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

preservation

and trying to live, that many officers did not conduct

themselves like officers of the American Army. But

the amazing thing to me was that these men condemned

all the officers instead of being cognizant of the fact

that there were many of them who had been and were

still good soldiers. But I presume that if you look back

into history you will see that in prisons of this nature

everybody is on edge and blames those of rank for

their being in such a prison camp. We had one enlisted

man whom everybody had trouble with. He was dis-liked by the enlisted men themselves. He called our

commanding officer in camp a son of a bitch one day.

He was reported to the Japs, and they said take care

of it yourself. So he was put in a guard house for a

week, but he did not mind that as then he did not

have to work during this week.

 

Work in the Rice Fields Meant Death to Many

 

The principal work here was in the rice fields. We

would go to work in the morning at 6 o’clock and

return sometimes as late as 11 P.M. The work was

horrible, as we worked in the nude and barefooted in

mud and water up to our necks. I remember before we

started working in the rice fields the Filipinos would

tell us with tears in their eyes that they hated to see

the Americans work in the rice fields because many

would die from the rice poison, and we later found

out what they meant.

 

This rice poison causes large sores to break out on

the body and when they became infected it caused

many to die, as we had nothing with which to take

care of it. I, as were many others, was covered with

these sores from ankle to neck, and today have scars

on my feet from them. We planted the rice and

harvested it for the Japs. They gave us the third grade

rice that was scraped from the floor. Our feet were

always in bad condition as a result of running over

the patties barefooted. The guards would watch us

and when we did not work according to their regula-tions we would be given a beating with a large stick

which they carried. I remember “Mussolini,” one of

the guards, hitting a man over the head with this

stick and splitting it into. We were out in the hot sun

all day and when wc returned at night we would be

so tired that we would go right to sleep. The rice

fields were known as “Mactan” and it was a 30 minute

ride on the small train that we called the “Mactan

Special.” We would take our rice there and eat it

in the fields. We were given two 15 minute rest

periods a day. This work was horrible and it is responsible for many Americans being dead and permanently

injured today.

 

Monkeys, Lizards Form Part of Diet

 

At Mactan we used the carabaos for harrowing

purposes. Of course, the carabaos live in water, but

during the harrowing some of the men tied a rope

around the carabao’s neck and legs and in some way

drowned the animal. Well, the Japs would not eat

these animals when they died, so they gave it to us.

We did the same thing several times the next week and

the Japs got suspicious of this and came over and said

that they could not understand a carabao drowning in

water when it lived in water all the time. They took

the Americans off of the carabaos and let Filipinos

drive them. After that we received no carabao except

when one died in the jungle. We caught a monkey now

and then in the jungle, and we also ate dogs, cats,

lizards, rats, and weeds. On detail we would get pig

weed, which grows on the side of creeks, and bring

it in and cook it in hot water. At Davao we were able

to get a little tobacco but the last few days at Cabanatuan before the liberation, the Americans were smoking papuya leaves, squash leaves, and I was eating

the squash leaves, as I do not smoke. When I brought

some in to eat, if I had enough left over I would give

them to someone else who would smoke them.

 

Dengue fever, malaria, blindness, and beri beri was

also prevalent in Davao. I remember one lieutenant

who had beri beri so bad that for 18 months he had

remained doubled up rubbing his feet and he could

not straighten up. This was very common. The Japs

would give us commottoe vines here as in Cabanatuan.

Our diet was about the same as in Cabanatuan. For

breakfast we had this wet watery lugao. For lunch

we had rice with this vine or pig weed soup, and for

supper we had rice with soup and sometimes we had

a few rotten commottoes.

 

Rotten Commottes Sole Diet

 

About six months before we left Davao to return

to Luzon we had rotten commottes for lunch and supper and that is all, with no rice. If we were fortunate

enough to steal vegetables on the farm here it was

always a great pleasure, but so many were caught

that we were afraid to bring any food in the compound. I remember one man who had a hollow heel

in his wooden shoe. We all wore wooden shoes. He

would bring in rice each clay from the fields. One day

just as he arrived in front of the guard house where

all the Japs sat, this heel came off and all the rice

spilled out. He was immediately grabbed by the guards

and beaten severely and taken to the Jap guard house

and tortured for one week. Many times this happened

for bringing in food and vegetables which were plentiful but were not allowed to the Americans.

 

Chicken Punished for Eating Own Eggs

 

The Jap guards were stupid in many respects. On

one occasion they punished their chickens for eating

their own eggs. They had some Americans working

on a chicken detail for the Japs. The Americans

would eat the raw eggs when they had an opportunity.

One day the guard noticed that many of the eggs were

missing and asked the American about it. He was

told that the chickens were eating their own eggs. The

next day they punished these chickens by cooping them

up and not feeding them for three days. They punished

the carabao also when they did not work to the satisfaction of the Japs.

 

Our mess officer would repeatedly ask the Japs for

more food for the Americans and the reply was that

we had enough and if we were given any more we

would attempt to escape. On many occasions they made

the mess officer sign for chickens and eggs that we

never saw. 1 presume that they still have these receipts

and plan to show them to Americans stating that

that is what they fed prisoners of war in Davao. They

would force the mess officer to sign for more rice

than was received, also. If the mess officer refused

to sign for these articles as requested they said that

they would refuse to give the Americans any food at

all.’ So we thought it was better to take a little than

nothing at all. I was told that at Cabunatuan they

brought a carabao and took a picture with the Americans looking at the carabao and then took the carabao

away. I remember one time they took a picture of a

few Americans holding three chickens, and then gave

us the chickens. But these three chickens were for

6,000 men.

 

Starving in Land of Plenty

 

At Davao they had some beautiful avocados but

instead of giving them to the Americans they let the

hogs and carabaos eat them. In 1943 at Davao I

weighed 102 pounds and was blind. Many weighed

much less. We had men who were crippled from the

waist down, many with paralyzed arms and legs, all

caused by malnutrition. These bananas and coconuts

that we were surrounded by would have been the

answer to much of this sickness but we were unable

to get it and the Japs refused to give it to us.

 

We were surrounded by some of the finest fish in

the world and begged the Japs to let us get some fish.

They refused but now and then would give us a small

fish head which consisted of nothing but the eyes,

but we devoured these eyes and wished for more. The

Japs themselves ate lots of pork and fish and they

had plenty of rice, but of course their best meal would

be considered a very poor meal here in the States.

 

Who Is Picking the Commottes

 

Many asked me if the Japs have a sense of humor.

I remember one occasion where one of the guards did

show h sense of humor. On a commottoe picking detail

one of the men asked the guard who had the best

army, the Japanese or the Americans. The guard

replied, “Who is picking the commottoes?” Many of

the guards would talk on detail but the minute someone

screwed up, they would give him a beating.

 

The bedbug situation was terrible. We used to go

out on the grass in front of the building and sleep

because the bedbugs were so horrible inside the wooden

buildings. We slept on the floor but later on we built

an elevated wooden bed, which was still hard. These

buildings were full of bedbugs. They are horrible bugs,

and have a terrific odor. It wasn’t anything uncommon

for you to get up in the morning with blood smeared

all over you from smashing bed bugs all night. We

were also bothered with lice and it became a problem

for a while, but we managed to get rid of the lice. But

never were we rid of the bedbugs. I personally would

rather have the lice than the bedbugs. I detest bedbugs

and their odor.

 

Prisoners Talked Mostly of Food

 

The principal topic of conversation in the prison

was food, and food alone. When you entered the barracks you would ask the first person what he was

doing and he would reply that he was making a list of

all the good places to eat in the United States. The

next person was making a new recipe for some certain

dish that he had heard of; the next person was draw-ing up plans for a restaurant he was going to build,

when he returned; the next person was going to buy

a farm and raise hogs. No one ever thought of women

even though they had not seen a woman in three years.

The only time that we thought of women was when we

received a Red Cross box and our stomachs were full

for a few days.

 

Japs “Divide” Red Cross Boxes With Americans

 

In January, 1943, we received a Red Cross box of

food. The Japs had taken what they wanted out of

the box, including most of the cigarettes. Fortunately

they did not like corned beef or Kraft cheese. We had

five men who died the first night we received the food

because they attempted to eat all of it. I ate two cans

of corned beef and one pound of cheese and was sick

for two weeks, but it was the most wonderful sickness

that I had ever had. Many had to have their stomachs

pumped out from over eating. A few packages of

cigarettes were allowed to come in and we had a

regular market for exchange. For instance, I gave

five packages of cigarettes for a can