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THE BATTALION
MONDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1978
Page 3
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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.”
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-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. You
can’t know what side you are on if the
captain keeps changing uniforms.”
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