Ch 28 - The War is Over

CHAPTER 28

THE WAR IS OVER!

The next morning the wonderful experience was repeated! They came back, this time a whole bunch came! One of the pilots dropped a note, and then all of them dropped boxes with parachutes! The boxes were raining down on the camp! Some of the chutes failed to open and the boxes plummeted thru the roofs of the barracks, leaving gaping holes. Some of the boxes were falling to the ground outside the fence and the Japanese farmers were scurrying around grabbing what they could! Occasionally one, or more of the farmers were flattened by the boxes plummeting down outside the walls.

The word quickly passed that the contents of the note read:

“THE WAR IS FINISHED! THE YANKS NOW OCCUPY YOKOHAMA AND TOKYO BAY! COME ON DOWN!”

THE WAR WAS REALLY OVER! I think many of us were shocked! It didn’t seem possible, the war was over! We could go home to our families! We had made it! All the tension seemed to drain from my body, I think I just sagged to the nearest bunk and sat there! Men were running around the compound wildly, waving their arms at the planes, at anyone near! Elliot Parent entered the barrack slowly.

“I don’t believe them!” he mumbled,” they’re just trying to raise our morale, that’s what they must be doing!”

He moved about as in a dream, he hardly seemed to know where he was going.

“Good old Parent!” somebody mumbled, “he’s out of it!”

The following day more of the beautiful U.S. Navy planes returned, again dropping boxes by chute and personal books, and cartons of cigarettes! Cigarettes were evident throughout the camp! The British went berserk over the American “fags” as they called them. That afternoon, Dix, Elliot Parent, and I leaned back against the wall at the head of our bunks. We were at peace with the world! That was the fateful day I inserted my first cigarette between my lips! There was nothing we could do! Just sit and wait......and wait!

My first cigarette was a Philip Morris! I coughed some, and I coughed some more! This smoking wasn’t as easy as it looked! I couldn’t imagine why anyone would trade their food for cigarettes, it certainly seemed to me that swallowing food was much easier than swallowing smoke! I coughed a lot, and I saw a wealth of stars as I smoked those first ‘fags’, but I was persistent! Surely I could do anything these other folks could do! Couldn’t I? I began to wonder, long before that first pack was consumed! And consume it I did! Much to the dismay of my suffering lungs!

More days passed, and more of the American aircraft visited our camp! More notes were dropped, and more days rolled by. Finally, the American Officers went to the British Officer in charge and asked what he was doing to get us out of this place. The war was over! Why were we sitting here? The success of their mission was zero! It seems he did not wish to “antagonize” our Japanese captors!

His comment, “After all, we mustn’t endanger the men!”

The war had terminated two weeks ago and we were trapped in this miserable stockade because a British “Officer” was fearful of requesting transportation to the rail line from the Japanese Camp Commander! It is no wonder that Hong Kong and Singapore were such “quickies” for the advancing Jap Army in 1942! A few more boring days came and went and still nothing!

I was approached by a sergeant whom also served the same hitch at the Nishin Flour Mill. He asked if I would join him, and several others that had formulated a plan to go around the arrogant British Officer, and approach the Japanese Commander directly! The plan was to ask him for trucks to transport all of the men down the mountain to the railroad. Nothing more, nothing less. Those involved in the plan were called together for a meeting. The sergeant was the closest thing to a ‘leader’, and he gathered the small group of about six men together and told them he invited me because I had more contact with the Japs at Kawasaki, and I knew more Japanese than any in the group. He felt confident I could help the cause more than some of the others. The men nodded, and the sergeant proceeded to present his ideas on the meeting, and just how we should conduct ourselves.

As a group, we walked casually past the barracks and over to the “administration” building that sat well apart from other structures in the compound. It resembled a house about forty feet square, with a covered porch. As we approached, the Japanese sergeant walked out through the screen door and onto the porch. He stood staring at us as we neared the porch.

“What do you want?” he said sharply. He apparently knew zero English and barked the question in Japanese.

Our sergeant attempted to ask him for permission to speak to the Officer in Charge but failed miserably to get this across to the Jap sergeant. He looked at me pleadingly for help and I decided not to ask, but to demand we see the Officer. The Jap sergeant became angry, but was interrupted when the screen door swung open and the Officer in Command strode out. He lifted his arm to the sergeant to quiet him down, and walked to edge of the porch. Again the question.

“What do you want?”

I moved forward, saluted him, and proceeded to explain the best I could, that our friends in the American planes have “given” us orders to come to Yokohama, the war is finished, and we could now go to our homes in America.

“It is too far to walk to the train, and we need trucks to take us there,” I told him.

He immediately told us that “There are no trucks!” I explained we wanted to go home, that we were very tired of being hungry, and the airmen are angry because we are still here.

“There is nothing I can do!”

Our sergeant wanted to know what I said, and what he said, and I proceeded to explain the best I could. Our sergeant said, “Just you tell him we number several hundred, and he has only six men, and if we must, we will break down the wall and spread out and raise hell among these farms around this camp!”

I managed to get these thoughts across to the officer, although it was impossible for me to say exactly the same words since I didn’t know that much Japanese. He got the point anyway. He stood staring at us for a moment, then told us, with a wave of his arm, to go back to the barracks, that we must wait for him to get orders. I told our sergeant what he said, but I think he already surmised the gist of the Officer’s statement. He nodded and we turned and headed for the barracks.

Halfway across the compound, we were stopped by one of the American Officers. He wanted to know what was going on and the sergeant told him all of the men were tired of the British Officer’s reluctance to rock the boat, and we had told the Jap Officer to get trucks to carry us to the railroad.

“We want to go home!” the sergeant stated, “and if we wait for this Limey to get us out of here, we’ll be here till Christmas!”

The Officer said that we might cause trouble taking this into our own hands, and we should wait until the Japs make a move. The sergeant told him that we were going to knock the wall down very quickly if there were no trucks! The Officer went off in the direction of the Officer’s quarters mumbling to himself.

Inside of an hour the British Officer entered our barracks and proceeded to make an animated speech concerning enlisted men contacting the Japanese on any subject. At this time the sergeant that came after me to help stood up.

“I was the one that spoke to the Japanese Commander!” he said firmly, “We have sat here for three weeks waiting for you to take some action, any action, and you have failed all of us!” The men responded to this with a resounding “Yes!” and began clapping. I decided I would join the sergeant, and I stood up also. I was joined by the other men involved, and then, all of the men got to their feet. The British Officer was noticeably taken back by the outburst from all of the men.

“I shall write a complete report of this incident immediately,” he remarked and spun around and left our barracks.

The whole camp was abuzz. Many of them were unaware that we had a face-off with the Japanese, and this seemed to bring everyone’s spirits up.

The following day was uneventful. Everyone talked only of the incident and of getting out of here and going home. During this “sitting around” phase the past two and a half weeks, I stupidly, had started smoking, and I was hooked now! The airmen had dropped cigarettes by the carton and the men had relished the American cigarettes. The others were smoking their “fags” as Dickie called them, and we just sat talking of going home, of eating steaks and baked potatoes. I often wished I had avoided the habit, but the timing probably was the culprit.

We were awakened very early the next morning by the roar of engines! We hustled out and discovered a large number of trucks lined up on the road outside the gate! The Japanese Commander had come through! We were getting out of this place and going home! The word spread quickly to get ready! We were to gather our belongings together and immediately after breakfast, the trucks would depart for the train station. It was certain that no one needed to threaten us to be ready.

Our small group managed to squeeze into the third truck in the line of eight or nine visible trucks. I was again finding it hard to believe this was happening! We were on our first leg home!

Soon the old trucks were chugging down the narrow dirt road, taking us farther and farther from our last prison camp! It was hard to restrain ourselves! The incredible feeling inside! We would be free to do as we wished, go where we wished, to walk into a grocery store and buy anything! The event that we had dreamed of for almost three and a half years was at hand!

When our caravan arrived at the bottom of the hill the small station came into view. It seemed even smaller than I had remembered, and the platform across the front was empty of people. We hurriedly unloaded, fearful a train would arrive before we could get ourselves to the station. We needn’t have hurried, as the eastbound train that would take us back to Tokyo severely tested our patience and fortitude for almost two hours before appearing in the distance. As the train slowed and stopped before us, we could hardly hold ourselves from running to pile into the cars. I worried the train would not hold us all, but found that instead of being crammed with passengers, most of the cars were practically empty. Obviously, few people would be venturing to Tokyo at this time! The cars were smaller than those in our country, the seats were smaller of course, and the aisles were narrower.

I would learn much later that some of the POW’s at Suwa were forced to wait for a second train, possibly due to a shortage of trucks. This subject arose during my meetings with the Suwa representatives at the 50th Anniversary festivities in 1995. I was asked if I witnessed the train accident that occurred between Suwa and Tokyo. I did not see a train wreck and told them so. I had never heard of a train wreck until these people brought it up and I have yet to meet anyone who did see such an accident.

The Japanese trainmen were startled seeing all of these men piling into the cars. None of them lifted a hand, or tried to stop us from boarding. When I was seated I could look out of the window. Nearby, one of the trainmen was apparently receiving an explanation from one of our truck drivers. As the driver talked, the trainman nodded and soon walked away shaking his head.

A short time later the train began to move! We were on our way! Some of the tension began to depart as the train picked up speed and rumbled along the track. Elliot Parent was saying this train definitely had less cars than the one we arrived on, and perhaps many of the men would be unable to find room this time. Later, while standing on the train platform in Tokyo, we learned some of the men had indeed sat in the aisles. Our journey was interrupted several times but we were making better time than the trip three months ago, The train slowed as it entered a small village, stopped for awhile, then pulled off onto a siding for almost an hour before continuing.

I was too excited to relax much, and I ached all over from the position I was in. The train continued onward for some time, proceeding slowly but steadily, but at least it was moving. That is, it was moving until it reached another small town where it came to a stop.

“Now what?” I thought. I dozed off for a short nap and found myself slouched down in the seat in such a manner that I could hardly move. I was hungry and tired. Others around me also began to stir, groans similar to my own arose from crumpled bodies. Almost all at once, we began to remember where we were, and what was happening. We realized we were going home! I forgot the pain and the small, cramped seat. Parent mumbled.

“I wonder what we’ll have for dinner?”

I remember cautioning him we were not in the Ritz-Carlton, therefore I couldn’t guess what we would have for dinner, or even whether we would be served dinner. We agreed we didn’t give a damn whether they served us dinner if we could just reach the Yanks!

The Japanese suprised us by bringing trays of rice balls with some vegetables onto each car and each man enjoyed perhaps his last meal with the Japanese! One man stood up and declared “I think I can say this is probably the last rice ball that will ever pass from my hand to my mouth!”

In the background I heard a very British voice say, “Hear, hear!” We all could laugh easily some how, on this very special day, and to further cheer us on, the train began to move. After moving a short distance we stopped again and the trays were collected at one end of the car, then passed out to people on the ground next to the car. Soon, we were underway, clicking along the tracks toward Tokyo. We will never know who arranged for the rice balls.

As the train moved from the country into the outskirts of the huge city, the change was incredible! In the serenity of the camp outside Suwa, I had forgotten the death and destruction of the bombing! We began to see large areas flattened by the incendiary fires. The farther we progressed, the damage became more visible. It was obvious the bombing worsened, if that was possible, during our sojourn in Suwa! The train now moved very slow as it made it’s way through the damaged zones. It seemed to take a very long time before it reached it’s destination.

I have failed to mention that our large group of POW’s were not accompanied by any Japanese soldiers (guards). We were on our own. The American Officers were beginning to assume some measure of control, which was needed to keep the men from straying from the group, and to keep some of the rowdy ones from starting trouble. Our “leaders” apparently were able to ask the trainmen how we could get to Yokohama, and that set the wheels into motion. They agreed to lead the column to a nearby station that serviced the electric inter-urban rail system. There, we could board the cars that would take us to the Yanks in Yokohama!

The next hour was consumed with waiting for the electric driven cars to appear, one at a time of course, and as each one stopped at our platform, as many of the men that could crowd onto the vehicle, together with the Japanese citizens, would do so and the car would be off to the next station. It took awhile, due to the spacing of the trains, passengers already on the car, and the sheer size of our group. Parent, Dix and I managed to stay together through all of the jostling and crowding on the platform. When we did manage to work our way onto one of the cars, there was nowhere to sit but I had few cares at this time, just get on the car and move out! We were not packed together in the car, and I could hold onto the horizontal rail that ran above and by stooping slightly, I could see out of the windows.

Many times the car was forced to slow down to a crawl, but generally, kept moving toward our destination, wherever that might be. Occasionally, the car slowed and stopped to allow the Japanese passengers to disembark, and on the platform of one such station stood a soldier, standing at ease with his rifle! On his left sleeve was a large yellow and black patch, which was the insignia of the First Calvary I learned later. All of the men were yelling and waving, me included, and the soldier probably wondered just whom this rabble might be, waving at him from the train!

He was the first Yank we had the pleasure of seeing on the ground, and somehow I think this was the moment when it all hit home! The Yanks were really here! I am at this moment, actually seeing a Yank in uniform, right here in Tokyo! I really don’t know how long we were on the electric car. We began seeing more soldiers, and soon the car slowed and everywhere could be seen green trucks with the familiar canvas coverings, ambulances were also in evidence, together with many uniformed people waiting for the car to stop! And among these uniformed people were GIRLS! Real American Girls! WOW!

As we disembarked from the car we were greeted by all these wonderful people!

“They treat us as though we were somebody!” Elliot Parent said, “Imagine! Us!”

I caught a glimpse of Birchall, the do-nothing Canadian Officer talking to an American Officer as the electric driven trolley car pulled away. It was the last time I saw the man. “Good riddance!” I thought as I walked toward the other men gathered nearby.

CHAPTER 29

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