Text Version


 
 
                 When the first food from the outside was delivered to 
 
Group One, the officer in question, in a public speech, announced
 
that as senior officer he would divide the food according to rank,
 
taking the largest share himself, giving the next largest share to
 
the members of his staff, and on down the scale to the point where 
 
the enlisted men would receive nothing at all. There was a 
 
vigorous protest, particularly from those officers who stood to
 
profit most, but to no avail. Verbatim transcripts of the speech
 
were taken by a number of officers, who declared that they would 
 
ask for court martial proceedings against the offending gentleman
 
the instant they were returned to freedom. It is doubtful,
 
however, whether the offending officer or any of his accusers
 
will be alive to proceed with the court. And this practice was
 
later corrected.
 
     In June and July of 1942 the death rate at Cabanatush
 
was 30 Americans a day. Each morning a fresh batch of bodies was 
 
brought out of the barracks and laid out in rows to await burial.
 
This sometimes was a matter of days. First we had to receive per-
 
mission from the japanese to take the bodies outside the camp to 
 
the burial ground. This permission was always delayed, because
 
it upset the Japs' roll call. Then there was the problem of find-
 
iug a burial detail, prisoners who were strong enough to carry the
 
bodies out of the camp on our home-made stretchers and then dig
 
 the graves. As a result, bodies were always lying around the camp.
 
Aside from the ever-present stench, and the swarms of flies,
 
sanitary conditions were not helped. Not until late August did
 
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