Through Fire and Through Water.

CHAPTER IV
IN ENEMY HANDS

When the men arrived to take us into custody that Monday they showed us a paper written in English that said we were being taken only for examination and that we would need only clothing and food for about three days. We believed them and left our suitcases and most of our things there in the apartment. We were taken by car to Rizal Stadium in south Manila where our names were recorded and our passports checked. Many other people were there , and we were all kept there until about noon, then we were again taken by car across the city to the campus of the University of Santo Tomas. The grounds of this university were surrounded by a wall of masonry except in front where there was a high, iron fence. There were three large buildings, the Main Building, the Education Building and the Seminary Building. The Spanish padres had been moved into the Seminary Building on the south, giving up the Main Building and the Education Building to internees, and as numbers increased the Gymnasium was also used. Besides these buildings there were two smaller wooden structures behind the Main Building, one of which was a dormitory and the other a high school. The dormitory was made into a camp hospital, and the high school became quarters for the women with small children.

When our group was crowded into the big Main Building there was at first much confusion and discomfort. Very few people had beds or bedding. We had none, An internee organization had been set up the day before with Mr. Earl Carrol, a Manila business man, as head, and they were doing their best to bring order from chaos. At first we slept on chairs, tables, benches or any furniture we might find in the former class rooms. Many people for want of a better place had to sleep on the hard cement floors. I borrowed a sheet to cover with at night and tried to keep my head under it, but I would unconsciously throw it off while asleep, therefore I was, a feast for the many mosquitoes before morning. These insects were now swarming in the city because all mosquito control ceased with the beginning of war.

During the first few days of internment we were allowed by the guards to approach the iron fence in the front of the campus and buy food through the bars from Philippinos outside. I had about forty pesos, which began to go very fast because we could not cook anything and could only buy bread and canned goods. Many of the people had servants outside who cooked and brought food to them each day. At that time there were always crowds of Philippinos in front of the iron fence, some curious, some calling greetings to friends, some weeping, and there were also those who would buy canned food, ice cream or other good things and give them away to the internees that happened to be near on the other side of the fence. But this state of affairs lasted only a few days. Thereafter we were roped back away from the fence, and all packages could only be sent in and delivered after inspection by the guards. I could no longer buy anything, besides my money was all gone. But to our surprise one day we received a fine package of canned goods from our Chinese friend, Mr. Loh, which he had been able to send in by a Catholic lay brother. Soon a coffee line was started in the camp in the mornings, the work of the Red Cross, and some food of a sort was being served of evenings to those who had no outside connections to send them food. However even with this we were pretty hungry and losing weight.

February 1st, 1942, a central kitchen was opened in the Main Building, where everyone might obtain two meals a day. The camp was now becoming fairly well organized, trash was cleaned up, weeds were cleared from grounds behind the buildings for planting a camp garden, internee plumbers were getting toilets and showers installed so that the lines were no longer so long. Buyers went out every day, accompanied by Japanese guards, to get food and supplies for the camp. All this time they continued to use only funds that had been left in Manila by the American Red Cross. It was several months before the Japanese gave the camp any allowance to buy food at all.

As time passed the camp grew in population, and many of our missionary friends were brought in. Then the Japanese announced that they would release all the missionaries who wished to live on the outside. On January 15th, we were all questioned. I was told I would be released, if I could get the Baptist Mission in Manila to stand good for my support. This I did not care to do, so I declined. We were able, however, to arrange with the departing missionaries for the care of our trunks and for our suitcases and bedding to be sent in to us. By this means we were all supplied with beds, mosquito nets, etc. I borrowed an army canvas cot on which I slept for the duration of internment.

The spring of 1942 was one of hopeful waiting. We felt sure our boys would be marching back soon. Radio broadcasts from "The Voice of Freedom" on Corregidor Island, copies of which were constantly smuggled into camp, kept promising that help was just around the corner. One night, January 28th, we were awakened by the roar of antiaircraft guns nearby, and in the night sky we heard the drone of planes, a sound that cheered us ever so much, but that was the last we saw of U. S. power for over two long years. No longer could our great nation protect us. No longer could our many friends help us. we were separated from home, country and friends, but "There is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother," and He was with us still; for "Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our lord." (Romans 8:38-39)