But our quiet didn't last long! More planes! More anti-aircraft blasts! More explosions! More concussions! More dust and dirt!
As a doctor, I had seen many people die during the previous sixteen years. I knew that nature was usually kind to dying persons, supplying stupor and coma to ease any pain. But I wasn't ready to die-I wasn't even forty, when life is supposed to begin. We had buckets of rice, covered with dirt and rust chips, but no one could eat.
Fifteen more times that day planes returned to attack our ship. Five times the gun crews on the deck were annihilated and replaced with fresh crews. There had been no lack of bravery on the deck. Officers continued to wave their sabers at the pilots. During the last bombing, fragments of rock flew into the hold; our ship had been beached on the Zambales coast to prevent its sinking.
As the sun went down, we could feel the ship backing off the shore. By watching the shadows rotate around the mast, we could tell that we were headed to the west, out to sea. We wondered if the ship was fit for further voyage.
Our food carriers, returning from the kitchen above, reported,
"All the other ships in the convoy are gone-probably sunk."
As we moved out to sea, we heard muffled explosions - depth charges to keep submarines away.
After several hours the engines stopped and we drifted gently for some time, and then the anchors were dropped. We could hear small boats coming alongside. Wounded passengers were being taken off in the darkness. A Japanese officer took several American doctors up on deck to help the wounded. On returning, they reported, "The decks, cabins and dining rooms are littered with
dead and dying. We had only candle light no medicines, no bandages. Actually there was nothing we could do."
That night held all of the horrors of the previous night: groaning, cursing, praying, screaming, and shouting of the wounded and crazed: "Don't touch me! Oh! God, NO! Keep away from me! Don't kill me! Give us air! Let us out! We need water!" and on through the night. The unloading continued through the night. No one slept.