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Aboard ship on way to States by Carr Hooper

items 22 of 28 items
  • wcu_ww2-491.jp2
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  • On the morning of February 3, 1945 there was an unusual tenseness in the air. We felt the end was near in a day or more, 48 hours at most, and we told each other that we’d know by dark what was to happen to us. It truly seemed that our lives hung in balance and the camp was depressed and low in spirit. We dared not think of morrow. Rumor, then real news, told us of landing in force in Lingayan, about 120 miles north but, days and days had passed. We heard that the Japs had struck hard at our columns at Clark Field and at other places. How many men did we have to attack and break their lines of defense? The Japanese army stood between us and our soldiers-- a million miles away, farther than they’d ever been because we were near our end? At 5:00 P.M. ten low flying, insiona blazing, fighting U.S. Army planes flew over the building at a lowest altitude of dropped gazzles goggles and waved to us. When would our troops arrive? At 5:30 assemblyed the Jap officiers failed to appear but sent a sergeant to take the roll call. The inside garrison of 69 soldiers loaded packs into trucks and returned to their quarters in the Education building. They had packed and repacked before they abandoned us before, leaving a few soldiers, and had returned later with more and more troops. They’d been drunk, jittery and mean and sung their Swan songs for night on end. We couldn’t know from them what was happening. We feared that last hour as we feared death itself. We knew what to expect. We knew that the Japs were prepared to kill us in that last hour of theirs. My neighbor left his shack and sat with us in the dark as usual. We talked in low voices so as not to call the sentry’s attention to us, He and my wife talked of food every night and recipes and his legs swelled and talked and poor dear Ruth’s hunger kept her awake and pothetically confined her most, every thought to food (She has lost 52 pounds, ten pounds more than the average loss for adults). From the north and north-west came thundering, roars, and flashes but for weeks we had heard concussions, blasting and seen flashes and fires and demolition. We had heard our naval craft shell near by coasts, and bombing night and day. We had heard the rattle and roar of guns and cannons in practice or against guerrillia’s for days and nights. But wait, theres a sound never before heard. Deep powerful motors, the roar of powerful engines! “Hush!” I said “and listen.” It’s a truck, a convoy, said my neighbor, and they talked
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).