakfast, 35 planes passed West of us going North and hovered over Manila from where we heard bombing. Then a number of B25 type planes flew over Los Baños and the district around us, going very low. We heard a little strafing and some bombing South of us. There was no a.a. fire and no Jap planes. Oh man! Happy day—the sky is lousy with our planes and do I love it. | |||
| 11 a.m. Our planes are hitting everywhere now. Bombing almost continuous. Our jobs that I just saw, look like A20A’s. I just visited with Filipinos at the gate. The woman who asked to see us (Mom, Dad and I) is a cousin of Felix Bartolome’s of Manila. She owns a poultry outside and she gave us some eggs and a slew of bananas, and will send other stuff soon. What a treat to get more than a banana a month—and eggs. It’s been a coon’s age since I had an egg! The Filipinos are all agog out there by the gate and they say that landings are taking place at Batangas. I hope they are right. | |||
| January 11 | |||
| Yesterday there were five attacks made in the morning, against the Los Baños area, by two engined planes which I identified as being A20A type. They cannonaded, machine-gunned and strafed within a kilometer of the camp, flying so low that the trees sometimes obscured our view of them. Forty-odd of them were counted in one attack. We also heard distant detonations. | |||
| Yesterday I had a treat—bacon and eggs, which we received with other articles from the friends outside. Our own administration prohibits contact between internees and Filipinos, this in compliance with the desires of the corporal of the Jap guards at the main gate. Packages are allowed in however, and since enforcement of this is up to internee authorities -- it is lax and there is much abuse of the “Camp Freedom”— many going way beyond camp areas to secure personal supplies. Camp supplies continued to enter abundantly and the meals are good and plentiful. Last night we received the radio news confirming our landings at Lingayen Bay a few days ago. Today we heard large numbers of our planes passing overhead, but an overcast sky prevented visual observation. Today I had a further treat in the way of food—Spanish rice with chicken in it, and tomorrow Mother will fry up another chicken. The mush served on the camp food lines this morning had a lot of molasses in it and was delicious. In the evenings, the camp stew has much meat in it and we now are served coconut mash and coffee—things that the Japanese said could not be secured. And the camp gets fresh milk for nursing mothers and the hospital—something the Japanese never tried to bring in. | |||
| January 13 | |||
| This morning at 3 a.m. the commandant, Konishi, and the Jap staff returned and took over. So, goodbye freedom—we’ll have to wait for the boys to liberate us. They started the old story by sealing our camp stores. Oh—Woe! Even the mock freedom that we enjoyed for a week was very dear to us. The last couple of days, people were leaving camp in fairly large numbers to go trading for food, and I was planning to go today and have a spree in the hills—but I’m too late. One consolation is that we know that MacArthur is on Luzon and it’s a matter of time, and only a short time if there is a Southern landing. We saw our closest formation of A20A’s this morning, going South—they could not have been higher that 100-150 feet. People dared to roam out of the camp until about three this afternoon when the Japanese completed their guard cordon around camp. I managed to go out but I did not get as far as I wanted to because the Japanese were beginning to take over the sentry posts behind the camp. The Filipinos say, and many believe that the Japanese are moving North and that we will soon be left alone again. This morning’s radio flash was that a convoy had been sighted off of Batangas coast. The commandant is removing some stores out of our store room, and he began his past persecution by cutting down the breakfast ration of corn mush. I’m hoping that we won’t lose our radio and the news. When the Japanese pulled in this morning they immediately cooked rice and then posted a guard and went to sleep. They seemed to have had a pretty hard time. The commandant announced to the camp via a notice that he had left on a special mission, and had now returned to protect us. They demand that our committee account for all the livestock they left behind, and for the foodstuffs left to us when they deserted. Also the camp is held responsible for the personal effects which the Japanese discarded in their flight. They must be feeling pretty nasty. These sure are hectic days—the developments don’t make much sense. The Nips leave and say we’re free, and then we have a few guards posted at our gates and then the commandant and his staff return and feed us a fairy story. What next? I can happily say that I suffer nary a dull moment now. | |||
| January 16 | |||
| All sorts of things have happened—most of them for the worse. Day before yesterday the Japanese called a roll call to be held by actual physical check on the asphalt road running from the hospital to the Animal Husbandry Bldg. The whole camp was ordered to gather at 2 p.m., by the barracks. This was done and then the Japanese pulled a trick—gathered the monitors and began to conduct a surprise inspection of our quarters while we were absent. The men of barracks 11 and 12 refused to allow their places to be inspected, especially as the Japanese were doing this without the previous knowledge or consent of our committee; so this group of men returned to their barracks in spite of the Jap guards posted about. The Nips were quite perturbed about this and they agreed to a conference with the committee, while the inspection went on throughout the rest of the camp. When the word got around to the other internees waiting to be counted, about 11 and 12, there was a general movement back to quarters. The Japanese guards shouted at returning internees, but were ignored. Some barracks were inspected and money, clothes, axes, bolos taken, here and there and possessions badly mussed up. Other quarters had their occupants present when the Japanese came around. The main thing was that the Japanese didn’t succeed in their nefarious scheme. And the final victory was that the Japanese completed their roll call at the barracks to which the irate internees had returned. The camp felt pretty good about this. Then yesterday a mob of women went to the commandant’s office and demanded camp freedom to trade and buy its own supplies. One woman called Konishi a “dirty coolie” and they told the Japanese off in general. The committee followed up with a written demand for freedom to trade, purchase supplies, and handle camp affairs. The C.O. and one of his staff signed away these rights to the camp. Last night, or I should say late afternoon, there was some rifle fire near camp and there were reports of guerilla action nearby. A truckload of armed Japanese left camp with Konishi—apparently to handle this trouble. | |||
| And this day was our most active as to the air war that we have had yet—lots of low flying action, bombing and strafing all day, particularly in the afternoon. The Japanese were very jittery, ducking out of sight, hugging trees and running wildly at the sound of planes. During the excitement of the afternoon our committee was trying to arrange things with the Japanese so that trading through camp representatives could take place and so that camp buyers could go about purchasing supplies unimpeded. All this was supposedly okayed by the Japanese — though the material gains are meager. A Japanese guard brought in to the C.O. two boys about 16 that he caught up in a tree during the air activity. He thought they were signaling, but they only were watching. The saddest part of the whole day was the killing of Pat Hell, a good friend of mine and the folks. He had been planning the day before to contact a Filipino outside of the camp and do some trading for foodstuffs. Well, at about 4:30 p.m. or so, he was evidently caught out by a Japanese guard and shot dead. I was on guard duty at a road barrier and saw all the excitement, heard the shots (about 6 of them), saw the running back and forth of armed and unarmed soldiers. His body was brought in by our hospital orderlies (he was found just a few feet out of camp) and I am told by one of them that he had been hit several times from in front — very suspicious — he could not have been escaping, and now that I look back on what I saw and think about it, the way the Japanese acted just before the shooting was very suspicious. The camp believed that there was foul play—that he was murdered and not caught escaping. Our committee is investigating we are told and a statement is expected today. He was a dandy fellow, close to 40, a mining engineer, native of the Ozarks. He had been very reckless in making sorties out of camp to trade, but he was careful and I can’t understand his going out at the most dangerous place in camp (between the Gym and Hospital), and at the most dangerous time. The pity is that he had a wife and son back home, and that here, after three years when the end loomed near, he had to lose his life merely in trying to do some trading. | |||
| January 17 | |||
| Lots of air activity this morning—P40’s strafing up north and coming low over camp going both N to S and S to N, approximately. They scared the hell out of the Japanese who disappeared for the time the planes were within hearing. Though they have agreed to leave camp supply entirely up to us without interference, they don’t seem to be keeping their word. No private parcels came in today and very few things for the camp. They never keep their word so I don’t know why we bother to make them sign things. We’re behind the 8 ball until the Yanks come in, so we might as well get used to having the screws tightened on us. | |||
| January 20 | |||
| We have had tremendous air activity around here the last few days. Planes are in hearing or in sight almost all day—B25’s and A20A’s flying low over the main highway that goes through Los Baños, strafing and bombing. Yesterday we saw two P38’s flying low going South. There are numerous heavy detonations and salvos of what is either demolition bombing—or (and we dare not hope) shell fire. Explosions can be heard into the night, mostly from the Northwest, North and Northeast. We hear (in rumor) that Clarke Field, Tarlac, Cabanatuan have fallen, and that would indicate a more rapid advance than I had hoped for. But one can’t believe anything these days since the Japanese returned to camp and we lost our radio. I have even heard of a landing in Northern Batangas, driving at Manila. I’m awfully disappointed in no landing being made here in the South. I was so sure that we would land in more than one place. The Japanese continued to be nasty here. We have no lights at night; oil is running out for oil lamps, matches are almost extinct; (almost) everyone has run out of tobacco and we are on an irregular food ration of occasional three meal days interspersed with two meal days. Our grain ration has decreased, the Japanese have taken over the greater part of our rice and corn supply, and our camp buyers have difficulty purchasing foodstuffs from Filipinos coming to the gate. We are using I.O.U.’s on the U. S. Government, which is fine, but the Japanese staff makes it tough at every turn. They have confiscated most camp garden tools and all shovels and picks and most hoes. FLASH—5 p.m. A flight of Vaught-Sikorsky F4U’s just strafed a point right outside camp. I clearly for the first time saw our insignia (bar-star-bar). Boy! A couple flew over camp at about 300 to 500 feet. What a treat! | |||
| It may be interesting to note that there have been five escapes since the Japanese returned, but there were none during the period of camp freedom. The escapees were three young fellows of around twenty, a man of close to thirty and a middle aged man. The Japanese have taken physical roll since these escapes and so they know. | |||
| January 23 | |||
| A good bit of strafing around here yesterday. A B25 flew around camp twice very low as if looking the place over. Indications are that the Japanese are ready to pull out of camp any moment now. This morning some A20A’s did light bombing in the area around camp. The air activity never lets up and the only Japanese plane that’s been seen for two weeks or more is a bi-wing seaplane that has flown by low two times only. Rumors are persistent about landings in the South but there is no authentication of any of them. I’ll take it as a sign when the Nips pull out again. | |||
| January 25 | |||
| Not much air activity the last two days, though we did see and hear our planes several times. Another man died of beriberi and malnutrition. I hear he was an awful sight—all swollen and puffed up. He was a middle aged American employee at Nichols Air Field. The latest rumor is that our advanced force reached Manila early yesterday morning, and that parachute troops were dropped at Quezon City. Our main force is said to be at Calumpit. A less optimistic story is that our forces have not yet reached Fort Statsenburg. Some are insanely optimistic. I give them at least three weeks and probably a month, or a month and a half at the most. Some people have considered the possibility of the Japanese holding out in the South, in which case our internment will be prolonged. I’m not sure whether we’re in Manila, but I feel that we are at least close and coming fast. The amount of and quality of our food is falling, and camp health is failing again after using up the gain made during our 6 days of camp freedom. And oh man! Am I dying for a smoke! Very few are smoking tobacco these days and some are using catnip, papaya leaves or corn silk which is hard to get since the hospital started using it for beriberi. | |||
| January 26 | |||
| Some planes that looked like P40s were fooling around the camp and vicinity, very low, this morning at breakfast time. They didn’t strafe but they swooped and dived and circled for some time. A B25 also came around at about the same time and circled over the lake. We hear that our forces are 17 miles South of Manila — pure rumor. The news about the re-occupation of Manila has been accepted as true by most people, including myself, -- though I’m not sure enough to say so to anyone. The last position that I heard about on good authority was Calumpit. I still stick to my statement of “on the outside of three weeks, on the inside of a month and a half” — and I get laughed at. Ken Brooks still says that he will win the bet on the boys being in camp by the end of this month — though I am positive that I will win. And there are even those supreme optimists that say 36 hours and 48 hours. If I only had a cigarette I could truly say, “I’m willing to wait now that I know they’re on the island” but at present I say it only half-heartedly. | |||
| January 28 | |||
| Terrific air activity this morning at about 8 a.m. There were planes going in small formations in every direction. We saw a lot and heard even more above the low clouds. At about a quarter of seven this morning George Lewis was caught returning to camp after being out to get some groceries. He was shot at the fence and superficially wounded in the shoulder. Then he was taken out of the camp where the C.O. ordered him executed. He was then killed with a 45 bullet through the head. The camp committee had made a strong plea for his life, and against the legality of the C.O.’s order, but the Japanese said that he was considered escaping and so subject to the death penalty. His body was brought in and buried at 11 a.m. The Japanese have given the screw another turn; two roll calls (physical by Nips) a day and a 6:30 p.m. curfew every night except Sundays and Wednesdays when it is at 7:30….Well, murder was done today and the Japanese will do it again if they can find the slightest excuse…. Four planes of a type I could not identify flew over low at about 2:50 p.m. and strafed to the Northwest —going to the East and circling north….The Japanese have taken over all our supplies and are regulating our ration. A week or more ago they had turned over the internal administration of the camp to our committee, and now they have us completely pinned down again; but they never did keep their word and relinquish control. Four people (two women) are supposed to have been cut off from camp by the knowledge of the shooting, I hear. They better stay out. It’s easy to get out of this place but death to return—it appears. Those that have escaped (five to date) and stayed away are alive, and two who never were trying to escape are moldering in two graves right now. | |||
| January 31 | |||
| There was a hell of a lot of noise last night—almost continuous rumble of what sounded like salvo gun fire. Our planes continue to go over daily and strafe now and then. Most everyone is optimistic, and rumors have our forces at the Marikina Valley; at Calumpit and Zaliang; at Manila, and as far away from Manila as 30 miles; at Cabanatvan, San Fernando, etc. You can pick your rumor. I still stick to my estimate of January 23, and at midnight tonight I win another bet (a bottle of rum payable after internment). | |||
| I’ve quit the kitchen. I worked there a year and a half and liked the job. Most of my time at Los Baños I’ve carried two details, and lately I had Guard Duty besides my fireman’s job. But now I am going to take it easy until the Yanks arrive, and I’m keeping just to a night patrol detail from 11 to 1 every other night. The Japanese have taken over all food supplies again and we have had our grain ration cut from 300 grams per diem to 240 and we are not likely to have any noon meals. There is no more coffee now either. | |||
| February 1 | |||
| There was a large fire last night about 8:30 p.m. to the Northwest in the distance. We haven’t had any low flying action today, though some bombing has been heard in the distance. At noon about a dozen four-motored planes flew over the camp high going S.S.E. No startling news for the last week or so. The C.O. and staff are expected to leave any minute. They keep their trucks always warmed up — starting the engine many times a day. They have not unpacked since they returned and every evening they make merry in their quarters. We night guards are on the alert watching the Jap barracks, ready to go into action the minute they leave. I hope they move when I’m on. It’ll be a good sign when they go this time. | |||
| Here is a copy of our committee’s protest to the Camp Commandant on the death of George Lewis — January 28. | |||
| Major T. Iwanaka (C.O.) | |||
| Re: Death of George Lewis | |||
| Sir: | |||
| This letter is addressed to you for the purpose of protesting the execution of George Lewis which took place on your order at about 8:25 this morning. The facts are: At about 6:55 a.m., Mr. Lewis was shot and wounded by a Japanese sentry while passing into camp under a small fence which marks the boundary of the camp. Your sentry refused to permit him medical attention and at 8:25, you ordered him shot and this was done not-withstanding the earnest protests of this committee. Your staff also refused to permit him to receive the last rites of the Catholic Church before his execution. This protest is predicated upon the following grounds: | |||
| (1) You as Commandant of this camp have no power to order the imposition of the death penalty upon any internee here on any offense whatever. We call your attention to articles 60 to 67 of the Geneva Convention of 1929 which soon after the outbreak of the present war your government agreed with the government of the U. S. to follow in its treatment of civilian internees. Under those articles only a court may order the death penalty. Procedure is prescribed in such cases. Notification must be given to the protecting power of the institution of (Note — First sentence underlined and capitalized.) the case; the right of the prisoner to defend himself is safeguarded, as well as his right to have counsel and to appeal and these articles expressly provide that no death penalty may be executed until three months after the protective power is notified of the imposition thereof. You have disregarded all these provisions in ordering the execution of Mr. George Lewis this morning. | |||
| (2) From no point of view was Mr. Lewis guilty of any offense involving the death penalty. At the worst he could only be considered as in the act of escaping when first shot. The facts are to the contrary. He was actually returning to the camp and hence was not an escaping prisoner. In any case under Articles 47-50-51-52 of the Geneva Convention of 1929 an attempted escape is only an offense against discipline and the punishment thereof may not exceed thirty days arrest. To impose the death penalty on such a trivial offense as you did upon Mr. Lewis this morning constitutes a flagrant disregard of these provisions by which your government (of the convention) has agreed with the government of the U.S. to be bound in dealing with civilian internees. There can be no doubt the refusal to permit medical attention to be given Mr. Lewis after he was first shot, the order for his execution within an hour and half thereafter without any court action whatever (in complete disregard of the international law applicable to the situation) and the consummation of that order constitute a record unlawful, inhuman, and shocking. | |||
| Signed by Committee | |||
| February 2 | |||
| The dope I got today (which is from a good source though not 100% certain) is that an advanced column of our main force, with headquarters in Calumpit, has advanced East of Manila down to the town of Taguig, which is south of Manila and 26 miles from here. The advanced column is said to have turned and reached Las Pinos on Manila Bay, which means that Manila is pretty well surrounded. If this is true, it’s only a question of how long it will take the main force to reach the advanced point and start moving South towards us. And unless our forces advance by both sides of Laguna de Bay, it will be important to us which side they do take. If our forces are in the two towns mentioned, they control the roads leading from Manila South; i.e. they have cut off the roads from Northern Luzon to Southern. | |||
| Also we are supposed to have landed unresisted in Olongapo and to be advancing east —cutting off Bataan Peninsula. I’m skeptical of any too good news and so I’m making no bets on this. I’ll just wait and see. | |||
| I was looking at some Vogue magazines today. Boy! What a treat to see people dressed in decent clothes. Will the day ever come when I can see them in the flesh again? | |||
| February 4 | |||
| We saw and heard the battle to the North for the first time last night, beginning about 10 or 10:30. I woke up, heard the almost continuous salvos to the North, and went out to look. Every few seconds the horizon to the North, just East of Manila would be lit up by red-orange flashes, and the sounds were definitely artillery. Right now, at almost 8 a.m., the rumblings still go on, not as often as during the night, but at least one a minute and considerably louder. The sounds almost cease to be mere rumblings. The direction of the show would seem to authenticate and prove the story about fighting at Taguig and vicinity. Everyone is very heartened by the sounds—it’s a big thing to be able to hear the battle and know that it is coming our way. The last three nights or more, the Japanese in camp have been very busy, first celebrating late at night and the last few nights packing, loading stuff on trucks, and moving in and out of camp in the dark. They are known to have sent out various supplies and belongings, and they seem to be preparing for a quick departure. As a matter of fact, such has been their activity of the last two or three nights that they have been expected to leave each of these nights, particularly last night when the night patrol was doubled by our patrol chief. I did a little spying on the Nip activity last night, and it was considerable. I am really feeling good about all this and I pep myself up with the observation that one of three things is bound to happen to improve conditions: (1) Our forces arrive from the north; (2) the Nips pull out and leave us to our own resources, (3) a landing in Batangas and a quicker delivery than our Northern army could affect. | |||
| February 5 | |||
| There was a terrific artillery barrage last night beginning at dusk and ending around two a.m. For several hours a strip of horizon from the NW to NNW was crimson and the sky now and then would be lit up by flashes. The din increased perceptibly later at night and there was quite a roar. There were louder explosions and lesser ones -- either a great spread of the action, or both big and small guns. Yesterday the bombardment continued into the morning but today it’s quiet at breakfast. Let’s see what the day will bring—it always brings something new these days. Yesterday rumor had our forces at Alabang, or at Carmona, or at Santo Domingo—the rumor that was front yesterday, and I don’t mean maybe. We’ll see. | |||
| 7 p.m. ….Sort of disappointed today. Heard no cannonading and saw only very few planes. This is the craziest damned war. For seven hours all hell can be seen and heard breaking loose—and then a whole day of quiet. I can’t see a hell of a battle followed by quiet. It doesn’t make sense—but neither have a lot of things the last three years. We are so exasperatingly ignorant of what goes on around us…..Konishi (No. 2 Japanese here) has cut down the ration of milk for babies and nursing mothers from a pint every other day to one per week. Nice guys --- starve babies…..The Japanese are immersed in a craze of trading. They want watches and fountain pens, and jewelry; and they give cigarettes, rice, sugar, coconuts and such foodstuffs. They were giving 7 packages of Army issue cigarettes for a Parker fountain pen. Mother got 3 kilos of sugar (short ¾ kilo) and 2 kilos of rice for her almost new 15 Jewel Elgin. Pens are out of demand now but the Japanese are still looking for trades. Many are of the belief that Konishi and the Commandant are giving us starvation rations so as to squeeze trades out of us. Many believe also that the rice being traded is out of the camp supply. This is very probable because I doubt if soldiers can secure rice outside now. Konishi said that he can’t get us meat due to shortage of funds. But he was able to get a carabo for his garrison of over sixty men. The Japanese eat well but we starve. I don’t mean myself, of course. I have no complaints coming — I don’t go really hungry. There has been no electric power in camp for close to two weeks. Valuable serums, which the hospital had in refrigerators, have spoiled. And the pump at the artesian well can no longer be run so we drink dirty tap water which is chlorinated in camp. We’ve been having the first decent weather in a month --- that’s one consolation. Well, I’m on patrol duty tonight. I hope I see something happen like a bombardment or the pulling out of our keepers. | |||
| February 6 | |||
| There was a terrific thunderstorm last night that ended about 9:30 p.m. and just after it, a large fire was seen in the direction of Manila — great pillars of red lit clouds. And a bombardment started that reached an intensity at about midnight, equal to night before last’s, and that almost stopped at 12:30. The sounds of explosion are still (9:30 a.m.) going on in desultory fashion, with a flurry of salvos now and then. The massed clouds of the fire can still be seen piling up. | |||
| 6:30 p.m. It’s been quiet all day beginning with before noon. Three airplanes seen today. The boys better make it here before the 19th. It was announced this evening that the camp grain supply runs out then, and it’s not known whether the Japanese can or want to get any more. Without the grain, the camp will starve—and no maybes. It forms an easy 90% or more of our rations. | |||
| February 7 | |||
| There were intermittent detonations of bombardment last night, continuing into the morning. Then, around 10 a.m., we heard heavy bombing for an hour and more, plus shelling and some fairly close strafing. Six A20A’s were seen earlier and one more later, but we have heard many formations passing above the clouds where we couldn’t see them. At about 10, we also saw a haze of smoke all around us – we can see smoke to the Northwest and drifting North. A Japanese soldier came back into camp this morning looking a bloody mess, with a hacked up face. Twenty-four Japanese went out with a machine gun and we have not heard anything more…I learned some more on the grain supply. Konishi told our committee that after the 19th we would have to rely on the 5 kilos issued out to us during “freedom week”; and when he was told that everyone had been using this rice to supplement the meager rations, he said that was our worry. So, it looks serious. Two men, George Arnovich, my age, and a young Britisher, (Lloyd) escaped last night, and as the 19th rolls around there may be more. | |||
| February 8 | |||
| I was very disappointed this morning. It had been quiet all night except for a terrific detonation nearby at about 9/9:30 p.m., and it was quiet all morning. But at about 2 p.m. this afternoon, two B25’s came around and flew very low over the camp about five times, with their hatch open. This was the closest a big plane has come to camp, and they were evidently looking us over. They cavorted around the area for about twenty minutes, bombed to the E.S.E., and went, leaving a very cheered up crowd behind. And shortly later a bombardment began to the WNW, West and some to the South and is still going, 6 p.m. I’m feeling happy again. For awhile it seemed that the war had ended. The committee has formulated a strong protest on the food situation. I’m going to get a copy. Note: A Japanese was mortally wounded by a Filipino in the morning near gate #4 — Slit throat. | |||
| February 9 — (7a.m.) | |||
| The bombardment can still be heard going on to the Northwest and there was a fire in that direction when I went to bed last night. At a quarter of six this morning and until about six there was rifle and machine gun fire just out of the camp — not any intense fire — perhaps a skirmish with guerrillas. And beginning at six until just a few minutes ago there were more than a dozen very close and low (I just heard another) heavy detonations. They don’t sound like demolition, and there has been too many of them for demolition. They don’t sound more than two or three miles off at the most. There are still occasional rifle shots. This morning when the Jap took roll call he was wearing his pistol. For the last day or two they have appeared in uniform and in boots or leggings — that’s the Japanese office staff. I guess they are ready to move any moment. | |||
| 4 p.m. After breakfast it was quiet but around noon we started hearing occasional distant reports and a few closer ones which might have been related to the fires that started in the early afternoon — one very close, in the town of Los Baños somewhere, giving off black smoke; and another later, farther off, to the ENE. Almost no air activity today. | |||
| February 10 | |||
| Sounds of occasional detonations far to the North can still be heard, and they were heard last night, from the North and a few to the South. There was also a large fire to be seen in the same places night before last. A member of the C.O.’s staff finally consented to meet with our committee on the matter of the food problem, and Mr. Ito made the following interesting statements, according to a notice that was posted on all bulletin boards: “…the Military Authorities still recognize their obligation to feed the camp while it is in their care, and will endeavor to meet that obligation when the time comes to replenish stocks. They are not however at liberty to disclose the means as to do so would involve military matters.” Regarding supplementary supplies the situation has changed, “and the vicinity can now be regarded as being within the sphere of immediate military operations, and this position is likely to become more acute with the next few days.” And they blame their inability to purchase additional food outside on (1) an increase in the number of Japnese soldiers within the area; (2) “many hundreds of local Filipinos have fled to the mountains in anticipation of military action” and thus a lack of labor. (This meeting on February 9th). This meeting may have been a result of our protest of the 7th, but it is the only result because rations continued to be insufficient beyond all belief. It’s a wonder how human beings can subsist on this food, although an easy 80% of the camp is, though how, can be seen by the increase of serious beriberi and malnutrition cases — men and women with grotesquely swollen legs, faces and stomachs, people so weak that it’s an effort to stand in line for food, people that are cracking mentally. See who is doing this camp’s work—the young, and those who still have private supplies or gardens. Some are very optimistic over the notice, and over the Japanese burning stuff up yesterday, but others, like myself, can’t see why we don’t hear the firing coming closer if we are in the “sphere of immediate military operations.” Some say this week-end, but I’ll be surprised if they are here in a week. At least the Japanese seem to hold out some promise of more supplies if the 19th rolls around without the Yanks. It quieted off in the afternoon but towards evening we heard considerably loud rumblings from the general northerly direction, and now (7:15 p.m.) it’s quiet. There was some air activity today including low flying action by some pursuits over the lake. I bet Kenny Brooks today that the Yanks would not be in within a week (the 17th, Saturday). I’m afraid his optimism is going to cost him a package of cigarettes, though one of these days, I’m bound to tempt fate too much, lose a bit and win freedom. At the rate they’re coming now, I can’t see how they’ll make it in a week. The sound of firing seems to get no closer, and until it does, I won’t expect freedom at hand. Right now I hear a great deal of machine gun, rifle fire to the east. It lasted a minute, there are some more bursts, it’s louder — must be a skirmish with guerrillas. | |||
| February 11 | |||
| For the third evening we saw a fire in the direction of Manila, only last night it was the brightest yet and it had moved a little to the west and was larger. I am convinced that it is the fire of the battlefront coupled with barrios left burning by the Japanese, because we don’t see any smoke all day and there is no town big enough between here and Manila to burn for three days. The bombardment last night reached a considerable intensity and it was going this morning. It’s quiet right now (9:45 a.m.) but I was considerably heartened by the night’s noises and fire. It was quiet all day, except for low flying action over the lake (no shooting), and during the evening there was the usual distant sound of battle and the fire to the Northwest. | |||
| February 12 | |||
| The detonations continued intermittently during the night and some were considerably loud—whether due to better atmospherics for sound or an advance, I don’t know. Right now (9 a.m.) there are some pretty continual and definitely louder detonations to be heard. Some rumors say that we have Manila and that there was a stand made at the Luneta and Malate, and that a considerable action was fought at Pasig resulting in our break-through. Another story says we landed south and are now at San Pablo, though I don’t know how any news, apart from rumor, would get into camp. Due to the lack of current, there can be no radios operating in the vicinity. The Japanese brought in rice yesterday. It is believed to be the stuff that they took from our stores and sent out somewhere….The Japanese say that meat cannot be secured, but almost every day we see half a dozen or more cattle browsing up on the hillside a few hundred yards from camp. They want to starve us, there is no doubt of that. It was quiet all day since 9:30 a.m., except for some air activity and a few audible detonations. Rumors are rampant, but that’s not new. There was a Lincoln program this afternoon—quite a crowd. I’m sitting out in front of my barracks waiting to see if there will be a fire visible after sunset, and detonations. | |||
| February 13 | |||
| There was no sign of the old fire last night, just a few large surges of light from that direction. There were occasional rumblings of bombing or shelling — rather faint though unmistakable. Today I got the first really credible news I’ve heard in a long time, credible because I know it originated in an authoritative source — a member of our committee. This is the dope: the information was brought into camp that the Americans occupied Manila on Saturday afternoon (10th), that there had been heavy fighting in Malate, Ermita and Fort McKinley, that those places were a shambles, that Santo Tomas was found in bad plight suffering from shell-shock and starvation, and that a beach-head had been established at Bauan, 30 miles south of here near Batangas. There were a few other unimportant details which I won’t repeat, but the person who brought the information, brought some of our new silver Philippine coin and army issue cigarettes. There was considerable air activity today and some detonations at 3:15 and on, from the South — considerably loud. However, I want to hear more than some. | |||
| February 14 | |||
| Those detonations kept up until about 6:30 p.m. It sounded like the desultory firing of a few artillery pieces. But it was the closest firing of artillery that we have heard keeping up firing for any length of time; and it started again this morning at about 7:15 a.m. — much louder, and steady. We hear two reports, a loud one and a small one, but the fire is so continual that I can’t figure which we’re hearing first and closest — shell or shell burst. I don’t imagine that it could be a battle taking place to the S.E. or E.S.E., because it doesn’t sound like a large number of guns, but time will tell. Mr. Ito of the C.O.’s staff made the reply to our food protest, that all of Luzon is under starvation rations due to a sudden expansion of the war operations and that our situation here should not last more than a few days, after which there will be an improvement — vague but interesting. Also he reiterated his statement of the past that more grain will be in camp by the 19th. Mr. Tullock of the Monitor’s council gave the big news of yesterday to the camp in a veiled but clever way: “There is a good reason to believe that all internment camps in the P.I. are now on the same inadequate rations prevailing here. Interested parties will shortly be aware of our condition.” Both Bishop Jurgens (Catholic) and Bishop Binstead made pleas to the C.O. for more food, yesterday. 12:30 noon, those explosions to the S. E. ceased at about 8:15 a.m., perhaps due to the appearance of our planes over the area. There were planes overhead almost all morning, but some could not be seen due to cloud….We have had another cut in our breakfast grain ration, so that everyone gets a very slim scoop and a half of mush every morning. An old darkie, who was in our psychopathic ward, died the other day. I’m told that he was trying to eat matches, his mosquito net, etc. A friend of mine observed, “He wasn’t crazy—just experimenting.” The amount of internees raiding garbage cans has increased, and I have seen even Catholic priests exploring ash cans, though, I don’t know what they can find to eat in our camp refuse. Slugs are considered good food by many and I see an economics expert searching for the repulsive things every morning….My God! It is amazing how little we get to eat. In fifteen days our family will be out of rice, and most likely out of our slim canned food reserve, then we join 90% of the camp (or more) in starving. | |||
| February 15 – 1:00 a.m. (While on Patrol duty, at desk) | |||
| Yesterday the Japanese gave the screw another turn in a new set of orders issued by Lt. Kasene of the Jap garrison: 1) “No one is permitted to leave the area adjacent to his barrack after 7:00 p.m. except on Wednesday and Sunday when the period is extended to 7:30 p.m. (all traffic—even crossing of roads between barracks is forbidden.) “Hereafter anyone found disobeying this regulation is subject to being shot.” 2) “No demonstration of any description (including congregating in groups) when firing is heard in the vicinity of the camp or planes are seen or heard is permitted. Infractions of this rule will be severely punished by the military in the future.” 3) They want strict compliance with air raid alarm restrictions, which means that unless on camp detail, you must remain in your quarters between 8 a.m. and 6:30 p.m., every day, since the air raid alarms are sounded on schedule as a matter of daily routine. “There is to be no walking around on the roads at any time. Infractions of this rule will be punished by the Military.” 4) “Internees not showing proper respect and courtesy to the Military will be severely dealt with in the future.” The camp believes that this is a result of the fact that the Japanese know (through stool pigeons) that we are in communication with the outside, and may even know that we are in contact with their invading forces. I hear that our latest news was brought in by regular members of the Philippine Scouts attached to the invasion army, dressed up like peasants; and they are carrying a report on our condition back to our forces. A member of our committee said that no punches were pulled in describing our plight. Day before yesterday 33 soldiers made a very thorough search of the old kitchen now utilized as a storehouse, the construction barracks and Catholic chapel, and grounds adjacent, and they confiscated a generator that was being made for the hospital in case of emergency. Their Philco radio has not been returned and they are still asking for it. There is an opinion held that they suspected that the generator was for it. Except for yesterday’s air activity, it was a dreadfully quiet day. One would think that fighting in the North had ceased, judging by the cessation of the sounds of firing from that direction. The big fire has ceased there too. | |||
| 6 p.m. It was a quiet day today except, for some air activity in small numbers, and a very little bombing or distant bombardment to the N.W. and south, otherwise it was a beautiful day that was dismally quiet. The commandant denied the pleas of the two Bishops saying that “a period of insufficiency is better than a period of nothing”. The Japanese office announced that they now have enough rice in their possession to last us another eight days from the 19th, which gives us a new deadline – the 27th. The Japanese refused us a salt ration, so all we get is what’s in the food on the line – often not enough. They say that greens will be very difficult to secure since the Filipinos have fled to the hills. Tonight’s stew had the camp’s last three pigs in it, so from now on, it’s no more meat….I counted 9 head of cattle grazing just outside of camp the other day – and the Japanese say there is no meat to be had!….An elderly fellow named Shaw died of beriberi and starvation yesterday. There are some very critical cases in the hospital for the same cause. What irony! All the hospital has to feed them is a ration and a half of the regular line food. The Japanese don’t give us supplementary food for dying men! The night meal now consists of about one and a half cupfuls of very watery rice mush and about a cup or a little over of watery, transparent stew (really green’s water) with a few leaves floating about. For breakfast we get two cupfuls (a scoop and a half) of watery corn rice mush. Only occasionally do we get a handful of greens with our dinner. | |||
| February 16 | |||
| At about 8:15 a.m., a half hour’s almost continual heavy bombardment started from the Northwest, closer than we have had it for over a week. Perhaps we’re on the move from Manila. Last night we could almost see the flames from a large fire on the other side of the hill to the East of us. This morning after breakfast, clouds of smoke started billowing up from the same location as last night, and now, about 10:15 a.m., they’re still flooding our southern horizon. It looks as if Japanese were using a scorched earth policy. By the way, people heard some bombardment to the North in the early morning. These sounds have been the first show of Northern activity since Manila fell. I am now sure that they’ll be here any time after the 20th of this month and before the 14th of March, and I have a rusty hunch that it will be around the 1st of March, with two or three days on either side of that date. Yesterday the Japanese Lieutenant of the garrison – Kasene - ordered that trading with the soldiers stop – what a farce! That night the guards were all over camp trading. | |||
| February 17 | |||
| Last night there was considerable bombardment and accompanying flashes in the Northwestern quadrant early in the evening and in the wee hours of the morning. There was also a good sized fire in the distance to the ENE, and we could see the flames. A fellow died at 2:35 a.m. – tuberculosis and malnutrition and yesterday another fellow died – malnutrition and beriberi. | |||
| Two P40’s came low, and I mean low, this morning at about 8 a.m. and circled the camp many times, coming as low as 30 feet at times. What an air show! Two times again we saw a pair of pursuits (P51s), just passing over camp at a tremendous rate, once going North and then South. There has been the intermittent sound of artillery to the North or Northwest almost all day, and it’s quite continual right now – 7 p.m. Rumors have us in Cabuyao, approximately 15 miles from here, but I don’t believe it. | |||
| February 18 | |||
| We heard artillery last night closer than ever before, and there were also a few very close detonations. Then, after breakfast this morning, two P51’s zoomed over close going North. We still hear occasional salvos in the distance, but I want to hear it more often and closer, and closer. I haven’t been feeling up to par these last few days. I guess conditions are beginning to tell on me — I’m weaker, and almost always hungry, especially at night. God!, to be able to get decent food. Tonight there will be pork in our stew – one pig donated by the university outside – one pig for 2000+ people! What a luxury. | |||
| February 19 | |||
| There was a considerable fire to the East North East, probably across the lake, and during the night there was desultory gun fire to be heard in the distance. Then this morning there has been the sound of intermittent artillery bombardment to the South – very encouraging in view of the fact that the “captain” of the guard told our internee he was trading with, that we had landed in Batangas a few days ago, and that the destruction of bridges was holding us up. Also a Jap guard said that our forces pulled into Colomba at 10 a.m. yesterday. Colomba is very close – about 5 or 6 miles from here – hard to believe. I guess the Jap’s word is to be believed as little as ever. There was considerable air activity this morning. Well, it’s the 19th and as yet to my knowledge we have been issued no supplies and we run out today. | |||
| The rumor is around that we are to be issued palay – unhusked rice, and there is no machinery in camp; for husking. Nice deal, if true. I’m waiting for more reliable information. 6:15 p.m. – I got the dope on the issue: for a four day period, up ‘til the 23rd, we got eight 50-kilo sacks of rice and thirty six 25-kilo sacks of palay. This means that we have enough ready grain for tomorrow and then we have to get the palay husked. The Committee has protested this issue. Since yesterday, two more men have died – pretty old fellows who were on the edge anyway and were pushed off by the conditions. Sporadic sounds of bombardment continued into the afternoon – both to the North west and South (or Southeast?) I saw my first American flying boat today, perhaps a PBM type, and a transport plane flew over low too, plus regular high flying activity… By the way, of all the things to forget! -- three fellows went over the wall last night: : Fred Zervoulakos (a ‘47er, just a little older than I, Benny Edwards (around 25-26 or so) and Pete Miles (of about 40 years of age), an all around man whose last job, I believe, was procuring wild animals for a state’s zoo. Fred has already been out often and knows the lay of the land as well as the guerrillas. They’ll make out O.K. There will be more with this business about the grain. It is a desperate problem how to get that palay husked and cleaned for the day after tomorrow. The dirty dogs –those Japanese are known to have polished rice on hand, but they want to give us that dirt! | |||
| February 20 | |||
| The same fire as usual, early in the evening to the E.N.E., and there was the sound of almost constant bombardment, up until about 2 a.m. or so. The detonations of around 9 p.m. actually shook my bunk, but the others were of lesser intensity. Sporadic bombardment during the morning - quiet in the afternoon and at dinner time quite a heavy and regular bombardment began and is still going on (6:30 p.m.). Also there was a visit to camp by some outside Japanese, who were escorted by the C.O. There is much conjecture as to the significance of this, specially since the principle visitor conferred with the committee. This afternoon the committee told the C.O. that nothing can be done with the palay. Working all day, three shifts turned out about 7 kilos – a hopeless output. Later, an announcement is to be made concerning the results of the committee’s protest on this to the C.O. | |||
| February 21 | |||
| A very consistent bombardment kept up all night until about five or six a.m., and occasionally it reached a considerable intensity – all in the Northwest quadrant. The last twenty-four hours we have had more bombardment than any past 24 hour period. It is encouraging and a lot of folks need encouragement. Another man, an elderly missionary, was buried yesterday – beriberi and malnutrition. | |||
| 11:15 a.m. Just heard an announcement by our monitor on the results of our protest to the C.O. on the palay, and of the meeting of the committee with the visiting officer yesterday. In reply to our committee’s plea that we cannot husk the rice in the kitchen, that there is a 50% loss, the Jap office said in essence, and I quote the monitor, “If you don’t like it, you can lump it.” So, as the last recourse, the administration is issuing the palay to individuals, ½ kilo for two days. Tonight they will be served a stew of greens with ground corn, and damned little of that. And Thursday and Friday there will be no breakfast, and a dinner of green’s stew – depending on supplies entering the gate. As to the visiting officer, he was a Lt. Colonel on the regional staff. Our Committee made a plea on food and he said, “So sorry”. He said that this is a war zone, and that food is a problem everywhere. He said that conditions were no different than when we had our week’s freedom, and asked if the camp desired to be set free. The committee said that this decision rests with the Japanese. What I consider his most typical remark is what the monitor quoted him as saying in English, “you will not get any more, and you may expect less” (or words close to that) which means “nothing”. He also said that if we appeal to the guerillas, we will be subject to punishment, and that if anyone is caught outside, he will be shot. Also any Filipino caught dealing or contacting with internees, would be shot. This would seem to be the final turn of the screw. I hate to think of how the old men, and there are a lot of them (barely strong enough to stand), will husk their palay, without any mortars or tools. Dr. Nance, chief camp doctor, reported starvation as the cause of several of the recent deaths that I have attributed to beriberi and malnutrition. This is posted in minutes of Committee meetings. I guess I have underestimated the significance of the deaths – starvation is an ugly word – and I have really not met it, yet. But, of course, beriberi is the result of the slow starvation that the camp has endured for months, and that has woefully prepared the majority of the camp for the grim abyss of nothing. At this stage of the game, the morale falls easily, and there is considerable disappointment in the cessation of the sounds of bombardment of last night and yesterday – just airplanes coming and going – passing things that bring no food, no deliverance, and have stopped bringing hope. I and the folks, can hold out for a week or two, but the outlook is black – deathly black – for five-sixths or more of the camp. God! How glad I am that we have saved and stored up a little emergency supply! | |||
| February 22 | |||
| Another old fellow died yesterday. Last night there was a regular bombardment from the Northwest – more intense than the night before but not much closer, if at all. There was also a flurry of artillery fire to the Southeast, but it did not last long, and this morning it is quiet, sunny and the world seems at peace. Two thirds of the firing we have heard has been at night – is this war being fought entirely in the dark? Bah! I give up trying to figure it out. I have set my mind on the 17th of March, by which date they will have arrived, and I’m going to try and not get excited about any development – “try” I said and it’s going to be hard. Here is an interesting report which I copied: | |||
| “Interview with Mr. Konishi on Wednesday morning, February 21st” | |||
| Present were Messrs. Heichert and Watty. | |||
| Subject: Food rations – palay issue | |||
| The committee opened the interview by stating that although the kitchen had managed to provide the breakfast this morning, owing to the lack of facilities for dealing with the palay issued to the Camp, we were without any grain for the evening meal. A request was made for additional rice to be issued to tide the Camp over until means can be organized for dealing adequately with the palay. Mr. Konishi replied that under no circumstances whatever could any further issue be made. | |||
| When asked what the camp was going to eat for the evening meal, Mr. Konishi replied that to him the whole question appeared to be ridiculous. Obviously, it could not be expected that the kitchen could cope with the hulling of the palay for the whole camp. The individuals must do the hulling for themselves. It was pointed out to Mr. Konishi that the kitchen had done its best to cope with the situation, and with so many old and infirm people in camp, and the lack of personal firewood, it was hopeless to expect the individual to be able to do his own in a lot of cases. | |||
| Mr. Konishi stated that for the committee to say they had done their best when they have only used 25 or 30 men was nonsense. Mr. Heichert pointed out that they had done their best with the materials that are available. Mr. Konishi stated that he was not impressed by what the Committee said. Mills were not necessary; we had in the kitchen large aluminum pots and we had poles. The palay could be put in the pots and the poles could be used with the pots, as mortars and pestles. He stated that he had seen it done similarly in oil cans, and if the Camp was prepared to use all the labor they had available, undoubtedly they could cope with the situation. It was not as difficult as the Committee attempted to make out. If the palay were properly (sunned?), it could be hulled with the fingers. The Committee then asked if they could assume that they would get no rice or corn in the future – only palay – to which Mr. Konishi replied that nothing but palay could be expected. | |||
| Mr. Konishi was then asked what could be expected through the gate in the future. He replied that he could not permit any such inquiries; nor could he promise anything. He could only say that he would do what he could. He was then asked if he would be prepared to make up the serious shortage in weight issued. He replied that the issue as made would have to be accepted for the four days. It was pointed out that actually the issue was only sufficient for three days supply. Mr. Heichert then said to Mr. Konishi that he could not understand the position at all. He could not believe that the Japanese could treat men, women, children, and old people in this manner. They had promised to feed the camp, they now give us what we cannot use, and in addition give us short weight. It was something that completely passed his comprehension. Mr. Konishi replied that it was futile to talk to him of this kind of thing. If Mr. Heichert wished to talk in that manner, he had better take it up with the Commandant, as he had no wish to discuss it further. | |||
| Mr. Konishi was then asked if he could give us sufficient salt to enable us to make a salt issue, as it would be exceedingly helpful at this time. Mr. Konishi replied, “The issue for the four days will probably be forthcoming, but there will be nothing additional. This terminated the interview.” | |||
| 6:20 p.m. -- From about 4:40 p.m. until 5 p.m., a flight of P38’s attacked a point close behind the hills back of the camp. They bombed and strafed and started a fire. It sure put a little silver lining on the black clouds of the food situation, to see them swooping low over camp, so close that we could see the bombs leaving the planes. And this food situation has taken the final drop this afternoon when it was announced that the Japanese would issue us no more grain. They are set on starving us. There are two rumors floating around that say that the Japanese are retreating and are expected to pass through Los Baños Saturday, that our forces took Muntinlupa Monday and are advancing in a three pronged drive – but that’s just a rumor. The northern artillery duel began late in the morning and has shifted now from intermittent to last night’s regularity. Everyone is jubilant right now instead of downcast for they figure that it is a forerunner of the end and of perhaps further significance is the fact that the Nips called off tonight’s roll call, the first time they’ve missed one since they started them. I’m curious to see what, if anything, will happen tonight and/or tomorrow; and it’s a fight to hold off optimism. We’re hiding some foodstuffs in case the Japanese do some looting. | |||
| February 23 | |||
| Heavy artillery fire all last night. This morning the roll call bell rang at five to 7, and then while I washing my teeth, there was the sound of many planes to the East. I ran out just in time to see transports dropping a couple of hundred paratroopers. Then all hell broke loose. Bullets flying around the barracks, whizzing around tracers. Then an American guerrilla leader, or perhaps he was a paratrooper, came through the next barracks with a band of native guerrillas after him. The American had a submachine gun, the Filipinos had rifles, crude packs, straw hats, (some with feathers stuck in them). P38’s are flying around, hedgehopping, fighting is going on at the camp guard houses. The Nips didn’t even have time to organize – they are still out in the guard houses. Even while we were on the floor on our stomachs, we were laughing and cheering. Jesus, what a hullabaloo this was when we saw the guerillas come. We yelled, “Mabuhay”! Right now there is a fight going on at the Southern guard house – machine guns and rifles, two or three hundred yards away. We’re not lying flat now – we’re watching. There’s a hell of a lot of shooting up at the guard house. A paratrooper and some Filipino guerrillas just came through my barracks. Christ! He looked good. | |||
| February 24 | |||
| Too many things happened for me to continue writing, and anyhow, I was really too excited to put anything down coherently. I’ll just pick up the narrative again, knowing full well that my words cannot ever come close to describing the thrilling events that transpired. The guerrillas and some more paratroops deployed around the camp’s border and there was vigorous firing at the guardhouses. Our actions alternated between looking at the goings on and falling flat on the floor when the bullets flew too close. I don’t think I saw anyone that was frightened – everyone was uproariously jubilant. This was the day we had been waiting for, praying for, dreaming of. But what followed was beyond any internee’s wildest flight of imagination. One of the later paratroops to arrive yelled at our barracks to get ready to move “toot” sweet that we were being taken out. I thought this meant that we would be withdrawn behind the front line until the area around the camp was cleared of Japanese. So I just grabbed my bayonet, strapped it on and went down to see the folks. There was still considerable shooting going on, and guerrillas running around. In the married barracks, as I passed through, I saw babies in deep ditches where they had been placed by their parents. At the folk’s cubicle in #7, I found Dad cooking a pot of rice mush for breakfast, and Mom in a dither. I told them about moving out and we gathered our scattered faculties and decided to pack our few better belongs, in case we should not return – the truth had not yet dawned on us. P38’s were cavorting about every where, and I forgot to say: on my way over, I had seen the Japanese barracks #3 afire and a wounded girl my age being carried off in a stretcher - superficially wounded… Well, I had to go back to #25 to get my stuff and I found men pouring out, some heavy laden, some traveling light. I threw everything of value into a box, -- my good clothes, I grabbed this diary, a pen, my best pair of shoes (Keds), and did not forget the class records. But I forgot my only good leather shoes, my sun glasses and two years of diary. I had a devil of a time making barracks #7, and I saw Jap barracks #4 catching on fire, and people gathering on the main street. The firing had almost died out. I put my box down so hard that I tore off the hinges so I repacked in a suitcase and put on my good Keds, leaving the older pair behind. It was a mad scramble not to forget anything important. A paratroop was urging the internees to speed up. We gathered our remaining canned goods, and moved out with two suit cases, a handbag, and a nondescript bundle that Mom had fashioned at the last minute. We left a pot of mush boiling on the fire -- we left it gladly. Outside, the street was packed with internees, a wounded paratroop was talking to what I took to be his superior. He was hit in the arm. Barracks 3 and 4 were blazing merrily and it could be seen that the fire would spread and devour the camp. We told the paratroop about Konishi and he wrote the name down in a notebook. There is something I else I forgot: on my second trip down to number 7, I saw a blue colored tank going up to the piggery, it looked huge. To get back to the right place again, we all started moving into the old part of the camp that had been fenced off by the Japanese. We had to get out of the way of tanks that came plowing into camp dragging along clothes lines, and churning up the road into deep ditches. I passed a dead Japanese on the road but didn’t see him. It was not until I was told later that I knew, and I kicked myself because I had not and have not yet seen a dead Japanese. We passed a guerrilla and Mom asked him if they had killed Konishi. And he boasted that he had performed that service himself with a hand grenade. What I now identified as amphibian tanks (Amtracs), and not regular tanks, were gathering in the athletic field between the bungalows and cottages. There seemed to be scores of them; and they looked huge. We waited fifteen minutes until the tanks lowered their back end and until a vacant one was available. People were thronging about everywhere – excited women, loaded and dazed little children. The folks and I opened a can of Spam and cleaned it up. Once we were in Amtrac # 3 – 3, I got up on the cab and we finally pulled out at about 8:40a.m.. Boy that was a thrill! The racket was terrific and the bouncing was violent until we hit even road. All the time P38’s patrolled the tree tops. Everywhere I saw armed guerrillas, some with pistols, some with rifles, some with tommy-guns. I even saw one on horseback. We made quick time down to the beach of the lake, passing through a deserted town, Los Baños, and by the railroad station, badly blasted by our air attack, and entirely out of operation. Another experience was taking to the water – just couldn’t get over the way we hit the lake and plowed off across the smooth surface. The boys knew just what to do -–no excitement, no tenseness. It seemed to be some sort of a spree. Almost at the beginning the fellow I talked to in our Amtrac started to talk about the fine show the paratroops had made with perfect timing. Soldiers and internees alike were tickled with the work of the paratroopers. As soon as we were settled in the Amtrac, the crew began giving out cigarettes, crackers, and chocolate bars. Oh! What a treat. Out on the lake we were fired at by Japanese guns – water spouts flew up around the Amtracs ahead of mine and I was asked to get down inside. Our two 50 caliber M.G.’s opened up. The din was deafening. We were not hit but some other Amtracs caught some lead….While we were on the water, P38s and some flying jeeps (?) flew over us, low. We finally arrived at the beach, at some point that I haven’t learned the name of. This was at 11:40, and more tanks arrived as the long strung out formation came in. While we waited for trucks, the tanks re-fuelled and began the return journey to pick up the paratroops and remaining internees, who by the way were shelled during their wait. But by nightfall, all the internees were safe in the New Billibid prison at Muntinlupa. Only a few were slightly wounded, and as for the rescuers – they lost 2 killed, 2 wounded and 4 guerrillas killed - a small loss for so daring a venture, but one that I was sorry to hear of. (Ed. Note: no paratroopers were killed and only 2 guerrillas) We learned that we have been rescued in a commando raid – 2,147 men, women and children – well and sick plucked from enemy territory, and something like 60 Japanese killed. At Muntinlupa, we were fed, given cigarettes, candy and beds – hard prison bunks so hard that I didn’t sleep all night, but the main thing was that we were fed with delicious vegetable stew and tomato juice. Since then we have had all sorts of good food, have received mail from the States, were allowed to send mail to the U.S. as well as to Santo Tomas. | |||
| February 26 | |||
| God! What a heaven – what an army! What a life. It’s almost worth having been in prison just to be able to start life all over again with a new slant on things. Here we are – within sound of artillery, and sometimes machine gun fire. Supply trucks coming to camp here are sometimes sniped on – and yet it’s hard to believe that men are killing one another close by. We had a show last night displayed by a mobile projector unit, there is music and/or news and comedy programs being picked up and amplified from the administration building. All the soldiers are gay and happy – laughing, cracking jokes. They now see some of the first white women in a year or a year and a half. They profess great pleasure in seeing so many white civilians once again. They cannot be more tickled than I. MacArthur sent us a slew of candies and sweets today. A couple handfuls of crackers, three chocolate bars, 4 packages of candied cookies, a half dozen packages of Life Savers – oh what a sensation – a three year craving for sweets satisfied. The variety of equipment I see is amazing – the guns, trucks, half tracks, jeeps, power units, malaria control units, cooking equipment – all of it and this only a tiny bit of what there is to be seen. God! How I want to get in with them. I feel like an outcast – though I’m certainly not treated like one – seeing all these guys in uniform, some my age and me not with them. I want to get back to the U.S. and jump into the service and do something. I want to do after 3 years of having things done to me. | |||
| February 28 | |||
| No big change in our conditions. We continue to eat well, to have nightly shows, to get cigarettes, candy and all necessities issued to us. It feels like Christmas -- getting so many things. We are issued recent issues of magazines, and they broadcast almost all day. Filipinos are hired by the army to keep our quarters clean and it sure is neat to have nothing to do but read, sleep and eat. The only work I’ve had to do is stand in food line and wash – a pleasure with good food and good soap. The place is a beehive of activity and is being made into a hospital. We have had to make out an affidavit on our activities during the last three years, and whether we want to stay in the Philippine Islands or go to the U. S. The rumors are that we will be taken out as soon as possible. At night the soldiers dance with the girls and I have lost my date to the allure of the uniform, but that’s O.K. with me. They deserve it, and where I’m going, there’ll be more than enough girls – And I mean real girls. | |||
| March 1 | |||
| Oh! Happy Day! Yesterday they announced the scholarship winners. And guess who was one of them – yours truly. Just before the evening show, they made the announcement and called us up to the platform. The other two were Cesar Arana and John Symmonds. Was I ever proud! And also yesterday we had a class meeting and opened the sealed ballots for the honorary officers for the next five years. I was re-elected secretary along with the other old officers. And also yesterday, the 37th infantry band played here. Boy were they good! Swing, popular, and martial music – they are good at it all. And, of course, the army played Santa Claus again – cigarettes, candy, etc. It is a big circus. | |||
| March 14 | |||
| Well, it’s been a long time since I last made an entry, but that does not mean that the days have been uneventful. I have been too busy, or not feeling well enough to write. About a week ago all three of us secured a 48 hour pass to go to Manila to tend to some affairs. We rode down in the morning with John Wilson, in his small truck. There were various others in this truck and we made the trip in about an hour – bad time because we were held up by a convoy of trucks and artillery. Most of the way down, things looked peaceful. I saw some Jap entrenchments and dugouts, and the wreckage of one of our planes. When we neared the bay and Paranaque, I could see Japanese anti-air-craft guns (cannons and M.G.s) on the bay side of the road, and sunken ships sticking halfway out of the water. On the outskirts of Manila, I could see the evidences of battle – block upon block of flattened houses and the mere shells of buildings; scorched overturned cars, trucks and a tank or two. There seemed to be no nearby danger from snipers. G. I.’s and natives were every where going about their business, and Filipinos grubbing amongst the wreckage. And then when we entered the city itself – Pasay and Ermita – God! What destruction. A small area was fairly intact around Libertad. But the whole boulevard area, Luneta, M. H. del Pilar, and Herran, were rows of blasted concrete and burned wood. I am told by friends who saw, that even four days later there were still white, brown and Japanese bodies laying about, mummifying in the heat. | |||
| My truck was going too fast for me to pick out bodies, but I could see that all the big apartment buildings were empty, blackened shells. It is strange what freaks of destruction shell fire can create. All the cast iron boulevard lamp posts were snapped off or upturned. In the Luneta, the Jose Rizal monument was oddly intact. Then we passed the old Walled City, recently scene of a terrific conflict. The prepossessing walls and bastions still stand, but there could be seen the great blasted beaches, and only one structure reared its head above the escarpment – the new Letran University – just its face looking like a piece of Swiss cheese. And on the other side of the street, the battleground of the Botanical Gardens – pitted ground what had once been lawns, barbed wire, fascinatingly shredded trees and the mocking remains of animal cages and pens. I wondered what had happened to the bears, crocodiles, and elephants. We crossed the only bridge across the Pasig to the downtown section – a Bailey bridge built on the wreckage of the old Jones bridge, one of the erstwhile four spans across the Pasig – now blown up. The proud Metropolitan Theater, the big post office charnel house for Japanese a few day ago, now merely a proud ruin. But the proudest remains I saw were those of the Legislative building – a great pile of stone rubble and a mere hint of its magnificent facade – broken columns and shattered stone decorations. The Escolta, the principle down town street, the whole downtown was a shambles – stone skeletons the only evidence of tall buildings. A structure had collapsed across the Escolta so we had to detour. Native laborers were clearing the roads and some of the ruins. Vendors were setting up little stalls on the sidewalk and in the more stable first floors of wrecked edifices. We registered at Santo Tomas camp and secured passes to go into town. About 50% of the houses around the University grounds still stood, damaged or intact but on one side a whole block was almost level… We spent three nights at the home of a Filipino friend in San Juan, and oh! What a treat it was to sleep in a spring bed, bathe in a tub and eat at a civilized table with all the implements, with chinaware and napkins and servants. Our old home in San Juan we found in good condition. This suburb remained untouched, and there are people renting it from the company representing us. We dug for the jewelry we had buried in 1942 but found that someone had beaten us to it. Well, I have gotten used to losing things and I took it calmly. We started sleeping in camp four or five nights ago because we wanted to be on hand to keep up with repatriation developments. Close to a thousand people have already left by plane to Leyte and then on ship. Now (March 16) internees will be shipped right from Manila. Our affairs were fouled up in the red tape involved in getting transferred from Muntinlupa to Santo Tomas and we are not yet registered for repatriation. It was tantalizing trying to get set up here, balked at every move, in every arrangement by red tape. It‘s enough to drive one mad. God! I’ll be glad to get the hell out of here and meet normal conditions. Transportation is difficult and expensive in town, but we were saved because we knew some helpful officers. If you don’t have friends in uniform, you’re out of luck….For the last two weeks we have heard tremendous bombardment from the Marikina valley – during the night and sometimes in the day. Flying Jeep spotter planes are always in the air and bombers and fighters often were low over camp. | |||
| March 17 | |||
| Day before yesterday, in the evening, it was announced that repatriation would take place within the next few days and since the announcement indicated an increasing tempo in development and since mother was out spending a night or more with some friends in Pasay, I decided to risk a recently infected foot and go fetch her, taking Harris W. with me to make a day of it by sightseeing and collecting souvenirs – a risky venture since there were still some snipers being rooted out daily and booby traps and mines still hidden. However, I had been fretting for almost a week with my bad foot and now that it was better, I wanted to visit the scenes of carnage and inspect the places in detail. We took a tricycle buggy to the Jones bridge and a horse rig to Pasay, going the length of Taft Avenue. Our slow passage made it possible for us to take in the sights – the details of the wreckage. We saw heaps of shell cases and containers where artillery had been at work. In one ditch, I saw a Japanese helmet filled with the remains of a head – brown and shrunken, looking like a bundle of burlap. After arriving at our destination and being invited for lunch, we went for a short walk to the bayside boulevard – Dewey Boulevard. We found the wreckage of two Japanese fighters and we picked up souvenirs. We also saw two Japanese searchlights and found many shells, and bullet remains. Auxiliary gas tanks from planes were to be seen, not only here but all over the city. In the afternoon we set off back to Santa Tomas, but Harris and I left Mother to go off on our own explorations. Right next to the charred Red Cross office building, I found unexploded Japanese grenades which I would have liked to have kept but not understanding their mechanism, I did not risk it. On the sidewalk here, I saw human bones in three different places where bodies had been burned. The stench was not pleasant but I was not affected by it. I found the swarming flies more disturbing. Our next stop was the new Meseic police station, a heavy concrete structure that had been heavily shelled and rocket-blasted. One wing was totally demolished. Beside the other wing there was the mess of two blasted Japanese mortars (about 4 inch) and a smaller cannon – overturned, carriages demolished and fittings battered. The other wing had collapsed on a large machine gun mount. Everywhere there were dud shells and rockets, and the tails from exploded rockets. Beneath the building the Japanese had dug out a position and we found innumerable articles of equipment. We finally ventured into the dark stinking hole, because we saw two Filipinos lurking around without setting off any mines. Just outside of the entrance there was lots of loose G. I. rifle ammunition and some Japanese rifle bullets, loose and in clips. I took a clip of grey painted bullets. From outside we could see some loose Jap helmets. I took one that had two holes ripped into it. And then inside – what a mess. Let me enumerate some of the things: dozens of Japanese gas masks, some helmets, empty cans of food, loose biscuit rations, empty Jap ammo boxes, cartridge cases (rubber and leather). knapsacks, haversacks, odd shaped leather cases, Japanese rocket shells, articles of uniforms (some bloodstained) from which we tore Marine insignia, punctured canteens, torn shoes, dozens of mosquito nets, blankets and sleeping mats, full M. G. clips, a glass incendiary bomb, little notebooks, diaries, etc, cloth caps and many other unidentifiable things. In one putrid corner, I saw a human jaw bone. After combing the place for keepsakes, we walked to the English Club ruins where I saw numerous Japanese rifles with stocks burned off, a machine gun, and lots of ammunition, dud shells and rockets projected out of the ground. On our way to the Jones bridge we saw dozens of caps off Jap land mines and piles of cordite or some explosive. It was quite an interesting afternoon and I made good additions to my souvenir collection. | |||
| March 20 | |||
| Day before yesterday I made another tour with Harris and two others, to the same places. This time I saw more. At Meseic, a closer inspection of the Japanese cannon wrecked there showed me that there were a total of 4, one of which was almost completely buried and 3 of the 4 were howitzers and not mortars. The guns I had seen at the English Club, I examined closer and saw that they were 1917 Winchesters. I also found two battered rifles beneath the Meseic station, they were of a 1917 American make. The odour still remained in both places. I had previously overlooked the bloody bandages strewn over the stairs to the English Club porch. One of our group crawled into the dugouts beneath the club building and in the dark recess behind an inner partition he made out a Japanese form lying flat on its stomach in a natural position. It was too dark to make out details and he did not approach because he was afraid it might not be a dead Jap—not an impossibility. A Filipino friend of mine is going to go and see if the Jap had a rifle with him. The burial squad obviously overlooked him in removing bodies and someone may have overlooked his rifle. My friend is going to check, but he’s taking his .32 Colt with him. At Meseic, we looked into trenches and dugouts. In one dugout, I saw a half a case of Jap candy rations. In another, Japanese 50 caliber ammunition; and in one foxhole, beneath the shade of an acacia tree, I saw my first dead Japanese – my first dead human in fact. He had been there some time and he was mummifying in the heat – skin dark brown, tight and just like leather. He was on his back, one leg outstretched, and the other bent beneath the extended one. One arm was extended along his side – hand clutching nothing – fingers clawlike. His face was looking up and a little to one side. This was the only disagreeable feature in the exhibit – mouth wide open in a hideous grimace, some upper teeth showing, nostrils dilated into large perfectly round openings, eyelids two-thirds shut, glazed eyes staring through. The hair on his head was long but sparse, his chest was bared – skin drawn tight on a washboard of ribs and a deep-sunken stomach. His legs had shrunken in the spiral putees which hung loose. The bullet, or one of the bullets if there were other wounds I couldn’t see, had entered the left side of his nose and blown a large jagged hole behind his right ear. He must have been dead at least three weeks, and perhaps a month. There was no particular odor about him. The dugout beneath the Police Station stank more. I should have been horrified, nauseated, overcome. Strange, but I wasn’t. I told Harris that I could have eaten a sandwich while looking at the body. I was really fascinated by the spectacle – there was a morbid element in my interest. We moved on and told a group of sailors who went to look too and perhaps take a picture. We returned by Taft Avenue this time. On the corner of Taft and Isaac Peral, opposite the Red Cross building ruins, we examined a pillbox with a rapid fire cannon (probably 20 m.m.), that covered the street intersection. In front of the Spanish Club remains, we saw the head of an improperly buried Japanese soldier sticking out of the earth, helmet still on. The face was decomposed, but dry and shrunken. This was the burlap like head I saw the other day from a horse rig. It bore an unpleasant twisted grimace. Further on, and in front of the blasted city hall, feet, legs and other parts of Japanese anatomy protruded from shallow graves. Japanese military notes littered the street. Men were repairing the windows of the least battered wing of the city hall, bulldozers cleared away the debris that remained of the other wing. Walking across the Jones Bridge, I could see an American ship (a small vessel like a mine sweeper) docked at the river bank. Numerous vessels which had been scuttled in the river could be seen by their exposed superstructure or masts. Of the Jap atrocities during the fighting in Manila, I have been told much by eye witnesses. Friends of mine who were out – Spaniards, Filipinos and neutrals – tell me of nightmare days of hiding, of going from house to house, from ruin to ruin, being perused by the fire that raged in the city, dodging shells and Jap bullets. You can hardly speak to a single resident who has not lost relatives or friends – “Yes, my sister lost her husband and children”, “My brother was killed”, “I haven’t heard from my husband since we were separated”. I hear stories of whole families herded into houses by Japanese, houses set on fire, grenades thrown in and whoever attempted escape, machine gunned. I hear of groups of 100 or more neutrals and Filipinos lined up and bayoneted or shot. I heard of a girl who was raped 50 times. I heard of a baby bayoneted in its mother’s arms. A good friend of mine, Benito Pabon, a Spaniard, moved from his house because the Japanese had planted mines nearby. He wandered the streets of Malate for days trying to get to the other side of the river where the G.I.’s had moved in. He had friends killed around him by snipers or by shells or by machine gun fire when his group walked into the line of fire of a Japanese dugout. 1500 people, mostly Europeans, were massacred in the German Club where they thought they would be safe. Germans and all were burned and grenaded in the club house or driven into air raid shelters into which Japanese tossed grenades. In the Malate church, many whites and natives took refuge from the shelling and were massacred by Japanese. The mind cannot invent a fiction above the horror of the Japanese atrocities in Manila, and one has to see the city and speak to the survivors to understand and I am glad I was not present because I can look at the ghastly picture and consider the thing with a clear mind. The story of Santo Tomas is also interesting. On the 3rd of February, an American unit of tanks and troops drove a spearhead into Manila and seized the camp, killing off its garrison and liberated the prisoners. A group of Japanese held a floor of the Education Building and used the internees there for hostages to secure safe passage out of camp. But the guerrillas killed them in the streets outside. The Nips shelled the camp and made many hits on the main building and several other buildings. Thirty two internees were killed, and some G.I.’s. One hundred odd internees were wounded. | |||
| Repatriation is going apace and I await my turn impatiently. I can still hear artillery from the Marikina front. I just thought of something interesting I saw on Protacio Street, on my first sightseeing trip. A person that was living nearby told me that a Japanese truck carrying gasoline ran over one of its own mines. The gasoline did not catch fire but was looted later by Filipinos. I saw the great hole in the street, and the twisted chassis of the truck laying about 15 feet from the hole. It had been picked up and thrown over a four foot stone wall. The wall was undamaged but a chicken mesh fence on top of the wall had been carried away. | |||
| April 3 | |||
| Well, at last, I am on the repatriation list -- #6, the next group to go. I have had my winter clothing issued to me and baggage for the hold has been called for --- so I await the green light any moment now. And Boy! Am I glad. Harris met a friend of his who is Chief Steward on a ship that is in the bay. He took me with him on a visit to the ship and we spent the night, had a swell time and had some real food – not army grub (which I am beginning to get tired of) but fresh fruit, leg of lamb, roast beef, cake, pie, etc. and ice cold water and Cokes. Boy it’s a treat to taste ice cold stuff again. We’ve had three or four air raid alarms so far but no raids, and we can still hear the cannonading of battle going on. The Japanese must really be resisting. We’ve been hearing the battle sounds to the East for a month now. I’m down with a helluva cold and I just got over a pretty disturbing period of stomach trouble. The food has not agreed with me – too rich, I guess. And to think that I used to brag of a cast iron belly! | |||
| April 16, 1945 | |||
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Well, a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since I wrote last –salt water. In brief: on the 8th we were told we would leave the next day; there was a hectic night of running around, last minute packing, getting instructions. On the morning of the 9th, we left in trucks, people were leaving from six in the morning until into the afternoon. There were 4 groups for different hospital ships and a large group, mine, for the troopship. This group was further subdivided. This, including the repatriates from Muntinlupa totaled roughly over 3000 leaving on the 9th – almost all who desired to go back home. I was taken to a large landing vessel and that took my group to the U.S.S. E. W. Eberle, a large brand new troopship. We pulled out on the 10th, reached Tacloban on the 12th, with the convoy of 9 ships. We left on the afternoon of the 15th, alone, just with escort ships and now we are going a clip which we never could have attained if held back in a slow convoy. We are going in a generally easterly course and we have no idea of our exact destination. Rumor is we will stop at Palau, but no one knows. Also, the story is around that we are going non-stop to San Francisco, but again, we’re not sure. At any rate, it was wonderful to get underway at last and now that we are on the high seas and making knots (it’s a fast ship), I’m happy. Everything is wonderful on the ship, with one exception – the quarters are horribly hot. The food is really good, and I’m back on my feed again. Many are sea sick though we have not yet hit bad weather – but I’m eating like a horse, and feeling better that I have for a long time. I have an upper bunk (4 decker) and luckily I chose a spot right up against a ventilator so I’m really well fixed. We have a good orchestra aboard, and so we have music and dancing. Unfortunately, we must stay below from dusk to dawn but I really can’t complain. We expect to hit Frisco in two weeks, and I’m too happy to care. I have some great times ahead of me – the adventure I’ve always dreamed of, and I don’t care if I never see the P. I. again. “California, here I come!”
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