Back From The Living Dead, Bert Bank [best manga ereader .txt] 📗
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had ever happened. One of the hardest details was
the house moving detail. A Jap non com was in charge
of this detail which consisted of moving small houses
over the camp. He would take about 20 men when he
could have easily used 50 to move the house. This
guard would carry a golf club with him and when
the Americans would slow up he would beat them with
this golf club and throw rocks at them. I remember
he hit one American on the spine and permanently
crippled him. This Jap was the meanest one 1 saw
during my three years of imprisonment. He delighted
in coming around in the afternoon when everyone returned from work and making us get out and clean
the grounds. He would tell us the Americans were
dirty. The Jap kitchens were filthy and I can readily
understand why they have so much sickness, but of
course we could do nothing about our filth as we had
no means of sanitation.
Emperor Owns All Army Property
The Japs all look on their Emperor as their God,
You must be careful not to say anything around a
guard that he might take it as insult against the
Emperor. Even when you break one of their tools
they get very angry, as they say it belongs to the
Emperor. For example, I remember once when I was
in charge of the wood detail at one of the mess halls
here (we cooked our own rice in the camp), one of the
boys cutting wood broke an axe handle, and put the
axe in a fire in order to burn the remaining wood out
of the axe. Of course, this was very foolish, as it took
the temper out of the axe. Well, we went to the Jap
supply to get another axe, and we both received a
severe boating from the Jap non com in charge. He
told us that this axe belonged to the Emperor and
he, the one in charge, must account to the Emperor
for this axe. He told us that, his army was different
from ours, as in the American Army they would give
you another axe and that would be all but his army
did not have too much equipment, and all this belonged
to the Emperor. He beat us with an axe handle about
the head and face. One of their favorite types of beatings is throwing you down with a lot of ju jitsu,
which they excel in, and then kicked you in the groin
and stomach. Many of us were sick for days as a
result of such beatings. The Japs were always trying
to humiliate the Americans. Another favorite way of
punishing the Americans was to line the men up facing
each other and make them slap each other. For example, on one particular detail I have in mind, there
were 16 men and one of the men was not working
according to the guard in charge. He, the guard, lined
us up facing each other. He told us that we should
slap each other, so I just barely touched my man who
was a little smaller than I was. The Jap came running
over to me screaming that he would show me how he
wanted me to hit the man. The only trouble was that
he demonstrated on me. He hit me with his fist across
the mouth and nose and I bled profusely. Well, of
course, I had to hit the fellow American just like this
or I would be hit again. So I hit him as hard as I
thought I could get away with, and it knocked him
to the ground. When we came in that evening, this
fellow wanted to fight because he said that I hit him
too hard, but after he cooled down everything was all
right again. The Japs always thought up such punishment in an attempt to lower our morale, but they were
never able to do this, as the Americans would not have
their spirits and moi’ale beaten.
Smuggling Activities at Cabanattfan
After I left in October they began a beautiful smuggling racket at Cabanatuan. You must remember
that our camp was located five miles east of the town
of Cabanatuan. Each evening the guards would take
the Americans with the carabao carts to the barrio to
get the rice to bring into camp. These Americans
made contacts with the Filipinos at Cabanatuan as
these Filipinos were loading the carts with the rice.
They passed notes between themselves and they would
see each other daily. One of the favorite places of
exchanging notes was between the camp and Cabanatuan. There was a water hole where the carts would
stop is order to water the carabaos. The Americans
would leave the notes there and the Filipinos would
pick the notes up and leave their messages there also.
The man that handled all of this was a civilian from
Manila who worked in the pump house on the Japanese side, as there was a fence between the Japs and
the Americans, of course. This civilian handled all of
these transactions and charged a person 10 per cent
for handling his money. For example, if I wished to
get a note to someone in Manila I would see this
civilian, whose name I will not divulge, but I understand that he was a gambler and owner of a gambling
house before the war in Manila. I would give him the
note and if I requested 100 pesos he would charge me
10 per cent when the money arrived. We found out
Inter that much more money was sent sometimes, but
he would charge you 10 per cent of your request and
keep all over the amount you requested since you would
never know the difference. It is said that this individual made thousands and thousands of dollars because
what he did was lend this money out for American
money. If you had plenty of money, that is, Filipino
money, and, later, even Japanese money, you could
get a few items of food. Of course, this practice all
stopped about six months before the Americans invaded the island. At this time the money had no value
at all. But when the money was good this person
loaned out these pesos, one peso for a dollar, and,
friends, that is making plenty. He would take checks
or notes. But he was particular in that he would only
take checks from officers who were in the regular
Army. It is estimated that he had approximately
$80,000 in checks and notes, and I have heard men
who know him say that if he ever gets out of this war
you can depend on it that he will collect that money.
“Mrs. V.” Handled Smuggling from Manila End
This smuggling racket lasted for about eight months
and it really did help a lot of people as it enabled them
to get money in and buy a little extra food. A lady
whose name I do not know, but called Mrs. “TJ,”
handled the transaction from the other end in Manila.
She really did a wonderful job and I personally think
she should be congratulated by our Army officials.
She took great chances and helped many by sending
this money and distributing the notes in Manila. The
Jap non com who worked in the pump house with the
civilian handling the transaction from our end was on
the civilian’s pay roll, also. He helped the Americans
by acting as go between. I am of the opinion that he
was either pro-American or just crazy for the money
that he was getting each month for his assistance. The
Japanese headquarters got wind of this racket and
one day one of the guards saw a can containing money
thrown over the fence. This was reported to their
headquarters but they did not say anything about it
at that time. They called in the Japanese MPs from
Manila who began working on the case. The MPs
worked both in Manila and in our camp without our
knowledge.
One day the men on their way back from Cabanatuan with the rice were unexpectedly “shaken down”
(the term we used to mean inspected). This was carried out by the MPs who had been called in from
Manila to handle the case. Many of the Americans had
notes on them and these notes contained names of some
of the Americans in camp whom the notes were marked
for. All men whose names were in the notes were taken
to the Jap headquarters and after much questioning
many were rounded up and put into solitary confine-ment by the Japs for five months. These men were
tortured and looked very bad. One of these men was
a lieutenant colonel who was 60 years of age, but he
took it beautifully. The surprising thing about the
discontinuance of this racket was that the civilian
who handled all of this was not punished nor was the
Jap non com, since their implication in the racket was
not discovered. The non com effected a transfer for
himself and later was moved. He was really happy
because he was worried about being found out.
It is really amazing what one can find in a prison
camp. The most amazing thing about this is that they
inspect us so frequently and so very closely, making
us take off our G string and get in the nude. They go
through our bedding and barracks, and still we have
hidden such things as a vacuum cleaner. The Japs held
these inspections frequently and in Mindanao they
worried quite a bit about the guerrillas smuggling in
things to us.
Dysentery Situation Very Acute at Cabanatuan
The dysentery situation at Cabunatuan was as horrible as at O’Donnell. Men were lying on the ground
around the barracks in the nude and in filth. There
was no medicine or medical supplies, as the Japs would
not allow the civilians to send in Red Cross supplies.
Men were nothing but skin and bones. We had many
men who were so skinny that they did not have a
buttocks at all, as the only thing that you could see
was an anaeus. It was the most horrible sight I have
ever witnessed in my life. At this time I weighed 130
pounds and the fellows would tell me how good I
looked. The average weight was 85 or 90 pounds. Wet
beri beri was very prevalent. I remember one captain
from Illinois with this disease, and he was swollen
terribly. He would always smile and laugh even though
he knew he was going to die. He could not walk
because his feet were so swollen, and his eyes were
closed. One morning he awakened and began talking
about all the hot dogs he was going to eat when he
returned to Illinois. He died that morning. We slept
on the floor and when one entered the barracks it
was necessary to walk very carefully on tip toes since
the least jar might cause someone with dysentery to
deficate on his clothes. We had no water to wash up
the human waste and many just slept in this filth.
We worried all the time for fear some sort of plague
might begin spreading among us. The good Lord was
certainly on our side in this respect because we did
not have any of a serious nature. I remember one
officer who had a very bad case of dysentery and each
morning when I got up the floor would be dirty on his
side. He felt very badly about it, but he could not help
it at all. It was nothing unusual for you to be eating
your rice and someone with dysentery would deficate
right next to you on
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