PAGE TWELVE
Th QSEGON STATESMAN. Salem. Oregon. Thursday Morning. September 27. 1345
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Prisoners Given banquet' on Hirohito's
Birthday --Half an Egg;
. Finally Ended With
Tortui
Strang
bus Days
e Liberation
I
SGT. JACOB DE SHAZER
His First Meal la Salem
, Editor's NU: Herewith is th twelfth and concluding chapter of
th scries by the three recently liberated DoolitUe flyers on their expri- .
nces durinf 40 months of imprisonment by the Japanese. The co-author.
' St. Jacob D Shazer is a native of .fearion county.
Chapter 12 (Conclusion)
By CapC Robert Hite and M. Set Jacob De Shazer '
(Written 'exclusively or International News Special Service) .
(World copyright and all rights reserved)
After more than two years in solitary confinement at the Nanking
.prison we still dreamed of eventual release, but our spirits were
wearing thin. The real torture was the solitude. We had to fight
ourselves to keep from going mad.
Even the most inconsequential things took on great significance.
The Japs celebrate New Year's with great enthusiasm and on
each of the two New Years we
spent there we got a special treat
of fish cakes. That , was awfully !
important to us. . , ' . , 1
What a Banquet!
Another important day was
April 29 the emperor's birthday.
The guards told us we would be
' royally treated that day. .We were
.in Nanking for three of Hirohito's
birthdays. Once we got a half an
egg each; another '. time- half an
apple and another time a couple
of sweet cakes about the size of
a silver dollar.
.. We had about decided that we'd
end our days at Nanking.
iThen, suddenly,. we were trans
ferred to a prison at Peiping. This
was on June 12, 1945.
About ' 6:30 that morning the
jguards put hoods over our heads
and we were handcuffed and taken
to the railroad station. .
We boarded the train at 11:30
a. m. and began a 48-hour trip to
Peiping. It was pretty grim. We
were not only handcuffed, but
tied to our seats in the train. Al
though our hood were removed,
we were bundled in Japanese rain
coats and nearly suffocated with
the heat. .
Car Was Filthy
The train was first class by
Japanese standards because a large
number of officers were traveling
oa it. The seats were cushioned,
but Our car was filthy,
The food during the trip was
all right because we" got the same
fare as the officers, which included
a few pieces of beef fof each meal.
It was the best food we'd had
in three years.
But our guards declined to give
us any water. The result was that
we had nothing to drink for 48
hours. Those 48 hours were among
the worst we spent during our en
tire imprisonment by the Japs.
The heat was terrific and when
we got to Peiping we were literal
ly sick with thirst.
We arrived there at noon on
June 14. The hoods were slipped
over our heads again and we were
transported by automobile to our
prison. We later found out it was
about four miles out of the, city
oa the north Hataman road.
Again in Solitary
We were placed in solitary con
finement again, and in Peiping we
iidn't even have the half hour
exercise period that was part of
the Nanking regime. Our cells
were just as primitive.
, .We spent two months and six
days in Peiping. We had no real
news of how the war was going
. except for the few messages Ser
geant Battles, the marine, had
been able, to send us via the "tin
cup" newsservice in Nanking.
We were, confident the Yanks
were winning, of course, and our
confidence was strengthened by
: the attitude of the Japs.
You could notice a difference
in their actions. They seemed to
have lost some of their cockiness.
Last Aug. 18 the Jap soldiers
at Peiping did not have their
usual drill. That had been a morn
ing ritual and we always listened
to them outside, marching around
to band music. Often we'd pull our
selves up to the edge of the single
window in the cell to watch.
Watch' Papers Barn
The next day we saw some sol
diers in the prison courtyard burn
ing maps and charts. We watched
them from our windows and called
to each other from our cells. Dur
ing the day truck after truck drove
up loaded with papers, and all
were burned.
It was a rainy, nasty day, but
our hearts were happy. We knew
something was going to happen.
The next day,' the 18th, there
was a lot of activity. We noticed
that all of the guards? 'had new
uniforms and that prisoners were
being transferred from one cell
to another. On the evening of the
19th a guard came to each of our
cells and said:
"Ima amata watachl tomoduce."
This means: "We are now
friends."
Officer Aids Release
That same night we saw Cmdr.
Winfield Scott Cunningham of
Wake island fame, being taken
out of prison.
It was the first we'd known he
was there. Scott knew about us,
though, and he set the wheels in
motion to release us.
On Aug. 20th the Japs gave us
a little extra food during the day
and about lp.ni. we were taken
out of our cells and our beards
were clipped. Our beards were
heavy and matted and it was quite
a job.
We were put back in our cells,
but a few minutes later we were
taken out again and shaved by a
Jap barber with a straight edge
razor. We had to stand up" during
the shave and he lathered our
faces with cold water.. Our faces
were pretty sore. .
Fifteen minutes later we were
permitted to take a bath in a
bucket of hot water. George Barr
wasn't there. He had been very
sick for several days with dysen
tery. While we were bathing, a
Jap officer, a poker faced little
guy, came in.
Ton Can G Home! . "
( "You can go to your country
now," he said. '
We looked at him suspiciously
and asked him to repeat.. ;
"You can go to your country
now," he said and paused. Then he
added: "The war is over."
Just then-a guard brought
George Barr in. We were so happy
and excited that we slapped each
other on the backs and cheered,
but poor George was too sick to
comprehend. He kept asking us
where we were going.
The Japs brought us our be
longings, loaded us Into a truck
and . took us to the Grand hotel
in Peiping. That was a' beautiful
evening Aug. 20. We met lot
of other released prisoners at the
hotel and we sang, talked and ate
all night .:
A smiling little Chinese caterer
brought us four . lovely, heaping
plates of Irish stew and nothing
ever tasted ' so good. The Grand
hotel - will always be associated
with paradise in our minds. We
were there three days and we ate
most of the time. , v
Teeth la Bad Shape
Then we boarded a B-24 which
was brought in for us and flew
to Chungking and from there to
Kunming. We had our teeth fixed
there. They were in bad shape
because of our diet We had to
leave George Barr there. He was
too sick to make the trip home.
We had one peculiar experience,
We found our vocal cords wouldn't
stand all the talking we were
doing. Our throats 'ached wi$h sa
much talk. We heard, from our
folks while we were in Kunming.
We flew to Calcutta on Aug. 29
and began the trip home by air.
We arrived in Washington at 12:45
a. m. September 4.
We've been through a lot to
gether. We have memories we can
express only to each other. They
will be with us always.
We want peace and quiet and
love now. But if what we've suf
fered will help, even a little bit
to make this a peaceful world, it
will have been worthwhile.
Coyprisht, 1S45. Klaf reatares
. Syndicate
(THE END)
Condits Observe
65th Anniversary
Quietly at Home
STAYTON On Tuesday, Sep
tember 18, the 65th wedding an
niverasy of Mr. and Mrs. H. B.
Condit of West Stayton was ob
served; no celebration having
been had on account of the serious
illness of Mrs. Condit
Ella Wells of Viola, Ore., and
H. B. Condit of West Stayton ex
changed their wedding vows at
Oregon City with only witnesses
being members of the Immediate
family. Upon returning to West
Stayton, the couple farmed for
a short period, before Mr. Condit
became the Southern Pacific agent
at West Stayton, which he held
until his retirement recently. Mr.
Condit is now 87 and Mrs. Con
dit 82. , : .- -
Mr. Condit Is a 65-year Oddfel
low and a 30-year Masonic lodge
member. ' , '. . -
The condits are parents of five
children, Mrs. Archie Caspell,
West Stayton; Mrs. I. R. Ham
mer, Mill City; Mrs. Ode. Grant
Newport; . Everett - Condit - Tilla
mook, and Ross Condit of Port
land. . -
NQGEK HOSPITALIZED
UNCOLN Mra. Katie Parsons
and son Henry Anderegg of Port
land, Mr. and Mrs. R. W. Hammer
and H. J. Neiger of Lincoln vis
ited Kasper Neiger at the Deacon
ess hospital Monday night Mrs.
Parsons and H. J. Neiger are sistei;
and brother of Kasper Neiger, who
was entered as a patient at the
hospital Sept 16 because of an
infection in his hand. . ...
Recreation
Project to
Be Talked
MT.r ANGEL The. Mt Angel
Business Men's club has been
fathering the idea of a recreation.
al program for the' city, and at
the regular club luncheonat the
Mt Angel hotel Tuesday noon Ed
Stolle gave a resume of the" pro
posed project and announced a
meeting at the city hall Friday
night which is to bring the mat
ter to. a head. ;
The meeting is to be attended
by delegates from community or
ganizations and' they are to give
a, definite answer as to whether
or not the project which is to
cost approximately $3500, is to be
earned out The money for the
first year is to be subscribed by
the organizations; thereafter, ac-
cording- to the plan. It will be
placed on the tax roll! The major
part of the outlay will be the hir
ing of an experienced man to have
complete charge of . the program.
The Rev. Damian Jentges, new
Mt Angel pastor, was asked to
speak on the subject and express
ed himself as being wholehearted
ly in favor of such a program and
yet fearing the difficulties it
encounter. -
He endorsed Stolle's suggestion
that. the program be tried and if
found wanting, discontinued with
a frank admission of its failure.
Committee members working
on the program and will meet
with the organization representa
tives Friday night re Ed Stolle,
Louis LeDoux, Louis - Schwab,
Sylvester Schmitt and Peter
Gores.'
Support Voted
' ;tv K vnfMt In hark the Dro-
Ject with Its share of the neces
sary money subscriptions.' v
John T. Bauman; read a pro
posed Utter to the United Stairs
chamber - of commerce acknowl
edging the club's willingness o
keep them posted -iarding Ml
Angel's viewpoint on national andH
legislative measures. The dub
voted that the letter. b sent i
" . . .. -
STKMLPBUSUMWIif fff
NOSXDROFS
- - Va-tro-nol In each nostril. It's a spt
?tont mftiiratlnn that
jQsfcfcfr Helloes gsyjggg
i fhMi mMe ira.Vr hresthinz easier.
HPlcntmanytrom
at the Cm varning sniae or i
rn twii VaMwnrti ttaiutVw .
andese It the instant it Is need- ; ,
ed. Follow directions In the
package.
r
ampson's Card Tables
II EU!
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Gift Shop, Main Floor
FirBt Shipment ef Samson Card Tables in Months!
-WITH THESE QUALITY FEATURES .
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CONTINUOUS TOP, SMOOTH EOUIYDED tOGCSI
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Tee. hell be thinking of you Chrlahncta oVr blnk of Lim now!
As a Ms boj ho waited brtathJtssly far th magic
moment when he could open his gifts. Now thcd. be la grown
tip and away from horns his presents bring him closer to fh Cnes
be loves. Don't disappoint him on Christmas dory. Unci Scan bos mad
. special arrangements to transport your. , gifts to him no matter
wbere ha Is no matter how far from homo. No matter In what
comer of the glob bo Is serving, his presents will b
' delirered Into his hands by Christmas II you do your part and
mail bis gifts before October 15th. Don't let bbn wait with amply
hands on Christmas morning lor (ho prssems you iodlod to
mail on lime. More than eye beiore. now in a Strang.
.. land, thost Christnas packagts will mtan to inuch
to bint. And remember they bar a long
way to trarel so pack them securely and writ fho
addresa clearly on the wrapping paper itself.
Be sur to ask for complete mc&Hng
Instructions when you purchas
your gifts. Heed Santa's cuMc. "Shop
nowl" for thai soldier boy of yours '
orerseas, Mak Els Christmas merry I
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MAILING DATES
Sept. 15 to Oct. 15
zNetv!
MONOGRAAOHNG
ON STATIONERY,
CHRISTMAS f CARDS, ETC.
5l5 Chop 1 Icda Flacr
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