Schweizer
(Continued from Page 8)
a city with departments of sanita
tion, engineering, recreation, fi
nance and all other phases of op
erating with an orderly plan. And
there was the kitchen.
Few of the American prisoners
knew how to cook rice, the steady,
montonous, three-times-a-day diet
on which all the men lived, and
many died.
Cmdr. Schweizer continued, “We
had a lot of trouble until two cap
tured Filipino Scouts were brought
in. Of course they knew how to
cook it. In the morning we had a
watery rice; for lunch, a cold rice
ball; and at night, steamed rice.
This was supplemented by sweet
potato tops and sometimes fish
powder and fish heads. We ate a
lot of fish heads. But it was never
enough; there was always, beri
beri, and all the other usual di
seases associated with a place like
that—dysentery, typhoid, diptheria,
malaria.
“We just tried to get our pa
tients strong enough to march; if
they couldn’t march and work
(work details went out to air
strips and fortifications all around
Luzon) they were sent to Japan.
We didn’t dare get weak or we
would die. The biggest thing in
prison was the will to live. We had
I
people die just by giving up, but
when they were so weak and ill
it was hard for some to want to
live.
“At first many died from
wounds. Toward the last, as con
ditions got worse, the death rate
among 2,000 men was about 25 a
day.”
By 1944 American subs were
sinking more and more Japanese
ships, many of them carrying rice
and supplies to the garrisons and
prisons in the Phillipines.
With the increased shortage of
food, staying alive became, if pos
sible, even more difficult and this
began to affect the Japanese as
well. The Bilibid inmates noticed
their guards hitting their knees
to test reflexes and knew that they
too were getting beri beri. Also by
then one source of supplemen
tary vegetables was imprisoned be
cause she brought in information
along with food. Several American
women, among them Mary Norton,
had the freedom of the city for
quite sometime. With her own
funds she bought vegetables and
brought them to the hospital where
they were stewed into a sort of
broth, and added to the rice.
Spread among as many as 2,000
men it was hardly noticeable, but
Cmdr Schweizer said it helped
considerably. “Mail? Yes, I heard
I
(I MERRY
F CHRISTMAS
ONE AND ALL
Kodiak Oil Sales
Season’s Greetings to all
Alaska Packers
o
from my wife four times in almost
three years. She had seven stereo
typed cards from me, and some
intercepted radio messages. The
Japanese broadcast messages from
prisoners, hoping Americans would
listen to their propoganda; the
War Department monitored the
programs and passed on the in
formation to relatives.
“We also received food packages
and medical supplies three times
from the Red Cross. They sent in
large shipments of medicine on
the Gripsholm. I would say that
those of us who survived owe our
lives to the Red Cross.”
Clothing was a G.-string, or rem
nants of uniforms worn at the time
of capture, but in the humid cli
mate this was of small concern.
Boredom and lethargy were harder
problems to solve and fortunately
there were answers to these: books,
and ingenuity. Warden Schweizer
was allowed to go into the city,
under guard, several times a week.
He brought back books in all fields
and lessons were set up in law,
physics, radio code, languages,
engineering. The engineers also
kept busy with their hands, carv
ing wooden clocks and combina
tion locks that really worked, and
ingenious devices for measuring
the daily rice ration.
“We had movies sometimes,
and plays. We had newspapers the
Filipinos threw over the walls to
us so we could keep up with the
progress of the war. But until the
last few months we had no radio.
We knew only the old tunes so we
would pick a hit tune of the week
and everybody hummed it until the
next one came up.”
ine prisoners made their own
card decks, one joker, marked Old
Bilibid, is a wry souvenir in a well
documented scrapbook Cmdr
Schweizer has kept. The men sent
each other comic valentines—any
thing to break the monotony, raise
the spirit. And there were, of
course, religious services.
1944 waned and American air
craft began to appear overhead,
bombing Japanese fortifications,
and Manila. In late January, 1945
all the city was aflame, but no
prison compound was touched.
“The planes came in low and the
pilots rolled to make certain no
bombs hit any prisons. Then we
heard gunfire, tanks. One night
the Japanese disappeared. When
we woke up the next morning
there was no one around so we
posted our own guards to keep the
men from going out and getting
killed in the crossfire. The Ran
gers were the first to reach us but
they did not know where we were
until they heard us talking in
side, and knocked on the gate.
That was February 5, 1945.”
Cmdr Schweizer did not go into
detail about that first meeting of
the prisoners with their American
rescuers, but it was emotional,
charged with the incoherent, im
possible-to-express-joy of men who
had wondered if they could last
long enough to see home and
families ever again.
The commander said, “It doesn’t
seem real anymore; that was 16
years ago.”
The Rangers were several days
ahead of their kitchens but they
shared rations with the men of
Bilibid and some Rangers observed
that they had never seen any men
so delighted over a canned meat
product whose name is still fa
miliar, and rhymes with wham.
With as much speed as possible
the ex-inmates of Bilibid Prison
were put on heavy diets, returned
to their own services, and brought
home. The Navy hastened to make
good promotions and pay records;
no prisoner of war lost any pre
cedence of rank or rate because
of his internment. Radio Electric
ian Earl Godfrey Schweizer became
Lt Schweizer, and following due
leave, recreation, and rehabilita
tion, continued with his Naval
career. He is presently Ass’t. Chief
of Staff for Logistics and District
Supply Officer for the 17th Naval
District.
“I joined the Navy in 1929 and
have loved it ever since,” Cmdr
Schweizer told us. “My father was
a Navy man and so are my two
sons. Earl graduated from the
Naval Academy last June and
George is a second classman there
now. Florence and I also have a
daughter, Kathleen, who is 15 and
with us here.
“Coming to Alaska is sort of a
homecoming for me. From 1930 to
’36 I spent six months of each
year helping to map the Aleutians.
The expedition was stationed
aboard a small aviation tender, the
USS Gannet. She carried three
open cockpit biplanes on her
stern and we based anywhere we
could find a beach. You’ll notice
on maps of the Aleutian chain
there are lots of American names
for lakes, coves, and mountains,
and these names are usually ones
the mapping expedition gave the
places. For example, there is Bev
erly Cove and Lake Constance,
both on Adak and named for some
officers’ wives. Zeto Point was
named for a bosun on the ship,
and Mt. Moffett and Moffett Cove
were called after Admiral Moffett.
That was one of the most interest
ing tours I have ever had.
“The prison camp experience,
on the other hand, is something I
wouldn’t take a million dollars for,
but neither would I want to do it
again. Under those circumstances
you really learn about people, and
what you can do if you have to. I
feel no remorse today; those people
were fighting a war like we were,
and I think hate is the wrong spirit.
You can’t hold a grudge forever—
you have to forgive sometime.”
On that word of good will to all
men, we leave you with this wish:
that you will have merry and heart
warming Christmas, and another
more peaceful year.
May you receive all the blessings
that give Christmas its true
and lasting meaning.
Kodiak Telephone Co. Inc.