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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 30, 1978)
foaten with bayonets and starved THE BATTALION MONDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1978 Page 3 Aggie recalls days in POW camp | lHOUSE OF lionaireT. I criminal wth trying s ' n ce has ; from his II test the eulant of ^e spent tailed his ! spree in 1 a family VO :al, La, Ashore aboard, njuries. "them. ■80 foot ccident apports in their ere se aled in m ; were awler. rs in a were ■e still ope of so was y per- lorean nnini- jrday. OTied, >e the travel . The Immi- iarts of exican a state at has s U.S. (order ce xjme 1 the erhi, ;xico <end had ; the low- □fits ition near new as 75 ed in said that bowl ople ling- after sh ran, 3wd The id a iths ting ✓er- ngs -10 Kim Tyf Xiz y Will'® 1 -' ^id m rnie Aitta _ Steve h* ^ers, endleM" Scud® -y, Di® a per, ) l g Grah® J Cun® ■rv Wel<* profit 4 ^ studo 11 mwspoP 11 J,e edW By MARK PERRIN Battalion Reporter “Sometimes it would have been sierto die than to keep living. ” John Scott Coleman, a 1927 aduate of Texas A&M University, called his experience as a captive ol e Japanese in World War II in an terview here Saturday. Coleman was on campus for an au- graphing party for his book, “Ba- an and Beyond: Memories of an nerican POW,” which was pub- hed recently. The book describes s experiences following the panese invasion of the Philippines. Coleman was stationed on Bataan, island in the Philippines, when wps on the island surrendered to the Japanese Imperial Army April 9, 1942. Coleman said that no reinforce ments had reached the island and the men on Bataan had been without food for the four days before the sur render. The troops then made the “Bataan Death March” to O’Donnell Prison Camp in the Philippines. Thousands At one time during the march, he said he went without food for 13 consecutive days. of prisoners died en route. At one time during the march, he said he went without food for 13 con secutive days. Coleman also said that he was beaten until unconscious and bayoneted by the Japanese, and that the prisoners were never given med ical treatment. After reaching the prison camp, Coleman said he and the rest of the men were shipped to Japan, He said it took them 19 days to reach Japan, and that every day some of the pris oners aboard the ship died. “They would take the bodies and tie a weight onto each one and slide them off the ship. This was to keep the bodies from being spotted by Americans,” he said. When they got to Japan, Coleman said they were sent to labor camps. He said they were forced to work in steel mills and other plants, and pro duced things such as motor blocks and barrels for the Japanese army. At first, he said, the prisoners worked seven days a week. Later that was cut to six days a week. The plants were operated around the He said they got a serving of rice, about as much as a Vienna sausage can would hold, three times a day. clock, but Coleman said his detail only worked during the day. Coleman said that he and the rest of the men at the labor camps were given very little food a day. Usually, the only food they received was rice. He said they got a serving of rice, about as much as a Vienna sausage can would hold, three times a day. At first, they only were fed twice a day. Sometimes, instead of rice, Cole man said they were given soup made from sweet potato vines. Coleman was a prisoner for a total of three years and five months. He said his good physical condition and ability to control his temper enabled him to survive. The men in the prison camps were never given any information about the war, Coleman said, but that dur ing the time he was at the labor camp, he was confident that the United States would win. On Sept. 8, 1945, Coleman and the men in the labor camps were released. Looking back on the ex perience, he simply says that it was “Service to his country.” B I I I I II L. Can Broker any American made car straight from Detroit & save you hundreds, possibly thousands! You can probably buy a ’79 model cheaper than what you paid for a ’78! YOUR SUPERMARKET FOR NEW AMERICAN CARS CALL 822-7139 OR 846-2526 AL GUTIERREZ - BROKER ALSO OWNER OF HOUSE OF BOOTS & HOUSE OF TIRES. CALL 822-7139 8:30-5:30 P.M. (CORNER OF COULTER & TEXAS AVE -I onzalez says American politics suffering; eelings of apathy and despair are prevalent United Press International |SAN ANTONIO — Rep. Henry Gonzalez, D-Texas, says Ameri- ps are suffering from a sense of pelessness and are trying to unter with a self-centered philos- ihy. It has been said that right now jierica is in the political dol- ums,” Gonzalez told the Com- unications Workers of America, iday. “That’s a good word, because means a period of inactivity, tlessness or depression. There is a kind of despair abroad the land today; there is a feeling of ipelessness, a feeling that nothing iu do really helps, a feeling that ivernment can’t or won’t help; it’s ery man, woman and child for mself. Gonzalez said the general feeling apathy and despair was not con- led to the government, because ganized labor also had suffered a (back on confidence it could help Ive problems of inflation. In the last two years the A EL IO has lost a half million in dues- ying members — while at the time the number of people working increased by 6 million,” he said. “A little over 30 years ago one- third of all wage earners were mem bers of lalror unions. Today only one worker out of four is a union member.” The veteran congressman criticized pressures brought on law makers by the so-called “one-issue organizations” that refuse to com promise on issues such as the Panama Canal treaties, gun control and abortion. He said the president and leaders of Congress are not giv ing the people clear-cut alternatives. “Because the political party struc ture of Congress is weak, no one can argue that he is following a party pol icy on this or that issue,” Gonzalez said. “Members are left to the mercy of these rapidly growing, ever-more demanding single issue groups.” On the presidency, Gonzalez said: T think first of all, we should expect clear leadership from those who are supposed to be entrusted with providing leadership. A president with fuzzy positions, or one who re- verses field, simply leaves everyone frustrated and confused. What’s worse, public opinion has no chance to form one way or another, because there are no clearly spelled-out al ternatives for people to think about, argue and decide upon. “We can credit Jimmy Carter with one thing: he has always said that he would sooner or later produce a bal anced federal budget. He has on the other hand never said how he would accomplish this.” Gonzalez credited Carter with proposing a “genuine tax reform” to remedy a situation in which he said individual taxpayers today pay a larger share of the federal tax bill than corporations. He said in 1969, corporations paid about 42 percent as much tax as individuals did, but today they are paying less than one- third as much as individuals. “But this Congress gutted any real tax reform,” Gonzalez said. “Will the president stand clearly by his reform call, or will he sign the bill anyhow — even though it means that 80 percent of us will pay more taxes than before? Where is that clear and consistent voice? “I think it would make a real dif ference if it were there. We would at least know what to argue about; we would at least know whether we are on the winning or losing side. 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