my pack grew heavier by the minute. I began to count the steps, 
 
and long for the sight of a new kilometer post beside the road.
 
              0ccasionally I would pass a man who had fallen out, 
 
gasping for air, or white and still in unconsciousness. As the 
 
Jap guards came along they would encourage these men to keep 
 
moving, using the point of their bayonets. Some men managed to 
 
get up and stagger further. Others had reached the point when an 
 
inch of bayonet point brought no response. These men were later 
 
picked up by trucks--those who were still alive.
 
          After a brief stay at a temporary camp, we reached the 
 
Cabanatush Prison on May 29, 1942. This camp had been built 
 
originally as training quarters for Filipino detachments of the 
 
United States Forces Far East, and no preparation had been made
 
for our coming. But the lack of food did not bother most of us.
 
We were glad to drag our weary bodies into the barracks and throw 
 
ourselves down on the bare floors.
 
     The next morning the camp was electrified by a report
 
which quickly swept through our ranks. During the night three 
 
young Naval Reserve ensigns had simply walked off into the dark-
 
ness of the jungle and had successfully escaped. We were to hear 
 
more from these men later; and the Japanese lost no time in dis-
 
covering which of the three prisoners were missing.
 
     Barbed wire was hastily thrown about the camp, and 
 
sentry towers were built at short intervals. Then the grim Japs
 
went through the camp and formed us off into groups of ten. If 
 
any one member of any group escaped, we were told, the other nine
 
 
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