Blood Brothers: A Medic's Sketch Book Part 13

In July, we heard that MacArthur met Roosevelt in Hawaii, and that he was finally able to convince the President that it was necessary to take the Philippines in order to have a base from which to attack j.a.pan.

In August it was reported that 30,000 j.a.ps had been killed don't know where. .

September 15, 1944: Two-hundred aircraft had bombed Cebu, Negros and Panay.

U.S. Navy Dive-Bombers! On Sept. 21-suddenly-out of a clear blue sky-some thousand planes flew over camp from the east-they had to be carrier planes. They continued west to an hour. Then the planes returned coming down low over camp.

We could make out U.S. Navy markings on them. The j.a.p guards were all crouching down in foxholes.

"Don't lose your head now! Don't show any emotion! The Nips are all trigger-happy, just waiting for an incident to happen

before shooting up the camp."

A big j.a.p bomber tried to sneak off the local airfield that we had built with prisoner labor. It was flying low-barely over the treetops.

A Navy dive bomber saw it, dropped down right over it and strafed it with incendiaries. In seconds there was a big explosion and tremendous orange flames as the bomber plowed into the ground. This was followed by billows of black smoke lasting several hours.

It was a great show! It was tough trying to repress our elation. There was no food served that day - a typical j.a.panese reaction.

We all believed that freedom must be close that the Americans would be making landings soon. That night morale was high; the camp literally buzzed with rumors. A few Navy planes appeared almost daily.

October, 1944: MacArthur invaded Leyte producing 100,000 j.a.panese casualties. The att.i.tude of the Nip guards changed very markedly; they lost the arrogance they had when they were winning the battles; some became s.a.d.i.s.tic; some became friendly.

A big j.a.p "shakedown." Every prisoner had to display all his possessions. j.a.ps picked up all mosquito netting and tropical helmets, saying, "You vill not need these in j.a.pan! You vill be sent to j.a.pan!"

The camp began to buzz with rumors again. U.S. Medical officers were ordered to examine all prisoners to determine the ones well enough to make a trip to j.a.pan and the ones too disabled to travel. The j.a.panese did not want any amoebic dysentery cases in j.a.pan. Suddenly, there was a new commodity "warm stools." Prisoners, who feared a "h.e.l.l s.h.i.+p"

cruise to j.a.pan, bartered for a "hot specimen" from a known amoebic to present to the laboratory for examination hoping against hope, that it would be "positive."

j.a.pan Detail: Before our j.a.pan Detail departed for Manila, I asked Major Stephen Sitter, the camp psychiatrist, "Why is it that very few of the 12,000 prisoners spending time in the Cabanatuan camp ever made any attempt to take their own lives when they were starving, suffering from many diseases and were frequently in unpleasant and uncomfortable situations?"

He answered, "They were all too busy figuring out ways to survive; they didn't have time to think about suicide."

Between October 21 and 27, about 1600 prisoners, the j.a.pan

Detail, were loaded on trucks to be delivered to the old Spanish prison in Manila-Bilibid. Before leaving, several of us prisoners buried diaries, notes, sketches, etc., near the buildings in which we lived, hoping to retrieve them after the war. My 110 sketches were placed in a Mason jar and buried near Bldg. #12. On our way to Manila, our truck had to stop frequently under big trees-to hide from the numerous U.S. planes pa.s.sing overhead.

Cabanatuan Rescue: After the exodus of the j.a.pan Detail (the so-called healthy prisoners) in late October, there were only 511 unhealthy prisoners remaining in camp.

Things were rather quiet until about 2000 hours on January 30, 1945, when sudden gunfire from outside the camp wiped out all of the j.a.panese guards in the towers. It was MacArthur's 6th Ranger Battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Henry Mucci - aided by guerrillas - walking into camp. They quickly obtained carabao carts and sleds for the bedridden prisoners.

That evening 511 internees were moved many miles down the road to the west in the moonlight with hardly a shot fired. Early the next morning they arrived at a transportation center, where prisoners were placed aboard trucks and ambulances and taken to Lingayen Gulf; then they were transferred to planes and flown to Manila. After suffering from more than three years of intentional neglect by the j.a.panese Imperial Army, they were finally "free men."

No prisoners were lost in the operation; there were two casualties among the Rangers: Capt. James Fischer, the doctor, was killed by mortar fire near the main gate of camp. Cpl. Sweezy died from wounds.

Chapter VIII

"OLD" BILIBID PRISON

Our trucks entered the main gate of Bilibid, where we dismounted and walked to a large stone building in the back of the old prison. I was a.s.signed an area two by six feet in the middle of the hall on the second floor. My bed was a blanket on the concrete floor. The windows were all boarded-up.

We were greeted by other prisoners: "American planes have been making daily bombing raids on the port area only a few blocks away and on the s.h.i.+ps in the harbor - Manila Bay." We thought, "That's good! Maybe they won't be able to get

us out."

"MacArthur must be getting close! When the air-raid alarms sounded, the guards have been chasing all of the prisoners inside the buildings."

"We were able to find peepholes where we could watch the U.S. planes dive down through heavy flak of anti-aircraft guns, to drop their bombs on important targets."

It was not long until we had a front seat to a bombing raid.

We watched black smoke billowing up from burning oil tanks really a great show! It was also quickly evident that slow starvation was the daily pattern at Bilibid. The high walls made it impossible to get any extra food. My weight was now 110 pounds.

In November, I developed dengue, a mosquito-born disease called "break-bone fever." It was properly named-felt .like every bone in my body was breaking. For ten days I was in the prison hospital, overlooking the main gate and Rizal Ave. I didn't care much whether I lived or died - one chill after another. No appet.i.te! I couldn't eat the thin lugao they brought me. Lost weight and strength. I was in bad shape to start a trip through MacArthur's blockade.

About December 1st, I was p.r.o.nounced well! I dragged myself back to the big stone building and my area on the concrete floor. My bones were getting very close to the concrete.

Shortly, a typhoon arrived; the winds blew, the skies darkened and heavy rains beat down-generally very unpleasant. No planes arrived to make their daily attacks.

In a few days, we began to hear s.h.i.+ps' whistles and bells again. That meant s.h.i.+ps were moving in and out of Manila Bay, unmolested by bad weather and U.S. planes. This was a bad omen! The j.a.ps would probably get us aboard a s.h.i.+p and on our way through MacArthur's blockade.

Again, the j.a.panese ordered our medical officers to examine all prisoners in Bilibid, to determine those healthy enough to complete the trip to j.a.pan, and those sick enough to remain behind the stone walls-to be recaptured by MacArthur's troops in a few weeks. My better sense told me it would be smarter to be sick and be rescued, but my conscience kept telling me I should go along.

Liberation of Bilibid Prison: MacArthur's invading forces landed on the beaches of Lingayen Gulf on January 9th, 1945, with the aid of Col. Russell Volkmann's Northern Luzon guerrillas Headquarters were established in Dagupan.

On February 4th, a flying column of the 1st Cav. Div. Under Brig. Gen.

William Chase entered Manila and relieved the prisoners from Bilibid.

As a soldier broke down a boarded-up window in the stone wall near where Ted Wins.h.i.+p was busy quanning (cooking), Ted asked, "Who are you?"

The soldier answered, "I'm Sgt. Jones! We've come to liberate you!"

Ted countered with: "Where the h.e.l.l have you been for three years?"

Chapter IX j.a.pAN DETAIL - ORIENTAL TOUR STRICTLY THIRD-CLa.s.s!

In the fall of 1944, when MacArthur's forces were threatening to retake the Philippines, the j.a.panese began to evacuate all healthy prisoners of war to j.a.pan, so that none could be liberated to a.s.sist the invading army. The death of a prisoner by any means was considered preferable to capture by the invading troops j.a.panese thinking).

"h.e.l.l s.h.i.+ps": The "h.e.l.l s.h.i.+p" journey began at old Bilibid Prison.

December 13, 1944: Long before dawn, we were awakened by the ringing of a large bell at the prison guardhouse. The day we had been dreading for many months, had arrived; 1619 of us would depart from our uncomfortable quarters and start a long journey to j.a.pan. Thoughts of riding on a prison s.h.i.+p filled us with apprehension; several prison s.h.i.+ps had already been sunk and many of our friends had been lost.

We lifted our emaciated bodies from the concrete floor, showered and shaved in the dark; we didn't know when we might experience such luxury again. We put our few worldly but worthless possessions into our packs. Breakfast was the usual half-cup of lugao.

As the first light of day peeked over the high stone wall, we were lined up with our baggage; we stood for hours as Col. Beecher, USMC, our commanding officer, and a j.a.panese guard wandered through our ranks-trying to get a head count. The guards, a rather ignorant group, were completely puzzled by such a large number - 1619. Finally about 0800 hours, everything

seemed to be ready. Shouting and waving disabled prisoners filled the windows and doors as our long line moved slowly through the gate and dawn Rizal Avenue. When the line was about was quickly reversed and hurried back into the prison: "Kura! Hully, Hully! Speeda! Speeda!"