Commander McCoy:
 
     At the time of the transfer of prisoners from Cabanatush
 
none of us had as yet formed any clear plan of escape, although it
 
was always in our minds. There were less than 200 Navy and Marine
 
Corps personnel in the camp, as against some 8,000 Army, so a
 
portion of our number was allowed to volunteer to go to the new
 
camp. I was one of the volunteers.
 
     I was convinced, that staying at Cabanatuan meant eventual
 
death; although I was one of the healthiest specimens in the camp,
 
in five months I had already lost eighteen pounds. Therefore I was
 
doubly glad I had volunteered when, in some inexplicable manner,
 
word got around that we were to be sent to a prison colony on
 
Mindanao, the furthest southward of the Philippine Islands, and
 
about 600 statute miles on a direct line from Cabanatush. I was 
 
interested in Mindanao because, although I had had no news for some 
 
time, I knew that island to be just 600 miles closer to the 
 
Netherlands Indies, New Guinea and Australia--all areas in which
 
I presumed United States forces to be operating.
 
     On October 26, 1942, our group of approximately 1000
 
prisoners left the camp for Manila. There we were placed aboard
 
a 7000-ton freighter which the Japs had captured from the British 
 
in their drive down the east coast of the Asiatic mainland. We were 
 
loaded into two holds of the ship, but since there was not room for 
 
 
all hands, a number of us were placed on the unprotected deck. I
 
was one of the lucky ones topside, while Mellnik was in the almost 
 
unbearably crowded confines of a cargo hold.
 
 
                    - 59 -