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Father GISEL. In our particular part of the camp, which was slightly on a higher level than the rest of the camp, there was very little pressure. During the 5 or 6 months at first there was very little pressure. The pressure would come on for about 2 or 3 hours at night, say from 10 o'clock until 1 or 2 o'clock in the morning, and then the pressure would go off again. To get water for drinking purposes or washing purposes, for washing our clothes, we had to walk about half a mile and carry it in buckets up the hill, back to the barracks. That lasted until the American engineers in the camp finally convinced the Japanese that their water system-and the water system was installed by the Japanese-did not work for certain reasons, and the American engineers convinced the Japanese that they could remedy those conditions, and then the supply of water did improve.

It was due to that lack of water, of course, that the sanitation facilities were so poor, and so many people caught dysentery.

The CHAIRMAN. I have been able to procure a copy of the book which was loaned us earlier in the day by Mrs. Fairman, and there are some interesting as well as pathetic instances referred to in the book. One of the more interesting and concerning which I assume that you have had some part, was the drawing up of 10 commandments for Santo Tomas, and I notice among the 10 commandments there is this one: "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's shanty or his rooming space."

Father, we appreciate very much your attendance here today. We realize that you have come with no other thought than to portray to this committee the conditions which you feel are properly a subject of legislation.

Mr. HALE. Could I ask one question? I just wanted to inquire, what were your cooking facilities?

Father GISEL. We had these large cast iron pots, about 3 feet round, and they were set in concrete, and we had about eight of those, and an opening below them for a wood fire. There was a very inadequate chimney system, and in fact we had to pull the whole thing apart. It was constructed by the Japanese, and Dr. Eaton, the professor of engineering at the University of the Philippines, rebuilt the whole stove.

The only facilities were for boiling rice, or making up a thin stew if we had a small amount of meat or vegetables. We had corn-meal mush usually for breakfast, and then the rice steamed for the evening, or when it was very inadequate we mixed it with water and had a very, very watery solution.

The CHAIRMAN. Did you have an adequate supply of fuel?

Father GISEL. Well, the wood had to be cut down. We were on the grounds of the University of the Philippines' School of Forestry, and there were many fine trees on the mountainside, and we had to send up a group of internees to the mountainside to cut down these trees, and carry them on their shoulders down to the kitchen, and then split them up. Of course, another crew of internees would stoke the fires, and another crew would do the cooking, and another crew would dish out the food-being very careful to dish out the same amount to each

one.

But all of that work had to be done of course by the internees.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you know how much food in terms of calories the guards got at the time?

Father GISEL. I have no idea of that, because you see, they ate in their own mess and we never saw how much they got.

The CHAIRMAN. They probably got a good deal less than we would ordinarily think adequate in this country?

Father GISEL. I think so, yes. In general, orientals eat, I would say, less food than is eaten in this country per capita.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much.

Father GISEL. Thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Next, we will hear from Mrs. Cookingham.

STATEMENT OF MRS. JAMES C. COOKINGHAM

Mrs. COOKINGHAM. I am Mrs. James C. Cookingham, and this is Mr. Cookingham. Due to Mr. Cookingham's ill health, I wonder if you will allow me to speak for him?

The CHAIRMAN. Certainly, and you both may be seated.
Will you give your address?

Mrs. COOKINGHAM. Mr. Cookingham and I are living at 3455 Whitney Avenue, Mount Carmel, Conn., which is a suburb of New Haven, Conn. As to my occupation, I guess I am a housewife, and I am trying very hard to help my husband to recover. I think perhaps the question has come to your minds, gentlemen, why were two people our age in the Philippines when war was declared. Mr. Cookingham and I (especially Mr. Cookingham), were known as Oldtimers. Mr. Cookingham had been there thirty-odd years. His work was very necessary and he enjoyed it.

When war seemed imminent, my husband went to the High Commissioner's Office in the Philippines, which was comparable to a United States Embassy, and talked in an unofficial capacity with two of the aids of the United States High Commissioner. He said that he and I were not of an age where we could stand great hardships and asked for advice as to the situation. He was told unofficially no trouble in the Philippines was expected. In case of war with Japan, there might be a naval battle and a food blockade. There also might be trouble in the Dutch East Indies, but he could rest assured as to war in the Philippines.

Therefore, we stayed on, partially because of this information, and because Mr. Cookingham felt he ought to remain in his Bureau where he was needed. Some Filipinos in the Bureau had worked under him for more than 20 years. They were asking him such questions as— "If war should come to the Philippines, Mr. Cookingham, will you leave us?" This he could not do with a clear conscience.

Mr. Cookingham was one of those young engineers which our Government sent out to the Philippines, soon after the SpanishAmerican War, to help develop that country.

Mr. Cookingham graduated from Syracuse University in 1909 with the degree of civil engineer. In the same year, he passed a United States Civil Service examination for civil engineer, Philippine Service, and reported for duty at the Bureau of Public Works, in Manila, Philippine Islands, in July 1910.

Until the Japanese occupation of Manila, he held a responsible position with the Philippine Government, as Chief Designing Engineer and Assistant Director of the Bureau of Public Works. He was able to carry on his work with no physical handicap. In fact, after war was declared in December 1941, at the request of the United States Army, his Bureau was placed on a 24-hour working basis to aid in blueprinting army maps and the demolition of bridges ahead of the advancing Japanese troops. It seemed to be the irony of fate that he was to help demolish bridges that he had spent his life building. He also acted as liaison engineer between the Bureau of Public Works and the United States Army Engineering Corps. All this was done amidst daily bombings and the chaotic conditions of war. During the last year of internment, his eyesight became affected due to malnutrition and lack of proper food and vitamins. When he went to the hospital in Santo Tomas for help, he was told that the necessary vitamins had given out and there was no medication to arrest his condition.

I believe that Mr. Cookingham would have come through without a serious break in health, if it had not been for the further strain of seeing his shanty mate, Mr. Carroll C. Grinnell, Far East representative of the General Electric Co. and a close friend of many years, picked up by the Japanese Military Police (subsequently executed) and the strain of the Japanese investigation and questioning which we were forced to undergo in connection with Mr. Grinnell's arrest. Just 8 days afterward, Mr. Cookingham suffered a stroke, which the doctors agree was caused by malnutrition and the great strain of the affair with the military police. I might say that after Mr. Cookingham was taken ill, one of the doctors came to our little shanty which Mr. Grinnell and Mr. Cookingham and I occupied and said, "Mrs. Cookingham, there is only one thing that can help this man, and that you cannot give him. He must have extra food."

Early in 1944 we had been told by the Japanese Commandant that we must turn in all our American and Philippine funds, so we turned in $200 and we hid the rest in our shanty. Of course, when the Japanese were searching the shanty in connection with the apprehension of Mr. Grinnell, if they found the money, it would have been a very serious offense. We would no doubt have been taken to "santiago." They searched the shanty thoroughly. They even opened the box in which the money was hidden, but fortunately for us, they did not find the money.

If Mr. Cookingham's recovery depended on more food, I decided to spend the entire amount. We had heard that the United States troops had landed on Leyte. We knew we couldn't live much longer without supplementing the Japanese ration, so I gambled that the liberation would come within 30 days. I had money enough to buy extra food for 30 days. With the help of some of the American men, I secured 1 kilo of rice which is 210 pounds. I paid $130 American money for 210 pounds of rice. I paid $100 for 1 pound can of Klim powered milk and the other expenditures were comparable to those prices.

Most of our investments in the Philippines, as well as our personal property and possessions were lost. Doctors, of course, agree that Mr. Cookingham will never be able to work again.

After recent consultation with an eye specialist at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, we have found that his eyesight is permanently impaired and is gradually growing worse. Mr. Cookingham represents that group of internees who through no fault of their own have lost their earning power. Nothing can compensate for the years of starvation, neglect and maltreatment we suffered from the Japanese, the willful and calculated nature of which has been proven beyond a doubt. That Japanese assets, as proposed in this bill H. R. 1823, should be utilized to compensate even to a small degree for the physical disabilities which my husband and many others have suffered, and which have resulted in permanent inability to work for a living, is the least that our Government can do for Americans, who were war victims on American soil.

I was also a permanent resident of the Philippines, although I had not been there the 30 years that Mr. Cookingham had, and I was a prisoner of war with my husband for the entire 3 years and 1 month.

When the Japanese entered the city of Manila, they immediately began picking up Americans. They came to our comfortable home, one Japanese soldier and two Japanese civilians. All the soldier could say was, "Hullie up! Hullie up! Come quick." They told us that we could take with us what we could carry. We were immediately taken to Santo Tomas, where there were absolutely no facilities at that time for bathing, very few toilets and no arrangements for our sleeping.

My husband slept on a concrete floor along with four other men the first few nights. After that, we were allowed to request our servants to bring in mattresses from our home on which to sleep.

A few months prior to the Japanese occupation, I had had a serious injury to my right hand, and due to this injury, I developed acute neuritis. My hand, at one time, was absolutely fixed. As I was able to have the best of medical attention and treatments, my right hand was getting much better. However, after the Japanese came in, due to the nervous strain and lack of proper treatments, all improvement ceased and I now have a partially crippled right hand. In the group of women in Santo Tomas, where our bath was located, I had the unique distinction of being chosen as the thinnest woman bathing in that bath house. I weighed 75 pounds at that time.

During the liberation of Manila when the Japanese shelled Santo Tomas, though I was much more fortunate than some of my friends, I received a shrapnel fragment through my neck. This shrapnel fragment severed a nerve in my neck which affects my left arm, with the result that I am unable to raise the arm at the side and I have constant discomfort.

I have had X-rays within the last 3 or 4 weeks, and the doctors found that I have a bit of arthritis settling in my neck, left arm, elbow, and shoulder.

As one of the thousands living in Manila, whose health was permanently impaired by the privation imposed by the Japanese for more than 3 long years, I appeal for your support of this legislation, bill H. R. 1823, which would, in some measure, compensate for conditions which can never be remedied.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any questions, gentlemen?

We thank you very much for giving the committee the benefit of your testimony, and I assure you it will have our very serious consideration.

Next we will hear from Bernard Brooks.

STATEMENT OF BERNARD BROOKS, RENSSELAER POLYTECHNIQUE INSTITUTE, TROY, N. Y.

Mr. BROOKS. I, Bernard Brooks, a United States citizen, was born in the Philippine Islands and lived there all my life until after the liberation of our internment. My father worked for the Manila Electric Co., as an electrical engineer, and our home was in Manila. When war broke out and the Japanese entered Manila, our family, my brother, father, mother, and myself, were interned at the camp at Santo Tomas, Manila, for the next 3 years. My father was superintendent of the power plants for the Company.

I would like to mention in connection with the point raised earlier, whether or not the civilians in the Philippine Islands were warned to leave the islands, that on the contrary my father was requested to remain on. In November of 1941 we had planned to come back to this country, but my father was unofficially requested to stay on there because the Army was putting in new equipment in their different posts, and it required increased use of electricity, and my father was needed in his capacity as superintendent of the power plant. We were to leave in March, and between November and March the war broke out.

During the time that we were at Santo Tomas, my story is very much the same as everybody else's that you have heard up to now, so that I will not bother you with that. During that time our home and everything in it was thoroughly looted by the Japanese. They took the stand that anything Allied-owned in conquered territory became automatically the property of the Japanese Government.

During the last year of internment, we were exceedingly hungry, as you know, and my father grew weaker all of the time. He died on January 27, 1945, of malnutrition. That was just 1 week before the troops came in, and I think that perhaps the greatest tragedy of the lot was that he had planned on being alive when the troops came back, and he counted on it very much. He went through 3 years, and when he died with just a week to go, it hurt my mother very much, and hurt us, too.

Beginning about the 9th or 10th of October, 1944, and continuing through December 1944 the Japanese moved a large amount of military equipment into camp where it was stored under trees and on the playing field. This equipment, most of which was in crates, was, I believe, of a definite military nature. It included: about 6 small mountain guns about 50 mm. in size; a 50 mm. antitank gun; several old 75 mm. field guns; an airplane engine; 4 c. 36 inch searchlights; many auxiliary gas tanks for airplanes; many small oil drums.

The searchlights and the engine were still in camp when it was liberated by the American forces.

The internees protested to the Japanese over this but were told that everything in the Philippines was a military target and that the United States had never been officially informed that Santo Tomas was a prisoner-of-war camp.

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