Old John "The Thief," died. The count, (?) 1,303.
Jan. 2, 1945: The harbor was surrounded by high, snow covered mountains; we were in southern Formosa. The Japanese patients were taken out of the holds; their areas were fumigated by American soldiers-hoping to get something to eat in return for their work.
Col. Johnson again requested food. Mr. Wata answered: "United States submalines sink arr Japanese food ships! Vely solly!"
Many prisoners continued to scramble around the hold grabbing for cigarettes thrown down from the deck above; they were more addicted to tobacco than food. Their prancing around made it more difficult for us to convince the Japanese that we were hungry and thirsty.
Received two-thirds cup of rice and one teaspoon of dried fish. No water! A bitter cold night! Much coughing! Some prisoners were acting crazy; doing weird and unpredictable things. An officer was assigned to guard the stairway so none of these crazy
persons would try to escape and cause an incident.
Jan. 3rd, 1945: 0800-There was an air-raid alarm! It was followed by rapid firing from the deck for about two hours; much running about on the deck above. Several planes flew low over the harbor probably observing. No food; no water!
When I tried to stand, I blacked out! Many prisoners were coughing, and suffering from cramps and dysentery. It was a very cold night. The Japs worked all night loading the ship.
Jan. 5: In the evening, as we were trying to get to sleep, several of us were showered with 11 liquid, which tasted like battery acid. "What were the Japs up to now?" The liquid proved to be the contents of a latrine bucket; the prisoner, carrying the bucket to the deck, was so weak, he spilled it. When we asked the guards for some sea water to clean ourselves off, they just laughed.
I volunteered to take guard duty at the stairway so I wouldn't freeze to death.