May 7, 45: My weight was up to 100 lbs. Discharged from the
hospital.
Major Stanley Hankins was American C.O. of the Camp, and Col.
Matsuda, the Japanese C.O. He ran one of the better camps.
May 10, 45: My fortieth birthday; I was ready for "Life to Begin!"
Wt. 103 lbs.
May 17, 45: Rumors that Germany had surrendered on May 7th; May 8th
called V.E. Day.
May 20, 45: The generals and colonels formerly stationed in the Philippines, arrived in camp from Sian, Manchuria. The generals included Wainwright, King, Moore, Parker, Sharp and Jones as well as Sir Arthur Percival from Singapore. The colonels were Selleck, Horan, Balsa, Brauner, Aldridge, Cooper and Gillespie. All were optimistic, believing they were on their way home.
The following paragraphs were from Col. James Gillespie's Report of
World War II in the Far East:
"As we marched into the Camp, many prisoners stood about with some
curiosity watching our arrival.
"I happened to glance up at someone standing near the hospital. He was literally skin and bones - extremely emaciated, with a pale face that I knew I had seen before; his lower limbs were greatly swollen; as I passed within three feet of him, his identity flashed into my mind. It was Major Eugene Jacobs; he had served with me at the Sternberg Army Hospital in Manila.
"In a few days I was to hear from Jacobs, one of 300 survivors of the
Oryoku Maru, the most horrible story of suffering by prisoners during
World War II, in which 50% of the medical personnel serving in
Sternberg Hospital, and General Hospital No.2 on Bataan, were wiped
out from bombings and privations."
Col. Gillespie became the new hospital commander.