Ch 20 - Goodbye Pasay

CHAPTER 20

GOODBYE PASAY

It appeared all of my very close friends had remained at Nichols. We pondered when the other 300 plus men would follow.

As we sat talking, several men approached our area dragging heavy sacks. One of the men told us this was the only food to be had at the present time and we would have to do the best we could for the time being. The man grabbed the bottom of the sack and dumped out a pile of coconuts! Soon, there was a large pile of the things as the other men dumped the contents of their bags to the ground. We began grabbing, and I was able to get two before I was crowded away from the rapidly diminishing heap of coconuts! I began looking for something to crack the coconuts with and almost stumbled over one of the men who was trying to crack his coconut with a round rock about the size of his two fists. He was pounding it on the ground with little success. I told him to hold it against the concrete base of the building next to us and hit it with the rock. That worked, and after breaking his coconuts, he allowed me to do the same. We were all very hungry and we were eating the white meat of our prizes as fast as we could!

The following day we had more of the same. Coconuts! There was no rice, no watery soup, just more coconuts. Late in the morning we were told to get our belongings and occupy the front section of the building next to us. After finding a place next to the wall, I put my small pack on and went back outside. Inside the building was dark and smelly. We learned the men formerly occupying that part of the building had recently departed for Japan. That was my predominant fear, to be shipped to Japan!

The effects of the coconuts struck us on the second day! We devoted considerable time in the benjo (head)-(toilet)-(etc). We went until there was nothing left, and then we went some more! Like the other men, I swore I would starve before I ate another coconut! To this day, almost sixty years later, it is difficult for me to eat coconut!

The third day we laid around and groaned a lot. Many felt they had finally ran out of time on this earth, and it would be pleasant to just fade away. In the early evening word was passed that we would leave early the next morning. Some of the men voiced the horrifying thought we would be better off back at Nichols than here, eating coconuts.

Very early the following morning we were rousted from our hard beds and lined up outside the building. After counting off, we were herded out thru the gate and into several trucks. Soon we were on our way, again headed for the unknown.

When we arrived at the railroad yard it appeared we would be having another ride in the boxcars. Fortunately, we were not crammed into the cars, and we had a little room. The train did not move for another two hours or more. Finally, after much shouting and train whistling, we began to move. After awhile, one of the men said he could recognize some landmarks, and we were headed north. There was of course much speculation about our destination, but one of the officers spoke up and said we were going to Cabanatuan.

Well, I thought, we could be going to a lot worse places! At Bilibid, we heard many horror stories about some of the “work camps” in the Manila area. Looking back now, I often wonder if some of these stories were wildly distorted. Rumors in these prison camps were often so far fetched that even desperate men such as we should have discounted such nonsense. We were all grabbing at any straw that chanced by.

The train finally arrived at its destination, and we were prodded into a column and, as usual, counted. From there, we marched into an enclosure nearby and told to sit on the ground. We were all very hungry since most of us had eaten nothing the previous day. An American officer told us we would be fed when we arrived at the camp. After several hours, we were again lined up and marched several hundred yards to a large, fenced in area full of Jap Army trucks. This time we were going to ride! I remembered the long march to Camp #3 after the surrender, and I knew I was too weak to walk that far. What a relief to know we would ride in the trucks!

The dust arose in clouds, and the truck I was in was well back from the head of the column of vehicles. I saw other men holding cloth over the lower part of their faces, and I put my shirt tail over my nose and mouth, and squinted my eyes the best I could.

When the trucks stopped on the road in front of the camp, one of the men next to me said this was Cabanatuan Camp No.1, not Camp 3 where we were before. After we were herded into the compound, the group was broken into smaller lots and assigned to barracks. Later, after eating rice and `soup’ we sat around talking. Some of the residents of the barracks told us more and more of the “able bodied” men were leaving for Japan. The Japs were afraid of dysentery and other diseases and took great lengths to weed out those prisoners with contagious diseases. I thought to myself, they should check me now, in the past three days I have surely contracted dysentery, or something!

I found the environment at Camp #1 was such a radical change from that at Nichols Field, I felt almost free! It did not seem possible I was not marching toward the airfield at the crack of dawn! I was able to walk around in the camp unmolested, and there was even a “theater” with a stage! Frequently “entertainment” was put on by the men of Camp 1. At times, I didn’t feel like a prisoner at all! This was such a vast departure from Pasay and Nichols Field I found it difficult to adjust my thinking processes. The atmosphere at Nichols was a dreadful memory. Not at any time did I ever feel `safe’ and truly relaxed. Here, conditions were almost serene.

I was able to enjoy this marvelous, restful period from the middle of July 1944, to the middle of August 1944, and then I was back on a truck headed for the small town of Cabanatuan once again, probably to board another boxcar for Manila.

Rumors were running rampant thru Camp 1 for several days. It was said another boat would be leaving for Japan very soon. I did not want to go to Japan! I wanted to hide and hope `they’ wouldn’t find me. I was not so fortunate, and found myself on the list to go. I wished Spence, Steve Bell, John Sirota, Guy Wardlaw, and my other friends were with me. We had all been so very close, sharing the internal strength we all possessed. I had continued to hope I would see them marching into Camp One as each day passed, and we would all be together again. But this was not to be.........

I do not recall the number of POW’s riding the boxcars back to Manila. Once again we were trucked to Bilibid Prison, where I feared we would soon leave for Japan. Upon our arrival, we were fed and directed to one of the buildings where our quarters would be located. After a few days of doing nothing, we were subjected to stool examinations after which some men were weeded out. Observing a number of the men surrounding me, I concluded the Japs were surely desperate for workers within their industries to consider moving some of these poor souls to Japan!

CHAPTER 21

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