Through Fire and Through Water.

CHAPTER IX
PRISONERS AGAIN

January 7, 1945, was certainly a happy Sunday morning. Immediately it was announced that we would have three meals a day with the supplies that were on hand. Plans were under way to purchase meat, vegetables and other needed things from the Philippinos. We were told that the radio technicians in the camp were working fast with the materials on hand to try to contact our forces, which we believed to be only a few miles away, though overhead airplane activity was noticeably lacking. The college lighting system was soon putting power through our lines again, and that night a great crowd of us were gathered at the office to hear the radio which had been connected to a public address system. We heard news from a new station on Leyte that told of fighting there on that island and on Mindoro, and of bombing attacks in the east. They also told about the war in Europe. We then picked up a short wave station on Treasure Island in San Francisco Bay that gave the same kind of news. There was a talk on vitamin pills and their lack of real value, then a speech by President Roosevelt calling the peoples attention to the gravity of the situation. No where was there any news of landings on Luzon, and it continued the same way the following day.

There were no guards about the camp now, so we didn't worry. A system of barter grew up around the gates as everyone started trading clothes, sheets or anything of value for chickens, meat and fruits. I didn't have any clothes to trade, but we had chicken several times. A part Philippino boy in my barracks was doing a prosperous business as a paid interpreter, but he couldn't stand to kill and dress a chicken, so I would do it for him. For this he would always give me a nice portion of the meat. We were also now getting much better food in our meals from the central kitchen, and some meat was added to it every day. We had all been so starved we were taking full advantage of the increased rations. Sunday, Monday and Tuesday came and went, meanwhile the Japanese guards were still absent from our camp. At times some soldiers would wander in and stare astonished at the westerners living so freely here. Once some officers of the Japanese military police came, who were both surprised and indignant to learn that our commandant and staff had fled. This could not be allowed, they said, so they stationed a squad of men, about six or eight in number, to guard us and went on. We might have done whatever we wished to them, but we thought, "Whats the use? The American soldiers will be here soon to take them prisoners." They were harmless and very timid and took turns standing under the shade of a large tree directly in the front of the main gate, with their helmets and uniforms draped in fishnet camouflage, and if an airplane passed over they would cower farther back under that tree. They never hindered us in anyway, for supplies of all kinds were coming into camp through the other gates.

We on the wood cutting crew now had a picnic job. We cut no more trees, but just gathered up piles of lumber the Japanese had left, and sawed them up for wood. Finding all the Japanese soldiers had moved out of the college buildings not far from camp we went over there and carted in other piles of lumber. A few Philippinos were around, and they were all very friendly, often giving us things. Once some Philippine girls spread a nice lunch for us. It was boiled corn sprinkled with sugar. They spread clean banana leaves for plates, and of course we all ate the Philippino way, with our fingers. It tasted delicious to us, for no one had too much to eat, and sugar was a treat we had not enjoyed in a long time. These girls were quite pretty and as well dressed as any American girls, moreover they spoke excellent English, for Los Banos is a university town.

Rumors kept reaching us at this time about landings by U. S. forces at Batangas to the west of us, then on Wednesday our radio finally gave us the news a great landing was under way at Lingayen Gulf, over two hundred miles to the north. This was disappointing but better than no landings at all. Our hopes had been that the soldiers would cone from the south or west and quickly rescue us, but the facts were that the American convoy had fainted an attack on the Batangas coast on Saturday, which was when our commandant and staff had fled, then they sailed on north and landed at Lingayen Gulf instead.

Our camp government now issued to us out of the rice supplies on hand five kilos of rice for each person to keep for emergency. This was so that we might have something in case the guards returned and confiscated our camps supplies. We were still in a perplexed condition. Several men in the camp who were old timers in the Philippines and who had Philippino wives and their families outside now slipped away into the jungles and departed. Even though we were getting a substantial increase in vegetables and fruits and lots of coconuts, we found no way to increase our rice supplies. The country round about had been pretty well stripped of all the grain of any kind. We could get no sugar, but not far away a mill was found where we were able to get two barrels of blackstrap molasses. This was stirred into the mush every morning giving it a brown color and a more tasty flavor.

On Friday as our crew were out searching for wood we ran into a band of guerrillos looting a warehouse filled with Japanese army supplies. They told us to take what we wanted, so we began carting the goods instead of wood into camp. We got several sacks of salt, more than a dozen large sacks of rice, one sack of sugar, a few large cans of pepper and several bundles of army blankets. These we all turned in at the kitchen store room where they planned to get them sorted and the blankets turned over to the hospital on the morrow. But that night, Friday, January 12, our executive committee were rudely awakened out of their sleep by the shouts and cries and angry voices, and they arose to find that the commandant, his staff and the guards had all returned bedraggled and tired from their journey and with tempers even worse. The commandants right hand man, Konichi, who was in charge of all supplies, immediately went to inspect the stores on hand. His eyes opened wide at all the army supplies piled in the kitchen. Even every bag of rice had the Japanese army stamp on it. But he was quite willing to accept the explaination given him that we had found the guerrillas carrying the things off so we had just tried to save some of the supplies for them. He said it was very good.