← Previous – RS17B – Next → Chapter 17BLearning to Survive••••• As the months passed, we learned ways to improve our diet. For instance, we began getting carabao soup once a week. We were rationed one carabao for the camp, for 50,000 men. We
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← Previous – RS17A – Next → Chapter 17ADOWN ON THE FARM••••• As time passed, we managed to organize our camp much better than it was when we first arrived. The Japanese high command decided to allow us to farm some land near camp.
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← Previous – RS16 – Next → Chapter 16CAMP EDIBLES-RATS, CATS AND DOGS••••• Among the loot the Japanese had seized after the fall of Bataan were several hundred cases of canned milk. For the 50,000 men interned, the camp was allotted a few cans
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← Previous – RS15 – Next → Chapter 15THE YOUNGEST PRISONER IN CAMP••••• In the camp Cabanatuan there was a young boy who was always cold, even when the sun was shining. He was no more than seventeen and had obviously falsified his age
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← Previous – RS14 – Next → Chapter 14THE PRISONER FROM SHELTER COVE••••• One day, upon checking the roster in one of the wards, I thought I recognized the name of a fisherman who had spent his summers in Shelter Cove. I was excited
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← Previous – RS13 – Next → Chapter 13INMATES TO THE LAST••••• The rainy season posed a serious problem for burying our dead. The drainage was very poor and some bodies became exposed each time it rained. It was difficult, if not impossible, to
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← Previous – RS12B – Next → Chapter 12BInner Peace and Serenity••••• That afternoon I contacted a friend who worked in the kitchen. “Not much,” I said, ‘just a pinch. He gave me a small bag of salt and the next morning I gave
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← Previous – RS12A – Next → Chapter 12ACabanatuan, New Hell Camp••••• On June 2, 1942, we arrived at Camp Cabanatuan, a prison of war camp for both Filipinos and Americans. What we hoped for the better turned out for the worse. Although it
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← Previous – RS11B – Next → Chapter 11Moving to Another Camp••••• We had occasional inspections by Japanese officers. They strode through camp with surgical masks on their faces to protect them from the foul air and contagious diseases. Other than their quick walk
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← Previous – RS11A – Next → Chapter 11ACAMP O’DONNELL••••• One year and two months after I had enlisted in the United States Army, and twenty days after our surrender to the Japanese, we arrived at the rail junction at San Fernando. From here
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