We were given four wood fiber blankets apiece. There was no warmth in them. We were also issued a bowl, a cup without a handle, and later a paper towel. We were first crowded into the small compound while a mean faced Jap Army Officer read us the riot act. Sword and all he climbed up on top of a table with his interpreter who said, “He say that you are prisoner. You forfeit all rights when you surrender. You are property of Imperial Army. You must be obedient and diligent and have confidence in Imperial Army. Any breaking of rules will be severely punished. He say go now and work hard. Imperial Army will watch to see you do same.”
We were all given a number on a piece of paper which we wore pinned to the front of our clothing. We poured into the shelters and were allotted our places. There was a board shelf over each platform where we could pack our clothes. All goods given us were marked with the red star of the army. We were given a G-string, a piece of cheap cotton about eighteen inches by six, with a string to tie around the waist.
We had no knifes, spoons or forks. The Japs, like the Chinese, use chopsticks which are however shorter then the Chinese type. The Chinaman can perform gracefully, lifting his rice from the table to his mouth. The Japs hold the bowls up to their mouths and shovel in the rice. We gradually obtained or made ourselves eating utensils, a wooden spoon or a tin knife.
At first they fed us fairly well with rice, beans and sweet potatoes but as the American blockade tightened our meals got worse. Most of us put on a little weight but this only helped to conceal our true condition. Many men who had shown symptoms of beriberi in Hong Kong now suffered from hot foot. There was an epidemic of diarrhea caused by the change of diet and water. This was very weakening and it could be said that there was not a really fit man among the five hundred in the camp.
For a day or two we were allowed to stay around and clean up the enclosure and to attend lectures where we were supposed to learn the Japanese language. From then on all commands given by the NCO were to be in Japanese and we were told to learn Japanese numbers. The Jap language and numerals are not difficult to learn and we had already acquired much knowledge of them because if we disregarded or misunderstood a command we were beaten. We learned fast, so that when we paraded and numbered, one would hear, “YATAKI” (attention), “BANGÔ” (number). “ITCHI – NI – SAN – SHI – GO” (1,2,3,4,5 … etc.)
We had been here about four days when one cold morning we were fallen in and marched to work. Previously there had been a questionnaire, which we were required to answer and to fill in the trade or profession we had worked at in civil life.
We marched a mile and it was wet and rainy. Puddles of near freezing water lay all along the route. Most of us wore only rubber tennis shoes, part of the Hong Kong Garrison stores. Our feet were soaked and icy cold. We were marched to the Nipon Ko Kan shipyard4, through the big gate past the guards and into the ground floor of a building used as a storehouse. This floor was open on one side to the wind and rain. There were several civilian Japs awaiting us. Each wore an armband marked with a sign like our seven turned about; this was the Japanese ‘F’. We called them ”Foo Men”.
In this place tables and benches were set up marked with numbers for each section. We were supposed to find our section and ultimately did so. My group of thirteen, I discovered, was supposed to be painters. Eight of us had experience in painting and decorating. The rest consisted of a commercial artist, two farmers, a printer, which I guess they had confused with the word painter, and a truck driver.
