We
discussed different ways in which to carry our belongings and food.
We had large safety pins and a shirt could be pinned up at the bottom
with the arms tied around the neck, thus forming a sack. Another
carrying device was to pin up the bottom of our heavy army coat and
put everything inside. This was the method which I chose.
Our biggest problem was to eat more food and try to build up our
strength for what lay ahead, while saving some food to take with us.
On the evening of January 28 we were told to get ready to leave. We
put on all the clothes we had and I put on the flannel pajamas over
my underwear, not knowing that it would be two Months before I took
them off again. We divided our remaining food as equally as possible
and sat around waiting for the order to march At the last minute they
gave each of us a full Red Cross parcel and we were sorry we had not
eaten more during the last few days. Just after midnight, at
approximately 12:30 am on January 29 we were ordered to leave. I put
on my overcoat carried the heavy Royal Air Force blanket and suddenly
realized what a heavy load I was carrying, the miserable conditions,
and that it had only begun.
Chapter 9 First March
There were about lO,OOO British and American POW's who gradually
left the compound. We formed a line down the road to the southwest
through the pine forest, in the cold, as the snow fell gently. We
looked back, Bruce and I, at our home for the past eight months.
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