Ch 12 - The Spoils

CHAPTER 12

THE SPOILS

The following day brought another shocking surprise for many of the prisoners. American Officers were given orders by the Japanese that a thousand men must be available to work the next day. Volunteers were needed for a work detail the next morning at seven hundred hours was the word. I told my friend Spence that it might be a good idea to volunteer. Perhaps we might have the opportunity to filch some food, or something that might make this existence a bit more bearable.

“We would be crazy to volunteer for anything! We might end up worse off than we were now,” Spence raved.

I finally convinced him we should try it, and the following morning we made our way through the multitudes to the designated place for the mission. When we arrived, a large group of men were already there. I guessed the number was near three to four hundred. The two of us blended in with the rest, and as I looked about, I saw more were joining the group by the minute. An American Officer appeared near a gate that had been erected on the road leading up the hill to the main road. He announced we would be carrying some supplies from Malinta Tunnel down to the south dock, and he said the work detail would last most of the day.

“Perhaps we were too hasty,” I muttered on hearing that.

“Yeah, too hasty,” Spence returned, “wonder if we can retreat from this mass of humanity?”

I saw it was doubtful since we were pressed within an ever mounting number of men, some hopeful for something good for a change, others here out of curiosity. Shortly, we were formed into a column of fours and we were off to who knew what?

“Everyday is a surprise, here in the Jap Army,” my friend quipped as we marched up the hill to the road where the column turned left and we followed the road to the entrance of Malinta Tunnel.

Once again, we had to narrow the column to two wide, to pass through the piles of debris and junk that appeared to fill Malinta Tunnel. The column turned left into one of the laterals, and we proceeded along for some time until yet another lateral appeared on our left. The officer stopped the column and waited for instructions from a small Jap that was bare-headed, and wore a white outfit. Apparently he spoke English because the American Officer seemed to understand what he was saying. Our Officer kept nodding as the Jap talked, then the Jap preceded us down this new lateral until we approached huge stacks of boxes and cases that seemed to go on indefinitely.

“Holy cow!” someone gasped, “It’s stacks of food!”

Muttering could be heard throughout the column when the men realized there was enough food here to feed an army, and we had been an army...once! I truly think this was one of the cruelest shocks of my time! We had been hungry for months, and this entire lateral was bursting with food! The officer interrupted our reverie.

“Each man will take one of the cases and you will all follow me,” he said loudly and turned around and walked out of the lateral to the other lateral where he turned left again and continued onward. I had picked up one of the smaller cases, and I was thankful for that as I followed the man ahead along the tunnel until we could see bright light ahead. It proved to be another entrance into Malinta of which I was unaware of. Once we left the confines of the tunnel the column turned right and I realized we were on the South Shore Road! The column proceeded along the road which wound around the base of Malinta Hill. I found it necessary to change the case to my other shoulder and during this move I found it contained apple sauce. Even that sounded good by this time, but I was eaten by the desire for steak! Meat of any kind would suffice I thought as I plodded along in the long, twisting line of men carrying the one thing we needed most, food!

The road curved left, and down to another road that spanned Bottomside, from the North Dock, across the narrow neck of land to the South Dock which seemed to be our destination. A large barge sat very high in the water was moored at the very end of the dock, and that was where we were directed to, carrying the cases of food.

“What irony,” I thought, the very food that was denied us, we were forced to carry onto a Jap barge for their use! How the hell could this happen? I wondered as I flopped the case of apple sauce down on the ever growing stack of canned food.

Once we deposited the boxes onto the barge, we learned that the game was “Go back and get another case,” and so on.....When I returned to the “pantry” I was the recipient of a case of peaches. Now this was not just peaches, it was peach halves in natural juice, whatever that was. On this trip, I noticed the men were getting stretched out, and I was tempted to dive into this case, since I rather liked peaches!

“I got sweetened condensed milk,” a voice said to no one in particular.

I mentioned that I had peaches, but absolutely no way to get into a can. The guy with the sweetened condensed milk notified me that he was in possession of “a bunch” of those little finger type can openers! I asked if I could borrow one, and he said no, but I could have one if I was willing to share it with my friends. I took the opener and looked around for guards, I saw none and I put the peaches on the ground and carefully lifted one flap of the case and manipulated one of the cans from the interior of the box. Without a doubt, I broke numerous records opening a #2½ can and I was quick to stuff a peach half into my mouth and I practically gulped it down! I performed that so smoothly that I decided to try it again!......and again! My stomach felt as though I had swallowed a coconut, but I wasn’t hungry anymore! I drank the juice and quickly replaced the empty can, hoisted the case once more and jauntily strolled to the South Dock, the case of peaches on my bony shoulder.

As the Officer had mentioned this morning, we surely did carry cases of food to that barge all day! When we finally returned to our motley lean-to, we were exhausted, but all of us had filled our stomachs with various kinds of canned foods. What a pleasant feeling it was to collapse on my hard bed with no hunger gnawing at my stomach, and my mind capable of subjects other than food!

That night our enthusiasm was dampened by a monumental tropical downpour. It was impossible to protect ourselves from the torrent of water that descended upon us. One of the major problems that beset many of the men, was the water roaring down the bare hill bordering the north side the 92nd Garage area. We grabbed our few precious belongings and held them up off the ground while we huddled under the now collapsed shelter-halves. All we could do was huddle together and wait out the storm.

By early in the morning, just before dawn, the rain had ceased. Everyone, and everything was soaking wet! We knew that the sun would dry us out, but the humidity would come with the heat! After such rains during the summer, one could almost breathe water! The heat came, and the humidity was unbearable. I was thankful I wouldn’t be carrying boxes of canned goods to that barge today! When Spence and I decided to walk around and assess the damage from the storm, we were appalled at the terrible mess bestowed upon those close to the edge of the concrete next to the hill! Tons of mud had struck the bottom of the hill and deposited itself along the entire length of concrete on that side of the compound! I was very surprised the water didn’t pour across all of the concrete, but it seemed to channel itself in different, erratic directions. Since our small encampment was closer to the hill than many of the groups of ‘tents’, it was astounding that we weren’t deluged with the wall of mud as were some even farther from the hill than we were!

Steam was rising from the mud, and from the concrete. By noon, we were trying to huddle under any cover we could erect to protect us from the sun. In the afternoon, word was passed we would be permitted to go in the water and clean ourselves off. Spence and I weren’t about to miss a chance to immerse ourselves in the cool water. Spence was the possessor of a bar of soap and away we went to the sea! One of our friends volunteered to guard all of our belongings. It was a pleasant experience, and we remained in the water for over an hour. The following day we again enjoyed a dip in the pleasant water, washing away the dust and grime. Spence suggested we attempt another sortie up to “D” Battery the next morning, but this time we found guards were posted along the hill about half way up and there was no chance to get out of the enclosure.

The next day, we were drafted to carry groceries again, from the quartermaster laterals to the South Dock, via the South Shore Road. We found a different barge on this occasion, empty. Fortunately, the Japs posted only a couple of guards, one just outside the Navy Tunnel, and one down near the road leading to the dock. This enabled us to puncture a few cans of foodstuffs, which furnished some added strength for the days ahead. On this occasion, the work detail finished early in the afternoon and we were herded back to 92nd. I had to take my turn in the water line, and was occupied by that tiring chore until about 7pm. I was relieved by Bill McCann at that time and I made it back to our campsite and flopped. It had been a long day.

CHAPTER 13

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