Hide Article Text (OCR)
Doolittle FlierThought RescueWas Jap Prank \By Capt. George BarrEditor’s note: In the second and concluding installment of his story,Barr tens' of his rescue from Javanese horror, which had followed his capture after he participated in the historic Tokyo raid of April is,1942.NEW YORK, June 1 (INS)-^The hour I spent in the Japanese straight-jacket sapped my Physical strength and was a terrific blow at what little morale I had left. But, more important than such incidents in wearing down the strength and resistance of the Doolittle was the constant hunger and the sense of hopelessness.Our meals consisted of a bowl of watery rice and a cup of unsweetened tea. That was our diet virtually every day for three years. After awhile you get so you do not want to eat, and yet you are ravenously hungry. I have a Jift frame,6 feet, 2 inches, covered by wu pounds, but after nearly three years of starvation and beatings I was down to a bundle of bones.Becomes DelirousThe bed was a thick blanket thrown on the floor. There were no chairs, benches or tables. Early in 1944, we induced the Jap commandant to give us a few books to read. They were mostly books of Catholic writers about the Catholic religion. We read them so avidly that we memorized whole passages.When the Japs moved us from Nanking to a prison at Pekin a few weeks before our liberation I was in a bad way. Half the time I was delirious. When the Army parachuters dropped down on our Pekin prison and liberated us. I did not understand what had happened.There were many other prisoners in the Pekin jail, including several Englishmen, and they took me to a hotel and cared for me. But I did not know them and I was convinced that the whole thing was a Jap trick; that this was some new formof torture. . , .I was too weak and ipo sick toreturn with Nielsen. Hite and Des-hazer. so I remained in the Calcutta hospital among people I did not know.* Knew No One•“Why don’t I see someone I know?” I asked myself. “This is a trick, another Jap trick,” a voice in my mind warned. “Pretty soon you'll see you are still a prisoner.That was the aftermath, the ultimate horror, of three years in solitary confinement and of starvationand beatings. , „It was not until I stepped off aplane at Clinton. Iowa, to enter the Schick General Hospital there that I finally admitted I was free. And I made the admission then because I saw my sister and a girl I knew.But I'd like to go back to Shanghai some day to see the civic center where Hallmark. Farrow and Spatz were executed. I’d like to see how the MacArthur policies are work-inff I get back to Japan I’d like to see Remedios, the Japanese-Portu-guese interpreter who was pleasant to us In Shanghai. He worked forthe Japs, but he told us the UnitedStates would win the war.And I d like to see Misaki. the friendly Jap guard, and thank him for that cigarette he gave .me.I don’t want revenge. I wantpeace.
Newspaper Details
Southern Germany Stars and Stripes
Altdorf, Bavaria, DE
Sun, Jun 02, 1946
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Dylan S.
USA 20 Sep 2016
Other Publications Near Altdorf, Bavaria
Southern Germany Stars and Stripes
