One of the most horrifying aspects of this march was that some of our American soldiers were even buried alive?
Yes. They were buried alive in slit trenches, which we used for bathroom facilities.

When the trenches were almost full, the Japanese would take a detail of prisoners to fill them up with dirt. On one occasion I saw a soldier who had diarrhea really bad and went to the bathroom. After he finished, he could barely get up. He slipped and fell backwards into the trench. The Japanese ordered the prisoner detail to cover him up right there, which they did. They had no choice!

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The Japanese were brutal and cruel to American soldiers?
I'll tell you, everything you have read or heard about those little yellow slant-eyes happened on the march! After the march was over, I didn't see any men buried alive.

What did the Japanese do with the bodies of soldiers who died or were killed along the way or in the concentration camps?
On the march, they took their dog tags off and left them along the roadside. I didn't actually see this, but found out about it later. It was probably the only humanitarian thing they did. As we walked along, we could see the bodies of decomposing American soldiers and Filipino women who had been mutilated and obviously raped. I'm sure the dogs in the area got fat! In the prison camps the bodies were cremated.

They could have taken the dog tags off for insensitive reasons. If the bodies were ever found, they couldn't be identified. Or, they could have kept them for identification purposes. Did you see the Japanese driving American-made vehicles, Fords, Chevrolets, and GMC's?
Yes. They would drive along the road in captured American equipment, hauling troops, etc. The trucks had our big star on them with US Army and USA insignias. They also had some captured P-40s. Later, when we got to Clark Field, some "quislings" or "turncoat" American soldiers from our camp helped the Japanese fix them up.

What were you feeling and thinking about as you were walking along?
Once the march started, everything just sort of froze in my mind. I was pretty numb the whole time. I didn't think and I didn't feel. I was like a robot and just kept moving. Other than daylight or dark, I lost all track of time. I had to blank everything out and focus straight ahead. I lived from day to day, in fact, hour by hour. The only thing I thought about was the moment and, "The good Lord willing, I'll get through the day."

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Prisoners "Just Keep Walking" -- U.S. Archive Photo

Were there any women on the march? (Jane)
No. There were quite a few of nurses working at field hospitals in the Philippines. They were imprisoned, but I don't know the circumstances. They might have been trucked or taken by ferry to Bilibid Prison or Santo Tomas University. There weren't any women marching in our group.

There were a number of marches. It wasn't just one long continuous march, right?
Yes. We weren't one close-knit group by any means. When the Japanese got a bunch together, say one hundred or so, that group would start walking. You might get the impression it was one long line, but it wasn't. One group would start and then a couple of days later, another one came along. When we got to our destination, Camp O'Donnell, soldiers kept coming in. For how long or how many had passed before and after us, I don't know. On the sixth day, we got to Balanga and were fed a second rice ball. From Balanga, we walked to San Fernando.

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