able to escape if there had been no guards at all. Most of our
 
Japanese guards were former white collar workers, army reservists
 
from Formosa, and we hopefully took this as a sign that the Japanese
 
 needed their more seasoned fighters elsewhere.
 
 
Lieutenant Colonel Mellnik:
 
 
     Sunday, April 4th, was now the date set for our escape,
 
either to freedom or to a fate none of us cared to dwell upon in
 
our thoughts. As I was returning to the barracks with the work
 
detail from the coffee plantation on Thursday of that week, we
 
 noticed a new alertness on the part of the prison guards. We
 
thought the worst had come, that our hidden escape gear had been
 
discovered, and that we were walking to our doom.
 
            Once at the barracks, nothing immediately happened.
 
We stowed our work gear--used in picking the coffee beans, and
 
in pruning the trees of parasitic and non-productive branches--
 
and I assigned Sergeants Spielman and Marshall to scout for news.
 
Marshall was the first to return.
 
     "We' ve got to watch our step," said Marshall. "There was
 
some trouble today. The Japs may be onto something."
 
"What happened?"
 
"Jap sentry shot down a hospital orderly. Said he was
 
trying to escape."
 
"Was he trying to escape?"
 
"No, sir. We can't figure it out, unless maybe the
 
damn' Jap just had trigger itch."
 
 
 
                           -77-