JAPANESE PRISONER OF WAR CAMP NO1, CABANATUAN
Toward evening we arrived at the gate-made of slender poles and barbed
wire-which I immediately recognized as one of the camps built prior to
the war to house a division of the Philippine Army. It was located on
several hundred acres of treeless wasteland (formerly rice paddies)
near the foothills of the Sierra Madre Mountains. It consisted of some
one hundred cantonment type barracks with walls of nipa and roofs of
swali and cogan grass.
Within the barbed wire enclosure, many of the seven thousand
half-naked, starved bodies, the "captives," slowly milled about camp.
In the several guard towers along the fence, sentries closely
scrutinized their movements. The arrival of our old truck and its
handful of new captives were scarcely noted in camp.
I made my "duty calls" on Col. D. J. Rutherford, C.A.C.,
Camp Commander, on Lt. Col. Leo Pacquet, Group II Commander, and Col.
Gillespie, Medical C. O. Group II Dispensary proved to be a small,
twenty by twenty foot grass shack. In one corner was my two-by six
foot bamboo slat bed for the next several months.
Although my weight was down from 165 to 120 pounds because of amoebic
dysentery, I was still relatively active and in fair health. How lucky
I had been to have missed the starvation, the many diseases, the
battles and bombings on Bataan and Corregidor, and most of all, the
"Death March," which had taken so many thousands of lives,
"slaughtered by the Japs."
"Thank you God!" became my frequent and fervent prayer.
Shortages: The first shortage of which I became aware was water. The
deep well in camp required diesel fuel or coconut oil to run the
engine-to pump the water to a central water tower, from which it went
to one outlet in each group and each mess hall, and several outlets in
the hospital. Since fuel was always in short supply, there was usually
a shortage of water. By standing in line for an hour, I obtained my
first canteen of water (which could only be used for drinking). Baths
were obtained by standing under the eaves on rainy days. Fortunately
the rainy season was beginning.
Chow: The evening meal was my introduction to the diet. I had been
warned that I would only need my canteen cup for dinner. After waiting
in a long line, I received one half cup of lugao (a thin watery rice
soup) and some foul tasting greens, a very skimpy meal compared to
those I enjoyed with the guerrillas chicken, eggs, pork, fruits, and
vegetables.
As the days went by, the diet did not improve just lugao and greens
day after day. On a rare occasion a small amount of mongo beans or
corn might be added.
About once a month, a carabao (water buffalo) was killed and added to
the soup for from 6,000 to 12,000 captives, after the Japs had removed
all of the choice cuts. We believed ourselves lucky when we could find
a shred or two of meat in the soup.
Our captors reasoned that slow starvation would make us too weak to
resist authority or to attempt to escape. To further insure our
servility, the Japanese divided us into groups of ten "blood
brothers." If one attempted to escape, the other nine would be
severely punished. Recaptured escapees were paraded around camp by
American guards for twenty four hours and then used for bayonet
practice by the trainees and Koreans.
First Night: During the first night in camp, I spent several hours
walking under the stars, just thinking. Life had been much better with
the guerrillas; I was free to go many places not occupied by the Japs.
I ate much better.
But what was done was done! There was no question that the captives in
Cabanatuan P.O.W. Camp needed all of the medical care I could give
them. From that point of view, I reasoned that I was in the right
place. .
I wondered if Judy could see the same stars that I could the hunter
and his two dogs, and the Southern Cross. When we lived in Garden
Court (near Nichol's Air Field), we used to delight in watching the
moon and the stars shimmering in Manila Bay. It seemed a lifetime ago.
Apparitions: The next morning, some three hundred pathetic,
skeletonized human beings, Americans, lined up in front of Group II
Dispensary, all hoping for miracles. Several of the patients
recognized me from Manila, where I had treated them at Sternberg Army
Hospital, or the dispensaries of the 57th Infantry Regiment, or the
14th Engineer Regiment at Fort McKinley.
With their shaven heads and their considerable weight losses, I had
great difficulty in recognizing them. These were the pitiful survivors
from Bataan and Corregidor, the "Battling Bastards of
Bataan," and the remnants of the "Death March." One by one I listened
to their stories and tried to help them.
Since there was very little medicine to give out, most of the therapy
had to be improvised. Those with dysentery were told to take a
teaspoon of charcoal from the mess hall stoves after each meal, and to
sleep on the right side so not to irritate the sigmoid colon. They
were to wash their hands after each trip to the latrine in spite of
water shortages.
Malaria patients were given one quinine tablet after each chill hoping
to alleviate symptoms. There was never enough to attempt a cure.
Both "wet" and "dry" beriberi cases were prevalent. There were no
vitamins to treat them. We tried to make yeast cultures; the process
was too slow, and we could never see that the cultures did any good.
Hundreds of beriberi cases died each month.
Scurvy came on suddenly in large numbers of captives several times
each year. When we could persuade the Japs to obtain a lime or two for
each captive, the cures were remarkable.
Nightly Toll: Each day we transferred the most seriously ill patients
to the hospital, where there were small amounts of extra food. In
spite of the daily transfers, each night several captives died in the
barracks. Many of the captives refused to go to the hospital seeing it
as the last stop before death.
Mess Halls: There were eleven mess halls in camp-each with one or two
large concrete stoves at one end. Large iron caldrons held the rice or
soup to be cooked. During the rainy season, there were serious
problems getting the wood to burn.
It often appeared that the mess crews were better fed than other
captives. The daily diet consisted of two hundred to four hundred
grams of a poor grade of rice, containing fine gravel and insects,
about one hundred grams of weeds (from carabao wallows), and, on a
rare occasion, ten grams of "one" of the following: sugar, coconut
oil, beans, camote (sweet potato), corn, or meat. The diet was usually
below eight-hundred calories daily, of which protein and fat were less
than fifty calories.
Captives, who were able to earn a pittance by hard labor on labor
details or on the farm, could supplement their diet with an occasional
banana, egg, a few peanuts, or a few mongo beans.
A few captives raised small gardens growing vegetables for their own
use. As they ripened, the produce had to be carefully watched to
prevent theft. Some captives trapped stray dogs, some ate lizards,
grasshoppers and even earthworms.
With food from every available source, the daily diet rarely reached
one thousand calories. Fat and salt were almost never available.
Slow Starvation: Starvation, the scourge of the Orient for centuries,
devastated the captives held by the Japanese; it was not a starvation
bred of poverty, but starvation bred of brutality, sadism and neglect.
Murder would have been more humane; execution more legal. A slow,
tortured death, however, was more in keeping with the desire of the
Japanese to make the "Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor pay dearly
for having challenged 'Dai Nippon."
We were hearing so much about the "Death March" and "Camp O'Donnell,"
I have decided to include several paragraphs on each:
Bataan "Death March": The "Death March" began April 9th, when the
Japanese General Homma demanded that General King surrender his 80,000
Fil-American forces on Bataan "Unconditionally."
Since Gen. Homma's prizes, Corregidor and the Philippine Islands,
still lay before him, he had no time to worry about the captured
Fil-American forces. His shock troops, tanks, trucks, cars, cavalry,
artillery, and infantry occupied the only highway from Bataan to the
central plain. They were getting into position (on the grounds of
Hospitals I and II) to shell and bomb Corregidor into submission. "Why
the dirty bastards! They're using us as shields to fire on
Corregidor."
At the same time, Japanese guards between Marivales and Limay were
rounding up the 80,000 hungry, sick, confused, and exhausted captives
to march them north on the same highway in groups of one hundred in
columns of four.
Guards were continually barking orders: "Get on the highway!
Hully! Hully! Hully! Kura! Stop! Get off the load! Speedo! Sona bitch!
Kura! Get on the highway! Stop!" They used their weapons to enforce
their directives.
The "March" began at Marivales, proceeded "on foot" for about sixty
miles, then by box car for some twenty miles and finally another ten
miles "by foot" to Camp O'Donnell. "It was hot, hot, hot and dusty!
There was no food; there was no water!" Most captives did not have
canteens. Those who attempted to fill their canteens in the ditches
besides the road were frequently bayoneted; anyone who couldn't keep
up was slapped, clubbed or
bayoneted in full view of the others.
Heard along the march: "During the day, we had to travel along the
highway when it was not being used by heavy equipment going south."
"At night, we were placed in barbed wire enclosures; sometimes there
was water; more often there was none." "As the days passed, the stench
of death became very pronounced; bodies were laying along the highway
in all stages of decomposition swollen, bursting open, and covered by
thousands of maggots."
The Korean guards were the most abusive. The Japs didn't trust them in
battle, so used them as service troops; the Koreans were anxious to
get blood on their bayonets; and then they thought they were veterans.
"If you fell, you were dead!"
"There were things you didn't want to see! There was the captive
that the Jap trucks and tanks had rolled over until he was just a flat
'silhouette' in the pavement."
"The heat was terrible!"
"The Jap kept poking me with his bayonet; fear gave me the strength to
go on."
"To have a close friend a buddy to help you might be the difference
between survival and death."
"As the days passed, the compounds holding captives at night became
filthy; sick and dying almost filled the areas. The dead were not
being buried. The terrible odor was sickening."
"Sometimes when the compounds were crowded, they marched us all
night."
"I had 10,000 teeny blisters on the bottom of my feet."
"The compound was full of people a lot of dust, dirt and filth; I
just fell into the dirt and slept."
"People were going crazy they were 'nuts!' sometimes talking to
themselves, sometimes screaming!"
"We all had dysentery, and there was no water. Usually there was no
food."
"We finally reached the train a few box cars with doors closed in
the hot sun they were stifling hot like a furnace."
"We were jammed one hundred to a car standing room only. Men
fainted, but there was no place to fall down."
"They didn't open the door until we reached the destination.
The living and the dead just fell out."
"Sit down and be counted!"
"When we had reached Capas, it was pandemonium, Japs and captives all
milling around. They tried to count us as we rested."
"Then we were told to line up-in columns of twos. We started the
march on a dirt road some six miles to Camp O'Donnell."
"Some captives had marched all the way from Bataan close to one
hundred miles."
"It wasn't the march that killed us; it was the continual delays along
the march the standing in place for two or three hours at a time
without food or water."
"If you stepped out of line, you were apt to have a bayonet in
your gut."
The exact number of dead from the "Death March" was probably known
only to God. The best estimates were anywhere from 12,000 to 17,000.
Deaths at Cabanatuan: During the first eight months of camp, deaths
totaled 2,400. Some thirty to fifty skeletons, covered by leathery
skin, were buried in common graves each day. The Japs issued documents
certifying that each death was caused by malaria, beriberi, pellagra,
diphtheria, in fact, anything but the real cause starvation and
malnutrition.
After the war, when the Graves Registration searched the Cabanatuan
cemeteries, they found and disinterred 2,637 bodies.
Sanitation: From the beginning of camp, sanitation was a serious
problem. Flies, including the blue and green bottle types, were
present everywhere. Maggots thrived in the latrines, weakened the
walls, resulting in cave-ins, and sometimes engulfing the visitor.
Daily rains further weakened the walls.
After several months some engineer officers, under the leadership of
Major Fred Saint of Elmhurst, Illinois, organized a sanitary detail,
and succeeded in building deep septic tank type latrines that would
not cave in. They applied lime daily to control flies and maggots.
Gradually they dug ditches along all walks and around all buildings in
order to promote draining and to prevent quagmires.
Labor Details: The camp had not been in operation many days before the
Japanese requested that the American headquarters furnish labor
details of various sizes and types to work both inside and outside the
camp. Although an occasional detail would be commanded by a very cruel
Jap guard and unbelievable brutality followed, the men on some details
had reasonable guards, received extra food and remained relatively
healthy.
Wood Detail: On good days, a firewood detail went to the forests to
get wood for the mess hall stoves.
Rice Detail: One to three times each week, a rice detail composed of
from five to ten carabao carts, an American driver for each cart, and
several Jap guards, drove to market in the town of Cabanatuan to pick
up one hundred pound bags of rice for the mess halls.
Outside Details: Details were taken to many places in the Philippines
to build and repair roads, bridges and airfields and to load and
unload ships in the port area of Manila. Several details of Americans
were taken to Bataan to make a Japanese movie, entitled Down with the
Stars and Stripes! Periodically, a detail was taken to Japan.
The Farm: After several months of starvation, some hungry captives
suggested to the Japanese that a farm could supply extra food for the
captives and might reduce the high morbidity and mortality rates.
The farm was started with a few farmers and expanded very rapidly.
Groups of one hundred men each were marched out of camp every morning
barefooted to spend the day on the farm.
The farmers worked under many difficulties; the sun became very hot.
Farmers were not allowed to squat down or to bend the knees. They had
to work bent over from the waist. They received only a fifteen minute
yasume (rest period) in the morning and another in the afternoon.
There was much language confusion; much misunderstanding followed by
frequent slapping, kicking or beating.
Nearly every day the Japanese insisted upon larger and larger details
insisted that more and more patients be returned to duty from the
hospital in order to work on the farm. The workers received a small
amount of extra food.
Much to my surprise, many sick patients, that we thought were too
sick for duty, were becoming rather husky farmers.
More to my surprise, the Jap guards soon found they could make extra
money by taking farm products to the market in Cabanatuan city, where
they were sold to the civilians.
Camp Hospital: The hospital was first opened in June, 1942, by Col.
James Gillespie with the mess halls under Major Jim Rinaman. There
were sixty six officers and 183 enlisted men. By July 1st there were
2,300 patients and by August, 2,500.
There were thirty wards (made to hold forty soldiers), often
holding up to one hundred patients. There were upper and lower decks
made of bamboo slats. Each patient was allotted a two-by-six foot
space. Seriously ill were kept on the lower decks.
By Dec. 1st, I had been appointed chief of the medical service; I
tried to see every patient each day. Since medicines were very scarce,
there was actually very little I could do, except give some hope of a
better tomorrow.
Dire Economy: In the early days of the hospital, the Japanese issued a
few cartons of condensed milk that they had captured on Bataan for the
benefit of the seriously ill. Unfortunately, most of the recipients of
the extra milk proceeded to die in spite of the extra nourishment
taking the milk with them. We quickly learned a harsh but valuable
lesson: "Do not give extra nourishment to dying patients!"
From then on, the extra food went only to patients who possessed the
possibility of recovering plus the will to live.
Malaria: Fully 50% of the 2,400 patients had malaria. For many months
all we could do was to give one quinine tablet after each malaria
chill, hoping to make them more comfortable. But after the Japs
conquered the Dutch East Indies, we received 30,000 three grain
tablets of quinine. This allowed us to control most cases of malaria
and to cure some.
Occasionally we saw a few cases of cerebral malaria; most of these
died in spite of quinine therapy.
Multiple Diseases: Most patients had more than one disease, usually
multiple vitamin diseases. Many had lost from one third to one-half of
their body weight. Most everyone had either wet or dry beriberi, or a
few both.
Beriberi: Wet beriberi cases were bloated with edema usually beginning
in the feet and gradually progressing upward to the head. A patient
with edema of the feet and legs, after lying in bed all night,
frequently found that the edema had spread to his chest and face in
the morning.
After being up for several hours, the edema slowly returned to his
legs and feet. When the edema became extensive, the patient became
nearly helpless unable to get about.
Tropical ulcers often developed in swollen legs, and continued to weep
as long as the edema existed. If the edema had been caused by salt
intake, it could be, controlled by eliminating salt, but for the most
part salt was not a factor, because we rarely had any salt in our
diet.
Patients with dry beriberi were usually very thin. Their chief
complaint was lightning-like pains (neuralgia) in their legs and feet.
The only relief came from soaking their legs in buckets of cold water.
Many sat up all night trying to obtain some comfort.
On a rare occasion a dry beriberi patient would develop edema in his
feet and legs; strange as it may seem, the edema seemed to relieve the
pains of the dry beriberi.
Forty years later, some of the survivors still have leg pains in spite
of heavy vitamin therapy indicating permanent nerve damage.
Beriberi Heart Disease: Beriberi heart disease was seen frequently,
and often resulted in sudden death. Like the legs and abdomen, the
heart became enlarged with edema; the beat became irregular. As some
patients lay down, their heart would stop beating, especially if lying
on the left side.
If you could get to them in time to sit them up, or to massage their
heart, it was sometimes possible to get the heart started again.
Sudden death at night was a rather frequent occurrence. Many American
trained cardiologists still consider beriberi heart disease as a
reversible condition, but some ex-P.O.W.s still have the same
irregularities.
Pellagra: Pellagra was common, manifest by conjunctivitis, glossitis,
amblyopia, angular stomatitis, geographic tongues (often with deep
grooves and severe sensitivity), and scrotal dermatitis of varying
degrees including sloughing. There was increased pigmentation of the
skin sometimes patchy.
Xerophthalmia: Xerophthalmia and optic atrophy were seen occasionally
and often left permanent damage to vision, and sometimes complete
blindness.
Diphtheria: We had an epidemic of diphtheria some two hundred cases of
which 125 died before the Japs obtained a limited amount of antitoxin.
Most survivors had permanent residuals.
Infectious Hepatitis: We had several epidemics of infectious
hepatitis, which seemed to be self-limited. At times it was difficult
to differentiate it from malaria with jaundice following Atabrine
therapy.
In 1943, I had infectious hepatitis for about ten days and turned a
bright yellow accompanied by severe nausea and vomiting. Every time
someone would mention "food," I would run to
the window and retch. It seemed this happened about every five minutes
during the day, as prisoners rarely talked about anything else. The
individual would apologize for mentioning food, but it would be only a
short time before it was the subject again.
Scurvy: There were several widespread epidemics of scurvy; we could
stop these quickly if and when we could persuade the Japs to get a
lime or two for each captive.
Diabetes Mellitus: When I entered camp, I was worried about diabetes
mellitus, because there was no insulin or other medicine available to
treat it. Ironically, starvation solved the problem.
The blood sugar never got up high enough to produce any symptoms.
Red Cross Packages: Just before Christmas in 1942, 1943 and
1944, the laps issued one or two Red Cross food packages, each of
which contained seven pounds of food. After the package in 1942, the
camp mortality fell miraculously from forty deaths daily to one or two
a month. December 15, 1942, was the first day in camp in which there
was not a single death.
Refeeding Gynecomastia: Three times during our thirty to thirty-six
months of incarceration at Cabanatuan and in Bilibid, following the
receipt of one, two or three Red Cross packages, making our diet
adequate for from one to six weeks, up to six hundred "refeeding" type
of breast swellings (gynecomastia) of various sizes appeared.
After the food in the packages was consumed by the captives, and the
diet returned to the starvation-type, the captives with the swollen
breasts noticed that the breasts were slowly and gradually returning
to normal size.
Again after liberation, when the diet returned to normal and remained
adequate, many hundreds of refeeding gynecomastia were seen, and
lasted from one to eight months, before disappearing. At times the
enlarged breasts were rather tender and even painful.
Dysentery Section of Hospital: Fenced off from the hospital was a
quarantined area containing about ten wards-called the Dysentery
Section-under the supervision of a separate staff of medical officers
and corpsmen.
There was a tremendous sanitary problem. Many of the patients were too
weak to leave their wards. Some "passed out" on their way to and from
the latrine. There was essentially no medicine for these debilitated
patients-unless they were lucky enough to
have a friend in Manila and knew how to contact him via the
Underground.
Zero Ward: In the Dysentery Section, there was a building that was
missed when the wards were numbered. Later, it was called "Zero Ward"
and served as a place to put the seriously ill, essentially dying
patients. It was an empty building with wooden floors, and usually
contained about thirty extremely ill patients naked lying on the
floor, frequently in their own vomitus and dysenteric stool.
Their chances of survival were just about zero. Flies walked casually
over their leathery skin; rarely did a patient arouse himself
sufficiently to threaten a fly. Most of the patients did not want to
be disturbed, typically responding "Please leave me alone; I have
suffered enough! Just go away!"
Exhausted and sick corpsmen moved slowly among the dying, trying to
keep them clean, and giving them food or medicine, when available.
Operating Room: In the early days of the hospital, the Japanese
permitted several medical officers to return to Bataan to retrieve an
operating table, minimal surgical equipment and a field X-ray unit
from the abandoned U.s. Army hospital.
Captives who had needed operations prior to the obtaining of the
surgical equipment were operated in Cabanatuan city by Japanese
doctors with 100% mortality.
Our American surgeons said, "We can do better than that!" The
American surgeons had no mortality.
A Camera: Ingenious Americans built a camera: they used X-ray film,
took pictures around the camp and developed the film in X-ray
solutions. They, of course, had to hide the camera and pictures when
Japs were in the area.
A Radio: After hearing no news during the early months of the camp
some other clever Americans decided to build a radio.
Several of the captives operated the electric generating and pumping
station. In the evening, when they suspected' the Japanese were
listening to their radios, they would run the voltage up high and
blowout the Jap radio sets. The following morning, the Japs would
bring their sets to the Americans and say: "You fix!"
After a quick examination, the Americans would exclaim, "We must get
some new parts in Manila!" In Manila, they would get extra parts and
eventually built a radio-in the bottom of a canteen; in the upper half
was water that they could pour out, if the Japs became
suspicious. Gradually, the captives became very knowledgeable
concerning war activities; Jap guards contacted the Americans for the
latest news.
Scuttlebutt (Rumors): The word "scuttlebutt" was an old Navy term
probably antedating the father of the U.S. Navy and his first ship,
the U.S.S. Alfred in 1775. The butt was a bucket or cask often placed
near the ship's ladder, where sailors congregated for a drink of fresh
water, and to exchange rumors.
When the sailors joined the soldiers and airmen on Bataan, scuttlebutt
soon followed, and usually referred to: Long convoys filled with food,
vast supplies and equipment and loaded with troops-replacements-that
President Roosevelt kept assuring us were "On the way." The convoys
always proved to be phantom, or arrived safely in Ireland, Australia
or Africa, never in the Philippines.
In the Cabanatuan P.O.W. Camp, rumors were always rampant, especially
in the evening when daily activities were finished. The scuttlebutt
often referred to big Allied victories, prisoner exchanges, ships
loaded with food, a new Ford for every prisoner, promotions,
decorations, etc., etc.
They all proved to be figments of the imagination-just pure
scuttlebutt.
Prisoner-of-War Status: About October of 1942, the Japanese removed
our status of "captive" (criminal awaiting trial) and designated us as
"prisoners-of-war!" We hoped that this meant that things would get
better.
We began receiving pay-the same as the Japanese officers and soldiers
of the same rank. I quickly learned that after receiving my thirty yen
at the pay window, I had to move to the next window and deposit twenty
yen into Japanese Postal Savings.
When I graduated from Prison Camp (Class of August, 1945), I had more
than 30,000 yen in Postal Savings. They have never offered me any
money, or a Toyota; in fact, they haven't even answered my mail.
Post Cards: When we became prisoners-of-war, each prisoner received a
yellow, printed form post card. He could fill in the blank places,
sign it, and it would be sent home.
"Major Eugene C. Jacobs
I am interned at Philippine Military Camp No.1.
My health is fair
I am Uninjured
Please take care of Insurance
Love, Eugene C. Jacobs, 1897"
We were allowed to send one post card every six months during
thirty-eight months. The last card was a fifty-word card.
Mail: About the same number of times shipments of letters and packages
came into camp from the States. Censoring was extensive. I got one
letter that was completely cut out, except, "Dear Gene,
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Love, Mother
Of course, these letters and packages were a Godsend. We passed the
letters around to all of our friends, hoping there might be something
of interest to them. We ate the cheese and malted milk in the
packages-even when they had maggots in them. It was a great boost to
our morale to know that someone loved us and was praying for our safe
return.
Commissary: We were permitted to have a commissary; my ten yen each
month bought a can of salmon or condensed milk, several bananas, a cup
of mongo beans or peanuts. Once I was able to buy a live chicken and
have a Thanksgiving dinner. The commissary was operated by Lt. Col.
Harold K. Johnson (later to become the Chief of Staff of the U.S.
Army), Capt. Amos and Capt. Norton. Gradually inflation became so bad
that the Japanese pay become almost worthless.
Chapel Service: We were permitted to go to church on Sundays.
The sermons had to be censored on Saturdays; there was often a Jap
attending service-to keep the preachers honest. Lt. Col. Alfred
Oliver, U. S. Army, was chief of chaplains in the Philippines by
reason of seniority.
Two protestant chaplains built their own chapels with scrap lumber and
prison labor. Capt. Frank Tiffany was a Presbyterian; I became an
elder in his chapel. Capt. Robert Taylor was a Baptist. I became a
deacon in his chapel. Other chaplains used mess halls, libraries and
even barracks to hold their services.
Catholic chaplains were: Majors Stanley Reilly and Albert Braun,
Captains Richard Carberry, John McDonnell, Stober, Albert Talbot, Tom
Scenina, and Dugan, and Lieutenants McManus, James O'Brien, Mithias
Zerfas, John Wilson, Duffy, William Cummings, and John Curran.
Protestant chaplains included: Majors John Borneman and Ralph Brown,
Captains Sam Donald, Leslie Zimmerman, Morris Day, Arthur Cleveland,
and Lieutenants Quinn, Herbert Trump and Ed Nagle (a missionary from
Baguio).
Chaplains of unknown denomination: William Dawson, Joseph
Vanderheiden.
Jewish cantor: Aaron Kliatchko.
Christmas Midnight Mass and Easter Mass were very colorful events
attended by all healthy prisoners. On May 30th of each year
(Decoration Day), the Japanese allowed one thousand prisoners to visit
the cemetery. Chaplain Oliver led the services; Major Iwanaka Oapanese
Camp Commander) presented a large wreath.
Chaplains took turns accompanying the Burial Detail from the morgue to
the cemetery nearly every day-giving graveside services. Chaplains'
visits to the wards of the hospital were much appreciated by the
patients-sick, depressed and underground dying.
Underground: After being in camp for several months, I discovered that
some of the captives were leaving notes (addressed to friends in
Manila) on their beds. In some mysterious way, they were picked up and
delivered in Manila. In a couple weeks there would be an answer, also
left on the bed of the sender.
Sometimes there would be money, medicine and even food.
Looked like a good idea! I didn't inquire about the mechanics of the
Underground. In fact I didn't want to know. I had had amoebic
dysentery with bleeding for four months-with a loss of fifty pounds
weight. Here was a chance to get some medicine.
I had a Spanish friend in Manila, the president of an insurance
company. When he had been in Baguio with his family prior to the war,
he brought his eight-year-old son to me because of a chronic stomach
ailment. I made the diagnosis of "peptic ulcer" and treated him with
good results. The family was quite pleased.
So I wrote Jose Olbes a note explaining my predicament.
Sure enough, in two weeks, on my bed was a note, carbazone (medicine)
and twenty pesos. In another two weeks I was feeling better and
gaining strength. I never inquired further about the Underground,
figuring that someday someone would get caught, and the penalty would
be severe.
During the two years that the Underground operated, it undoubtedly
saved the lives of hundreds of prisoners. After the war was over, I
learned the mechanics of the operation:
In the early days of the war, a 31st Infantry Sergeant John Phillips
married a Claire (?) on Bataan. Sgt. John survived Bataan and the
"Death March," but died on July 27, 1942 in the Japanese P.O.W. Camp
No.1 at Cabanatuan.
A few weeks later his wife, Claire, received a note from Chaplain
Frank Tiffany in Cabanatuan, verifying that Sgt. John Phillips had
died of malaria, dysentery and starvation. Frank ended his note with,
"I beg you do not forget the ones that are left; they are dying by the
hundreds! God Bless You!" Everlasting (code name). To fill her
emptiness, Claire vowed revenge. Claire returned to Manila; she
obtained false Italian identification papers from the Japanese,
stating that she was born in Manila of Italian parents.
Claire opened a nightclub, The Club Tsubaki (Camelia) and sang her
heart out every night to high-ranking Japanese officers, all the while
raising money to send to the sick and dying at Cabanatuan.
When the Japanese officers became "high and loquacious," she pumped
them for information concerning the movements of Japanese ships and
troops, and forwarded this information to guerilla leaders.
Claire assumed the code name of "High Pockets," because she kept her
valuables in her bra. Once every two weeks, High Pockets "baked
cookies!" (That is, collected notes, money and medicines from
prominent citizens in Manila: Juan Elizaldi, Judge Riveria, Lopes, Dr.
and Mrs. Romeo Atienza, Father Lopez, Judge Roxas, and many others.)
A Filipina mestiza, Evangeline Neibert (code name, "Sassy Suzie"),
carried "the cookies" by train from Manila to the town of Cabanatuan,
where she delivered them to the market.
Naomi Flores (code name, "Looter"), a brave Filipina, who had also
lost a husband in prison camp, obtained a Japanese license as a
vegetable peddler and worked in the Cabanatuan market. Naomi hid "the
cookies" in the bottom of rice sacks to be taken to camp.
Once or twice a week, the "Rice Detail" from Camp #1, went to the
market in Cabanatuan to get some hundred pound sacks of rice for the
mess halls.
In the mess halls, the notes were removed from the sacks of
rice, and delivered to one of the following:
Captain (Chaplain) Frank Tiffany-"Everlasting"
Lt. Col. Jack Schwartz, Hosp. C.O.-"Liver"
Charles De Maio (U.S. Navy)-"WOP"
Lt. Col. Mack (Inspector General)-"DITTO"
Captain (Chaplain) Robert Taylor-"Chap BOB"
Captain (Chaplain) John Wilson-"Left Field"
Helpers delivered "the cookies" to the beds of the senders of notes,
and picked up notes for future delivery in Manila.
High Pockets also baked "cookies" and collected intelligence for the
guerrilla leader-Major John Boone (code name, "Compadre") for delivery
to MacArthur.
The Underground continued for about two years. The Japanese became
suspicious when the prisoners were spending more money in the
commissary than they were being paid by the Japanese.
May 3, 1944: Six carabao drivers were arrested on their return trip
from the market, and taken to jail in Cabanatuan city: Fred Threatt,
Sgt. S.H. Bish, St. Sgt. Virgil Burns, Pvt. Reed Philipps, Tysinger
and Rose.
The Japs seized the rice sacks with the notes, money and medicines in
them.
May 10, 1944: Capt. Pat Bynes, Lee Baldwin, Capt. Jack LeMire, Lt. Bob
Shirk, Sgt. Alexander, Walter Jasten, Bellew, and Cherokensky were
picked up by the Japanese Military Police-along with all their
belongings. That afternoon Gov. P.D. Rogers and Lt. Col. Mack were
nabbed.
May 11, 1944: Sixteen Americans and eight Filipinos were taken
away in a truck. All had their hands tied behind them.
May 12: Jack Shirk and Chaplain Tiffany were taken to Cabanatuan.
May 16: Five carabao drivers were returned to camp. Several prisoners
were placed in "Sweat Boxes" in the middle of the field-on one meal
per day: Lt. Col. (Chaplain) Alfred Oliver, Lt. Col. Jack Schwartz,
Capt. (Chaplain) Bob Taylor, Col. Mack Rogers, Threatt, and Rex Aton.
Almost three months later, on August 5th, the Japanese doctor (Isha)
came to me and said, "Come with me!" We walked out in the field to the
sweat boxes, specially to one containing Chaplain Oliver; it was about
three by three by five feet, too small to sit up-too short to lie down
without curling up. Isha seemed to speak English quite well. I was
surprised when he seemed to be rather friendly and told me: "I like
American music, especially 'Old Black Joe,' and 'Way Down upon the
Suwannee River,'" adding, "you must not speak to Col. Oliver. You
examine him, and then tell me the diagnosis and prognosis."
I found the chaplain semiconscious with large bruises on the back of
his neck. I told Isha, "He has a fractured neck. He will die if we
leave him here; he must be taken to the hospital." Isha said "OK! You
take him to hospital!"
Chaplain Oliver had married Judy and me at the Walter Reed Hospital
Chapel about six years before. We both had great affection for him and
his wife. It was very distressing to see him in this condition. He was
a big man, in spite of many months of starvation; I had an awful time
carrying him back to the hospital. (In spite of his broken neck-caused
by being hit with the butt of a Japanese rifle while being
interrogated regarding the Underground, he survived to return to the
United States and to be honored by the Supreme Council of Scottish
Rite Masons with the esteemed 33rd Degree.) I don't believe that
Chaplain Oliver ever had an active part in the Underground, but he was
suspect because he was senior chaplain in the Philippines.
August 30, 1944: Again, the Japanese Isha came to get me: "Come with
me! We go to examine Chaplain Taylor, but you must not speak to him!
You tell me diagnosis and prognosis!"
Being a deacon in his church, I had great respect for him. He
was very weak and obviously quite sick.
"Doctor Isha, I do not know his diagnosis, but I do know if we leave
him here, he will die! He must be taken to the hospital." Isha
replied, "OK!"
The next day Bob conveniently coughed up a twenty-inch worm, which I
could show to Isha. He seemed satisfied. I could breathe easier. (Bob
survived, in spite of wounds received on a "Hell Ship" to take Judy a
note that I wrote in Japan when I thought I was dying. He later
returned to active duty with the Air Force and eventually became a
major general and Chief of Chaplains.) He also was made a 33rd Degree
Mason.
A third time the Japanese Isha came to get me to go out to the "sweat
boxes"-this time to examine Lt. Col. Jack Schwartz, Medical Corps and
Commander of the camp hospital. "You must not talk to Col. Schwartz!
You make diagnosis! Then you tell me!" This time I didn't have to talk
to Jack; he was talking to me in medical language. He had assumed the
typical position of
"acute appendicitis." I examined Jack and reported to the Isha: "Col.
Schwartz has an acute appendicitis! He will die if we don't operate!"
Again Isha said "OK! You take him to hospital! You take out appendix
and show me!"
We took Jack to the hospital and got the operating room ready. Col.
Bill North removed an appendix, which was quite normal. I couldn't
show it to the Isha! Fortunately for me, after viewing Jack's recent
incision, he seemed satisfied. (Col. Schwartz survived to return to
the States, to go back to active duty and eventually become a major
general, and to command Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco.)
Claire Phillips: While the investigation of the underground was
proceeding in the Cabanatuan POW Camp, Claire Phillips (High Pockets)
was picked up by the Military Police in Manila.
She was taken to the old Spanish Fort Santiago, thrown into a dungeon
and then cruelly interrogated by the Kempei Tai (Secret Police) to
make her talk. She was given the water treatment (a hose was put down
her throat, the water turned on-until she was suitably distended, and
then the interrogators jumped on her abdomen until she talked.)
Claire would have probably been executed, but was spared death by the
sudden dropping of the atom bombs, followed by the quick conclusion of
the war.
Cabanatuan Cats (Orchestra): Everything in camp was not always dire;
we had a few lighter moments. Several captives had been successful in
bringing their own musical instruments into camp. In the fall of 1942,
Capt. Lee Stevens, Army Transportation Corps, was able to obtain a
small piano from his home in Manila.
Soon after, Father Bruddenbrook, a Belgian priest, acquired a
miniature piano and several instruments.
P.F.C. (private first class) Johnny Kratz, a clerk on Corregidor,
organized an orchestra, the Cabanatuan Cats. The Japanese enjoyed
music and permitted the orchestra to practice several hours each week
and to give a concert on Wednesday evenings. The orchestra and singers
did much to raise the morale of the camp.
Some of the musicians were from big-name bands. Eddie Booth and Pappy
Harris played pianos; Marshall on the saxophone and clarinet; Lt.
Claire Kuncl (57th Infantry) was tricky on the trombone; Lt. Larry
Parcher and Pvt. Salas played trumpets; Chester McClure and Sgt.
Melvin Reinhart played guitars; Red Kadolph beat the drums; and
Captain Joe Salee sang a beautiful
tenor. Butch Manke, Hank Ruhl, Chuck Kaelin and Louie Baller were
vocal soloists; and Sgt. Becher, Al Roholt, Hank Ruhl and Harry Mock
formed a barbershop quartet called the Four Bees.
When the Cats played "Rhapsody in Blue," you could close your eyes and
imagine Paul Whiteman's complete ensemble performing on the stage-they
were that good. For a few brief moments, the horrors of reality
vanished.
Because of the large number of prisoners from Texas and New Mexico,
"San Antonio Rose," "The Eyes of Texas," and "The Yellow Rose of
Texas" always received great applause.
Nearly every ambulatory prisoner placed his blanket out in front of
the stage in the afternoon to reserve a seat for the eight o'clock
performance. As soon as the music began, many Jap guards gathered
around to listen.
Favorite songs were: "Stardust," "Tennessee Waltz," "A Pretty Girl Is
Like a Melody," "Mood Indigo," "Deep Purple," "Sleepy Lagoon,"
"Sentimental Journey," "Fascination," "Tenderly," "Sweet and Lovely,"
"In My Solitude," and many others. A native song, "Planting Rice," was
popular. And once in a while, they even got away with "GOD BLESS
AMERICA!" of course without words.
In October of 1944, the orchestra was ordered to Japan on a prison
ship; the ship was unmarked, and after a few days out, was sunk by an
American submarine. All members of the orchestra were lost!
Stage Shows: The first few months of camp, we had so many captives
transferred to Group IV (the cemetery), that the future seemed very
bleak. To raise the camp morale, Lt. Col. O.O. (Zero) Wilson began a
variety program in Group I; Lt. Bill Burrell started a medicine show
in Group II and Captain Bleich initiated shows in Group III.
In October, 1942, Col. Zero combined the shows into a central casting
office, and every Saturday night put on a super colossal by the
Cabanatuan Mighty Art Players.
Some of the actors were: Al Manning, Robin Swann, a Britisher, Don
Childers, Ben Mossel, Bill Nealson, Robert Brownlee (a Negro and camp
favorite), Bill Burrell, Eddie McIntyre (female impersonator), and
many others.
Some of the fifty-four productions were: Casey Jones, The Drun
kard, Gone with the Wind, Journey's End, Uncle Tom's Cabin, etc.
Glee Club: Several times, Sgt. Clarence Sayre's Glee Club put
on entertainment in the three groups and in the hospital: "The
Halleluiah Chorus" was among all time favorites.
News Reels: On a rare occasion, when the Japs had a big victory to
gloat over, they would show the camp a news reel. The photography was
horrible. They had not yet achieved the American know-how in making
cameras, film, radios, televisions, automobiles, computers, etc.
Library: Some two hundred books were collected from the barracks in
Group II. Records were kept on the back of labels off condensed milk
cans. Other groups started collecting books and the number reached
nine hundred including magazines.
In November, 1942, a camp library was started by Lt. Col. Babcock,
assisted by Capt. Brunette and Lts. Trifilo and Edwards. Prisoner
details were sometimes able to obtain books or magazines on their
journeys.
Classes: Captives were forbidden to gather in groups without special
permission. Classes were formed in many subjects: Japanese, German,
Spanish, Russian, and Tagalog (native Philippine language). There were
classes in astrology, banking, photography, history, cheese and wine
making, menus, diets, etc. One prisoner, almost blind, wrote a
cookbook.
Games: Many games were played during off-duty hours: cribbage,
acey-ducey (U.S. Navy), chess, checkers, bridge, poker, and the like.
At times baseball and volleyball were attempted, but beriberi
definitely limited any enthusiasm and the games died out.
Soochow, a Chinese bulldog and Marine mascot, gave much pleasure to
many prisoners-he thought he was an officer.
Masons: In August, 1943, two Masons, Chap. John Borneman and Major
Howard Cavender (former manager of the Manila Hotel), were
instrumental in getting money, medicine and food from Masons in Manila
through the underground and donating it to prisoners.
In a camp where competition for survival was becoming a serious
problem, where officer was stealing from officer, it was a real joy to
see the brotherly love of Masons for their fellow men. I decided that
someday I would be a Mason.
The Morgue: It was only a short distance from Zero Ward to the morgue,
where bodies were accumulated, awaiting the daily trip to the
cemetery.
The Cemetery (Group IV): Once each day, thirty to fifty
captives formed lines at the morgue to carry the naked bodies on
window shutters to the cemetery, about one-half mile from camp.
Following a brief religious ceremony, the skeletonized bodies were
lowered into common graves. On rainy days the graves filled with
water; it became necessary to hold the bodies down the poles, while
dirt was shoveled on to them. Sometimes the rain would uncover an arm
or leg; then animals ate away the flesh.
BOOT HILL *
No monuments nor flowers there amid the fields of cane,
No birds their song to fill the air, No trees to shield the rain.
We've watched these things through tear-dimmed eyes,
We've felt a sense of shame,
But now we see as time goes by,
We are really not to blame.
No, it's surely not the best,
No glory does it claim,
It's just the place where we laid them to rest,
Our friends who lost the game.