For a few brief moments, the horrors of reality
vanished.
Because of the large number of prisoners from Texas and New Mexico,
"San Antonio Rose," "The Eyes of Texas," and "The Yellow Rose of
Texas" always received great applause.
Nearly every ambulatory prisoner placed his blanket out in front of
the stage in the afternoon to reserve a seat for the eight o'clock
performance. As soon as the music began, many Jap guards gathered
around to listen.
Favorite songs were: "Stardust," "Tennessee Waltz," "A Pretty Girl Is
Like a Melody," "Mood Indigo," "Deep Purple," "Sleepy Lagoon,"
"Sentimental Journey," "Fascination," "Tenderly," "Sweet and Lovely,"
"In My Solitude," and many others. A native song, "Planting Rice," was
popular. And once in a while, they even got away with "GOD BLESS
AMERICA!" of course without words.
In October of 1944, the orchestra was ordered to Japan on a prison
ship; the ship was unmarked, and after a few days out, was sunk by an
American submarine. All members of the orchestra were lost!
Stage Shows: The first few months of camp, we had so many captives
transferred to Group IV (the cemetery), that the future seemed very
bleak.
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