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three at a time. Eventually my turn came, and I went up
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on deck. I was roughly questioned. Where was my identity
disc? My name was checked against a list, and I was
roughly shoved over the side into a barge which was already
crowded, and overcrowded, with a shivering collection of
humanity, living scarecrows clad in the last vestiges of
clothing. Some, indeed, were not clad at all. At last with
the gunwales awash and with the barge threatening to sink
if another person was put aboard, the Japanese guards
decided that no more could safely be crammed in. A motor
boat chugged up to the bows and a rope was made fast.
The motor boat started for the shore dragging us in the
decrepit old barge behind.
That was my first sight of Japan. We had reached the
Japanese mainland and once ashore we were put into an
open camp, a camp upon waste ground surrounded by
barbed wire. For a few days we were kept there while the
guards interrogated each man and woman, and then even-
tually a number of us were segregated and marched off a
few miles into the interior where there was a prison which
had been kept vacant to await our arrival.
One of the prisoners, a white man, gave way under the
torture and said that I had been helping prisoners escape,
that I had military information given me by dying prisoners.
So once again I was called in for interrogations. The
Japanese were most enthusiastic about trying to make me
talk. They saw from my record that all previous attempts
had failed, so this time they really excelled themselves. My
nails, which had regrown, were split off backwards and salt
was rubbed into the raw places. As that still did not make
me speak I was suspended by my two thumbs from a beam
and left for a whole day. That made me very sick indeed,
but the Japanese were still not satisfied. The rope suspend-
ing me was cast loose, and I dropped with a bone shaking
thud to the hard floor of the compound. A rifle butt was
jammed in my chest. Guards knelt upon my stomach, my
arms were pulled out and I was pegged down to ringbolts
apparently they had specialized in this method of treatment
before! A hose was forced down my throat and water turned
on. I felt that I was either going to suffocate through lack
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of air, or drown through too much water, or burst with
the pressure. It seemed that every pore of my body was
oozing water; it seemed that I was being blown up like a
balloon. The pain was intense. I saw bright lights. There
seemed to be an immense pressure on my brain, and
eventually I fainted. I was given restoratives which brought
me around to consciousness again. By now I was far too
weak and ill to get to my feet, so three Japanese guards
supported me I was quite a bulky man and dragged me
again to that beam from whence I had previously been
suspended. A Japanese officer came and said, You look
quite wet. I think it is time you were dried off. It might
help you to talk more. String him up. Two Japanese guards
bent suddenly and snatched my ankles from the ground,
snatched so abruptly that I fell violently and banged my
head on the concrete. A rope was passed around my ankles
and thrown over the beam again, and while they puffed
like men having a hard task, I was hoisted feet uppermost,
a yard or so from the ground. Then slowly, as if they were
enjoying every moment of it, the Japanese guards spread
paper and a few sticks on the ground beneath me. Grinning
maliciously, one struck a match and lit the paper. Gradu-
ally waves of heat came upon me. The wood ignited, and
I felt the skin of my head shriveling, wrinkling, in the heat.
I heard a voice say, He is dying. Do not let him die or I
will hold you responsible. He must be made to talk. Then
again a stunning thud as the rope was cast off, and I
dropped head first into the burning embers. Once again I
fainted.
When I regained consciousness I found that I was in a
semi-basement cell lying on my back in the dank pool of
water on the floor. Rats were scurrying about. At my first
movement they jumped away from me, squeaking in alarm.
Hours later guards came in and hoisted me to my feet, for
I still could not stand. They carried me with many a prod
and a curse to the iron barred window which was just
level with the ground outside. Here my wrists were hand-
cuffed to the iron bars so that my face was pressed against
those bars. An officer gave me a kick and said, You will
watch all that happens now. If you turn away or close your
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eyes you will have a bayonet stuck into you. I watched,
but there was nothing to see except this level stretch of
ground ground just about level with my nose. Soon there
was a commotion at the end and a number of prisoners
came into view, being propelled by guards who were treat-
ing them with excessive brutality. The group came nearer
and nearer, then the prisoners were forced to kneel just in
front of my window. Their arms were already bound behind
them. Now they were bent back like a bow, and then their
wrists were tied to their ankles. Involuntarily I closed my
eyes, but I was soon forced to open them as a white hot
pain shot through my body. A Japanese guard had inserted
a bayonet, and I could feel the blood trickling down my
legs.
I looked outside. It was a mass execution. Some of the
prisoners were bayoneted, others were beheaded. One poor
wretch had apparently done something dreadful according
to Japanese guards' standards, for he was disemboweled
and left to bleed to death. This went on for several days.
Prisoners were brought in front of me and executed by
shooting, by bayoneting, or by beheading. The blood used
to flow into my cell, and huge rats used to swarm in after
it.
Night after night I was questioned by the Japanese,
questioned for the information which they hoped to get out
of me. But now I was in a red haze of pain, continual pain,
day and night, and I hoped that they would just execute
me and get it over. Then after ten days, which seemed like
a hundred, I was told I was going to be shot unless I gave
all the information which the Japanese wanted. The officers
told me that they were sick of me, that my attitude was
an insult to the Emperor. Still I declined to say anything.
So I was taken back to my cell, and flung in through the
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