During the 11-day voyage to Davao Gulf, the Japanese at
 
no time made any effort to identify this vessel as having prisoners 
 
of war aboard--I am sure that any number of my fellow prisoners
 
joined me in the hope that one of our subs would pop a fish into
 
her, letting us take our own chances in the water. The most mere-
 
orable highlight of this trip was the food. At noontime we were
 
given a bit of dried fish with our rice, and at the evening meal
 
we enjoyed a super-luxury--each of us was given a morsel of the
 
canned co rned beef which the Japs had captured when they took over
 
the Cavite Navy Yard. Except for a few with money, none of us had
 
tasted meat in months, or little else that was substantial. I can
 
remember how those of us on deck turned this tid-bit over in our
 
mouths and luxuriated in the taste. (Once in awhile I get to
 
thinking about the meat rationing back here in the States, and I
 
sit down amd laugh like hell.)
 
     On November 8th, at 8 in the morning, we tied up at the
 
Lasang Lumber Dock near Davao City, on the Island of Mindanao. We
 
were marched ashore and, waiting for the extreme heat of the day,
 
as was usual with the Japanese when moving American prisoners, we
 
began the 17-mile march to the Davao Penal Colony. As we marched,
 
there was a single question in our minds: Will this be better than
 
Cabanatuan?
 
          Lieutenant Colonel Mellnik:
     In pre-war days, the Davao prison colony had been operated
 
by the Philippine Bureau of Prisons, and had contained some 2000
 
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