Back From The Living Dead - Bert Bank (best big ereader .TXT) 📗

one saw bodies maimed and

completely decapitated as the result of the Japanese

trucks along the highway. The Japs in these trucks

would hit the Americans on the head in passing. One

day a Jap in a passing truck attempted to decapitate

me and I ducked and he completely cut off the head of

a Filipino standing next to me. One day during the

march we heard a blood curdling scream and when we

looked over into a nearby rice pattie we saw a guard

cutting the stomach out of a poor old Filipino. I was

later told that the Filipino had refused to march any

farther. The Filipino was not dead when they finished

cutting out his stomach and he was begging the guard

to shoot him, but he was refused even that.

 

Americans Forced to Eat Human Flesh

 

One person told me that he, along with other Americans, had been required to eat pieces of human flesh

during the march. Another American told me that he

had seen several men who had had their penis cut off

and stuck in their mouths.

 

It is certainly hard for the American public to

believe that anything like this actually occurred, but

the three years spent by the Americans in these prison

camps are probably the most terrifying of any period

in American history. The most amazing thing to me

about this march and the thing that I was to see borne

out later in prison camp was the high morale of the

Americans in the face of these atrocities. I remember

late one evening we all sang “God Bless America.” The

Japs immediately forced us to stop. They could not

understand how our morale remained so high, but

we were to see the same thing in prison camp.

 

Filipinos Killed for Throwing Food to Prisoners

 

On this march the Filipinos were lined along the

highway and tried to give us food, but many were

killed for throwing us rice, candy and cassava cakes.

I remember one old Filipino woman threw a rice ball

out of a window of her house. An official looking

person, probably an officer, jumped out of his car

and, with an enlisted man, ran into the house. We

heard the poor old woman screaming and then there

was a moment of silence and the Japs came out of the

house. This was also a common thing as many of the

Filipinos took great risks in giving us food, and were

not careful to see if there were any Japs around. I am

convinced after witnessing the demonstration by the

Filipinos on this march and after we were liberated

that they are 100 per cent for the Americans. The

Japs have mistreated them terribly and have not

gained the support of the natives at all. Once on this

march a Filipino threw me a piece of sugar candy

and 1 will never forget the expression of a few Americans close by when I offered them a bite of sugar.

They fell on their knees and cried. One would have

thought that they were being turned loose instead of

being given a suck of a hard piece of sugar candy. That

was really wonderful and it give us a little more

energy.

 

Slashes Off Finger for Ring

 

One man told me that a Jap took the glasses from

an officer and the officer could not see and had to be

led the remainder of the march. The Japs took all

rings and jewelry. One man refused to give a ring to

the guard and, when the guard attempted to take it

from the American’s finger, he was unable to do so.

He pulled a bolo out and cut off the finger and ring

and forced the man to move on. This was witnessed

by one of the prisoners who cried every time he told

the story.

 

I was walking along the road during the morning

of the fourth day and an official looking car stopped

right next to me and a man in the rear motioned for

me to come over by the car, which I did. He asked

me something in Japanese and since I was unable to

understand, he hit me over the head several times and

pushed me on. I am sure that he was a high ranking

officer. His uniform was covered with insignia and

he was about 55 years old. He had a driver and rode

in the back seat.

 

Prisoners Taunted on America’s Lack of Armed Power

 

During this march the Japs kept asking us where

the wonderful American Army and Navy were and

where was the Air Corps about which we had boasted

so much.

 

No one will ever know how many Americans died

on this march. When a man fell out he was shot and

buried or even burned on some occasions. At ahout

two o’clock one morning I was weak and walking

from one side of the road to the other. I accidentally

bumped into a guard. He hit me on the head with

something which some of the fellows told me later was

an iron rod. It knocked me out completely. Fortunately

for me, a few of the fellows carried me for about six

hours. When I came to I had a big gash on my head.

If these men had not carried me, I would have been

killed like the rest who fell out. I think the fact that

it was so dark and the guards could not see very well,

was the only reason the men were able to assist me.

 

Many die of Malaria and Dysentery

 

On this march the Japs were riding ahead of the

column and the pace set was terrific. We had to stay

closed up and if one dragged behind he was immediately

bayonetted. It is amazing what an individual can do

when there is a ‘slant eye’ behind him with a bayonet.

We were all very weak from fighting on Bataan. Many

of us had*dysentery and malaria, which is of course

common in the tropics. On this march those with

amoebic dysentery were in a very precarious condition

as they were not allowed to have a howel movement.

Many just fell out and died and those who were able

to keep going were living in filth. They had no water

to wash their bodies and after arriving at the first

prison camp it was going to be 35 days before they

were to get any water to use externally.

 

PART III Unattended Sick, Unburied Dead Litter

Japanese Prison At Camp O’Donnell After Death

March.

 

We arrived at our first prison camp at O’Donnell

on April 14, less hundreds who had originally began

this march. We were given a good case of sun treatment here for an entire day. We were to hear the Jap

commander the following morning. He began his speech

in the heat of the day. We were in the sun, weak and

starving and sick. He, the Jap CO of the camp, was

under a canopy and talked to us for about two hours.

He told us that we were captives and not prisoners.

He said that we would be treated as captives and that

we were his enemy and would always be the enemy

of the Japs. We always referred to him as “little

Hitler.” We had all the guards and officers named.

He said that if Japan was defeated this time, that

she would come back again to fight us. He was speaking through his interpreter, but I am sure that the

“little Hitler” could understand and speak English

because he would correct the interpretation of his

speech. All the officers used interpreters and I have

been told that they are required to do so as they are

not allowed to speak English to a group of Americans.

 

Disease Decimates Ranks of Prisoners

 

Here the Japs inspected us closely to see that we

had nothing of importance concealed and they took

away a few of the blankets that had been brought into

camp. We were all in very bad shape now, with many

severe cases of beri beri among: us. I had to cut my

shoes off because my feet had swollen so much. This

was common procedure to all of us. From April 14th to

June 4th of 1942 we were to see thousands of our

comrades die at the hands of the Japanese. Many more

who had not had malaria were now having chills and

fever. We all had dysentery, beri beri, yellow jaundice,

and many other diseases. We had no medical supplies

at all but the Japanese designated a large building to

be the hospital. Here men were sent and remained

there for one month before they would be approached

by a Jap doctor. When an American doctor did see

them he could only give them the “sympathy treatment” as we had no medicine at all. I don’t think that

any books will ever be written that can convey the

actual picture at this hospital. Americans were dying

by the hundreds there. They were all around the building and under it, and would remain there until they

died. After they died they were nothing but human

skeletons. Dysentery and malnutrition and malaria

probably took the greatest toll here. Between April

14th and June 4th we had 26.000 Filipinos and 1,670

Americans to die in this camp. Every day one could

look as far as he could see to the right and left and

see bodies being carried and dumped in one area. The

Americans were dying in camp so fast that we could

not bury them. We would lay the bodies in front of

the barracks and they would remain there for as long

as six days at a time because no one was strong enough

to bury them and we had no tools to dig a hole with.

 

Eighteen Bodies to the Grave

 

About once a week the Japs would let us go and dig

a hole and throw fifteen or eighteen bodies in that

one hole. During the rainy season we had to hold thes?

bodies down with a rake while we filled the hole tip

with dirt. This was necessary because the bodies would

have floated away. The next time we came to this area

designated as the cemetery we could see leg.; and arms

of the bodies protruding from the hole and bHK2&rdS

eating the arms and legs.

 

If a man wanted a drink of water he had to stand

in line for 10 hours to get a canteen of water. Those of

us who were a little stronger were helping our friends

and when we returned with the water we usually gave

our ration of water to some friend who had 104’ or

105’ fever. But he would probably die in a few hours

and we could finish the canteen and also get his spoon

of rice. We received a few spoons of rice twice a day

and during these two months we were given only one

small piece of meat.

 

After 35 Days, Rain Furnished First Bath

 

We had no sanitation facilities and we had to use

open latrines, which remained overflowing all the

time as no one was strong enough to dig new ones.

Many men when they would go to these latrines were

so weak that they would fall in the hole and for 35

days we had no water to wash with at all. The floors

inside the barracks were always cluttered with human

waste and no way to wash it up. After we were there

35 days it rained and we ran out and washed our

bodies for the first time since we had surrendered.

The Lord had sent this water just for us we thought

and