Several prisoners
were placed in "Sweat Boxes" in the middle of the field-on one meal
per day: Lt. Col. (Chaplain) Alfred Oliver, Lt. Col. Jack Schwartz,
Capt. (Chaplain) Bob Taylor, Col. Mack Rogers, Threatt, and Rex Aton.
Almost three months later, on August 5th, the Japanese doctor (Isha)
came to me and said, "Come with me!" We walked out in the field to the
sweat boxes, specially to one containing Chaplain Oliver; it was about
three by three by five feet, too small to sit up-too short to lie down
without curling up. Isha seemed to speak English quite well. I was
surprised when he seemed to be rather friendly and told me: "I like
American music, especially 'Old Black Joe,' and 'Way Down upon the
Suwannee River,'" adding, "you must not speak to Col. Oliver. You
examine him, and then tell me the diagnosis and prognosis."
I found the chaplain semiconscious with large bruises on the back of
his neck. I told Isha, "He has a fractured neck. He will die if we
leave him here; he must be taken to the hospital." Isha said "OK! You
take him to hospital!"
Chaplain Oliver had married Judy and me at the Walter Reed Hospital
Chapel about six years before.
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