They
would be going back to Bilibid in Manila.
Wata took the prisoners away in a truck supposedly to Bilibid.
We learned that the Japs took the prisoners to the local cemetery,
forced them to dig their own graves, and then bayoneted them, so they
fell in the graves. A most miserable night.
Dec. 24th: Sunday - About 0900 hours, we were marched down the street
barefooted and in rags to the railroad station. The Nips enjoyed
prodding and goading us especially in front of the Filipinos to show
the superiority of the yellow race. We arrived at a very badly damaged
station. There were ten
small freight cars with an engine at each end standing on a siding;
131 prisoners were crowded into and on top of each car. There was
barely room to stand in the cars; it was stifling; it was difficult to
breathe the hot air; in fact there wasn't enough air to breathe.
It took nearly eighteen hours to go the one hundred miles north to the
end of the line at San Fernando, La Union. On the way, I passed out.
When I came to, I found myself lying on the floor with prisoners
sitting on me. Fortunately I had found a crack in the floor through
which I could breathe.
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