Dec. 20th: A Marine officer's arm was becoming gangrenous; Lt. Col. Jack Schwartz amputated the arm with only a jack knife and no anesthetic. The marine lived only a few hours before giving his last sigh of relief. One sack of rice. Three deaths. The count, 1,330.
Thirty trucks arrived; 681 prisoners were put on the trucks bound for the jail in San Fernando, Pampanga. Now there was more room to lie down. No sleeping; many hacking coughs.
Dec. 21st: The thirty trucks came back; our remaining group 648 - were put aboard for the trip to San Fernando. I got a good look at the Olongapo Naval Base as we passed through; it h d been completely destroyed. One death today. The count - 1,329.
A very hot and dusty trip. We were afraid the U.S. planes might discover the large clouds of dust raised by our convoy. We arrived at an empty theater, which offered cover and some protection from cold and mosquitoes.
Dec. 22, 1944: Received five sacks of cooked rice two cups each a real treat.
"They are probably fattening us up for who knows what!"
Toward evening, Mr. Wata, the Jap interpreter, entered the theater and inquired, "Who is too sick or too disabled to continue journey to Japan?"
He asked our medics to select fifteen disabled. We thought we were doing the fifteen disabled a favor, and actually envied them. They would be going back to Bilibid in Manila.
Wata took the prisoners away in a truck supposedly to Bilibid.
We learned that the Japs took the prisoners to the local cemetery, forced them to dig their own graves, and then bayoneted them, so they fell in the graves. A most miserable night.