ourselves, we very quickly named him "The Crown Prince of Swat".
 
 
            According to the Filipino convicts at the prison, Hosume
 
 had distinguished himself in a couple of actions by doing his
 
fighting at the rear. As a punishment, he was assigned to the
 
prison detail at Davao, and he seemed bent on proving his bravery
 
by smacking around every American prisoner in reach. I am only
 
one of several hundreds of these prisoners who quickly learned to
 
cherish a fond hope of meeting up with Lieutenant Hosume after this
 
war, with his judo to be matched against some plain, old-fashioned
 
American fist-and-skull. God, what a threat!
 
     At that, Lieutenant Hosume delayed our final escape by
 
one week, and caused us to fear that it would miscarry altogether.
 
          In some ways the prison at Davao was far superior to the one
 
 at Cabanatuan. The food was still rice, but with each meal we
 
received some vegetables such as camotes, green papayas, casavas,
 
or cooking bananas. Also, once each day we were usually given a
 
small portion of mongo beans, which are very nourishing. At
 
least the food was better until March, when the Japanese took away
 
everything but our three daily portions of white rice, a point
 
which will be explained later.
 
     However, a number of the prisoners from Cabanatuan were
 
already suffering from beri beri, and even the improved diet at
 
first given us at Davao was not enough to keep them from sliding
 
backward. Advanced cases of beri beri were sent to the hospital.
 
It was a pathetic sight to visit the hospital and watch the people
 
sitting all day, massaging their aching toes and fingers. In this
 
 
                                             -63-