by the prisoners themselves--were severely slapped. The lieutenant
 
colonel was tied to a stake for 24 hours. He was beaten severely;
 
and although he did not die at once, it is doubtful if he is still
 
alive. He had already been permanently injured in previous beatings.
 
     On March 14th, we rehearsed our carefully-planned escape
 
route, but without taking any of our equipment. We were overjoyed
 
to find that we apparently had not been spotted from any of the
 
watch towers or observation posts. Then, on March 26th, we began
 
to sneak our equipment into the jungles (The Japanese, incidentally,
 
will not voluntarily go into the Philippine jungles unless they are
 
armed and in force. The reason for this is the fact that very
 
little is contributed to the New Order in East Asia by a Japanese
 
with his head cut off.) We continued to sneak our equipment into
 
the jungles on the next day, which was Saturday. One of our
 
worst danger points was a guardhouse, which had to be passed if
 
we were to get our equipment out safely.
 
     Captain Dyess remembered that the sentries at this
 
guardhouse were very partial to the fruit which was gathered for
 
 use by the Japanese, and which usually was brought by this spot.
 
On the day before we planned to escape, we placed our equipment
 
in the bottom of a bull cart driven by Dyess and Mellnik. The
 
equipment was then hidden by covering it with a load of small
 
logs. On the back of the cart was placed a burlap bag of star
 
apples, such as was often delivered in this manner to the
 
Japanese quartermaster.
 
                                   - 73 -