Chapters 27 + 28

With the bird sent away to another camp Kano took over, the men were the happiest they’d been in years. The men were finally allowed to write home and Louie took full advantage of this by writing to everyone he knew. A few new men came to the camp, but they weren’t new to Louie: the men were Commander Fitzgerald and Harris. More Red Cross crates were handed out; Louie gave his to Harris who was in grave condition. The b-29s continued to shower over Japan, and as they drew closer another “kill all” order was written and 139 prisoners died the night of December 15. 11 escaped and by some miracle met up with guerilla fighters who brought them to the US forces. On February 16^th the biggest battle yet over Japan was being fought, with hellcats flying everywhere to combat the zeros. The men were then put in their cells and told to wait for the fight to be over, after the destruction Louie and many of his friends were being transferred to Naoetsu, yet another POW camp. This is ridiculous! Why are the men going through so many camp changes? It seems to me that the Japanese may be using Louie because of his Olympic status. Though I thought Louie would never see The Bird again, I was far off. The new POW camp was where Watanabe was sent away, and Louie called it “the darkest moment of his life.” After hiking over a mile in deep snow they get this as their just rewards? I guess all is fair in love and war though. Just like at Ofuna the Bird would beat on Louie for any which reason he felt necessary, the Officers were lucky because they didn’t have to work the painful duties of those with less rank. They were spared of the tragedies of the enlisted men that were working themselves to death quite literally. And once the officers were at work they were outside the camp, where there they would get full rations. This “liberty” was not to last as one of the officials jokingly told the bird that the officer POWs were lazy. The Bird saw this as no joke and ordered the officers to work alongside the enlisted at the coal mines under threat of execution. Here too was a guerilla war; the items themselves that were stolen weren’t so much as important as the mental satisfaction of out-witting their captors. One day while working in the coal mines he slipped and fell, then he seemed to have broken his ankle and knee; this would prevent him from working there but it would half his rations as he had no work. He found work after finally pleading to the Bird for some, the work – maintaining the pig. The catch however was that he couldn’t use any tools but his bare hands, and with such a life devoted to cleanliness he thought “if anything is going to shatter me, this is it.”