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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 16, 1973)
I Own :e r nk :as !o. y HE BATTALION Friday, February 16, 1973 College Station, Texas Page 3 Bryan Man Recalls WW11 POW Experience By TED BORISKIE Staff Writer The stories of POW releases irovide more than just news to BobBoriskie; they provide mem- iries. Boriskie, 4208 Maywood, Bry an, spent BMi years in a Japanese irisoner of war camp during World War II. He was captured on May 6, 1942 along with about 400 other men on Fort Hughes, a small aland a half mile off the coast of Corregidor in the Philippines, fheprisoners were sent to Bilibid irison in Manila and later as- ligned to work on the docks load- ng Japanese ships. "The Filipinos were constantly rying to prove they were still m our side,” he said. “Once they iad a Japanese Appreciation Day eaturing Tojo in a parade down he middle of Manila. We were [iventhe day off and had to stand n a side street while the parade assed. There was a Filipino band marching behind Tojo and when they passed us the bandleader gave a command for ‘eyes right’ and the band broke into ‘Stars and Stripes Forever.’ Fortunately for the band, the Japanese never figured out what it all meant.” On July 6, 1944 the POWs were transferred to camps on the Jap anese mainland. “Over 800 of us made the trip in a compartment that was 60 feet by 40 feet,” he said. “Six men died and we had to take turns sitting down. “The trip showed us the ef fectiveness of the Allied sub marine blockade of Japan. We left the Philippines in 28 cargo ships with seven destroyers. When we finally reached Japan there were seven cargo ships and two destroyers left. None of the 13 American officers from my camp made it. Over half the POWs died on the trip.” In Japan the prisoners were split up and sent to several dif ferent camps, Boriskie was sent to a camp outside Kamioka, a small mining town on the island of Honshu. He shared the camp with 600 other prisoners, a mix ture of American, Dutch Java nese and Burmese. “We worked in lead mines along with a number of Korean slave laborers,” said Boriskie. “We depended on the Koreans for all of our war news. The Japanese guards believed that Japan had landed on the United States’ west coast and the only thing keeping them from moving east was the Rocky Mountains. We knew were were winning the war, though.” The men were working in the mines one morning when a tre mendous roar came barreling through the mountains. “We thought a munitions fac tory had blown up but the next day one of the Koreans told us a single bomb had been dropped Ten Free Courses Offered The Memorial Student Center louneil and Directorate is offer- ng 10 programs in its Free Uni- ersity series. "Adventure In Auto Economy” iill be presented by Dr. Robert letcher on Thursdays at 7 and :15 p.m. in Room 101 of the iechanical Engineering Shops. Pastor Hubert Beck will head programs, “Audio-Visual Workshop of Life” at the Uni- ersity Lutheran Student Center Wsdays at 7:30 p.m. and “The ife That Changed The World” n Mondays at 7:30 p.m. in Room 95-A of the Zachry Engineering Center. “English Debating Style” will be studied by Lincoln Union Mon days at 7:30 p.m. in Room 302 of the Library. Dr. James H. Copp will lead a study of “Ethnic and Race Re lations” on Tuesdays at 8 p.m. in Room 129 of Bolton Hall. Gertrud Adam will teach “Gour met Cooking” Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in the Lone Star Gas Blue Flame Room. FOR BEST RESULTS TRY BATTALION CLASSIFIED CAMPUS TONITE MIDNITE FUCK’ 12:00 P. M. DONT STAY HOME ... STAY DUMB! CAMRUS'I NOW SHOWING p.m. - 3:35 - 5:30 - 7:15 9:15 John Wayne In TRAIN ROBBERS” (PG) fcdiolz Skyway Twin £ 5:Y ) 5-’.Vo B . AST SCREEN AT 6:45 P. M. 2 Walt Disney Hits “NAPOLEON & SAMANTHA” At 8:25 p. m. “SCANDELOUS JOHN” (G) fEST SCREEN AT 6:45 P. M. “ONLY KILL THEIR MASTERS” At 8:30 p. m. “DIRTYDOZEN” (PG) mmis TONITE AT 6:45 P. M. “M*A*S*H” & FRENCH CONNECTION” QUEEN STARTS TODAY 4:30 - 7:00 - 9:15 P. M. SATURDAY 12:00 P.M. - 2:25 - 4:30 - 7:00 - 9:15 wmrnwwMmm TODAY 1:30 - 3:30 - 5:30 - 7:30 - 9:30 Robert Red ford In “JEREMIAH JOHNSON” (PG) “Human Sociobiology” will be taught by Dr. Johannes Vanover- beek Wednesdays at 8 p.m. in Room 146 of the Physics Building. “Speech Impediments” will be discussed by Jo Ann Reeves and Jim Robinette on Wednesdays at 8 p.m. The group will meet at 304 Borderbrook. Dr. J. H. Hinojosa will study “Urban Planning.” Call 845-1046 for time and place. on Hiroshima, destroying the city and killing 80,000 people. We tried to figure out what kind of bomb it was and decided it must have been compressed liquid oxygen. “After that the guards really became brutal. Some of them had families on Hiroshima and Naga saki. “We figured the Allied forces were close to landing. The guards had told us that when the Allies landed, all prisoners would be killed, but we wanted them to come anyway. “One day the guards told us that it was a Japanese holiday and we wouldn’t have to work. We didn’t work for the next two days and then the Japanese com mander told us that Japan had come to terms with the Allies and that we were to remain under Japanese guard until the Allies arrived. When we awoke the next morning, the Japanese were gone. I guess they just went home. “The next day an American plane flew over and dropped a message saying that supplies would be dropped the next day. “On the following day a B29 flew over and dropped supplies, mostly clothing and C-rations. We couldn’t believe the size of the plane. The largest plane any of us had seen was a B15. “The villagers, who had previ ously hated us, spat on us and thrown bedpans on us, were now terrified. They brought us all the supplies that had undershot or overshot us, including single sticks of gum. “The next day a convoy of Army trucks came to take us home. There was no cheering, no real expressions of joy. We couldn’t adjust to the thought of going home. We just couldn’t believe it. “We were taken to Yokohama where they had these big pots of stew waiting for us. We had lived on two bowls of rice a day for so long our s to m a c h s were shrunken, so we couldn’t eat much. After a rice diet, the stew was so rich we would eat a bowl of it, throw up, go back for an other bowl, eat it and throw up again. “After starving for so long, food was so important we would butter pieces of bread and carry them around in our pockets. “The next day we left Yoko hama for Guam where we stayed a day for medical examinations. I found that I had gone from the 184 pounds I had weighed when I was captured down to 112. “We put in at Oakland and were taken directly to the naval hospital there. Everyone had some degree of beri-beri. After a couple of weeks at Oakland we were moved to hospitals near our home towns.” Boriskie was sent to the Cor pus Christ! naval hospital where he stayed for a month before he was awarded 120 days leave. “The hardest thing to adjust to was the changes that took place while we were gone,” said Boriskie. “Shirley Temple and Judy Garland had grown up, De anna Durbin wasn’t popular and we had a President none of us had ever heard of. “My mother had saved all the wartime issues of Life Magazine so I spent my first couple of months home reading Life. “When I was in the hospital at Corpus Christi, a group of enter tainers came to the hospital. I walked into this room where some guy was singing. Somebody told me his name was Frank Sinatra and I asked ‘Who’s he?’ They said girls were crazy about him and I couldn’t believe it. He was as skinny as we were.” Ponderosa Specials • Friday Evening Fish Fry — $2.00 • Sunday Noon Lunch $2.00 • Special Weekend Rates for Parents & Students Call 846-5794 Ponderosa Motor Inn AJLLEN Oldsmobile Cadillac SALES - SERVICE “Where satisfaction is standard equipment” 2401 Texas Ave. 823-8002 Watch & Jewelry Repair Engraving Diamonds Set In Senior Rings Seiko & Bulova Watches Embrey’s Jewelry “The Friendly Store” North Gate 846-5816 heritage THE heritage EMPLOYMENT AGENCY 1706 Texas Ave. • Room 205 • Bryan, Texas 77801 713-822-9125 “SERVICE IS OUR PRODUCT” Take two years off Ails stunmer. With the Army ROTC Two Tear Program. Army ROTC usually takes four years of college. But you can do it in two. If, for example, you couldn’t take Army ROTC during your first two years of college. Or if you just didn’t want to take Army ROTC before. But now you recognize the benefits. You start the Two-Year Program by going to our six-week Basic Camp the summer following your sophomore year. Camp—a little classroom work; some challenging physical training—replaces the Basic Course you would have taken during your first two years of college. You’re well-paid for this six-week catch-up. Then, after camp, you complete your Advanced Course during your junior and senior years. Maybe you’ll decide that the chance to get real management experience earlier than most people will be worth a lot later on. , Maybe you can use the $100 per month subsistence allowance you will get for up to 10 months of each school year. Maybe qualifying for two careers simultaneously— military or civilian—is insurance against job uncertainties. Or, maybe the opportunity for an Army ROTC scholar ship is exciting. The Army ROTC Two-Year Program is another chance for a better career, through Army ROTC. Talk over the Two-Year Program with the Professor of Military Science at your school. Or use this coupon. There’s no obligation. Army ROTC. The more you look at it, the better it looks. / / / / Army ROTC / RO. Box 12703 / Philadelphia, PA 19134 /' Tell me more about the Army ROI C' Two-Year Program. / j/ / / j/ / y / City. -County- .Zip College you’re attending- COL 3-02-12