our fears were worse than the fa0ts. These three Naval Reserve
 
ensigns, as I have said, simply walked out of the prison on our
 
first night in the camp. As we learned later, the three had
 
hidden out in the jungle for three months. Food was plentiful,
 
easily obtainable, and they could have stayed there indefinitely.
 
However, they wanted to get out o f the Philippines, so they made
 
their way to the more thickly populated coast of the island of
 
Luzon. The Japanese were in force on the coast, and the penalty
 
for a Filipino harboring an American was death. In fact, even a
 
suspicion was enough to cause a Filipino to be executed. The three
 
ensigns decided that without help escape would be hopeless, so they
 
voluntarily turned themselves in.
 
     That evening after our meal, and while it was still dark,
 
these three young officers were required to mount a platform in the
 
center of the camp and read prepared statements about the hardships
 
they had undergone while they were away from the camp. They told
 
of weeks without food, of jungle water infested with bugs and
 
poisonous insects, of venomous snakes and ferocious wild beasts.
 
Actually, none of the Americans in the camp was fooled.
 
The ensigns had been beaten up when they first gave themselves up,
 
but beyond their bruises they looked better than any prisoner in
 
the camp. They were occasionally cuffed around by the guards after
 
their return, but theirs was the mildest punishment given out by
 
the Jape during all my months in prison.
 
     Our prison quickly slipped back into its monotony, but
 
in September we were notified by the prison officials that we were
 
to be visited for an inspection by a very high Japanese personage.
 
                    - 52 -