World War, 1939-1945 -- Personal narratives, American; World War, 1939-1945 -- Prisoners and prisons, German
That summer was hot and the summer clothes were a sight to see. Paul
Duncan from my room pitched on a softball team and all he were was a
small piece of cloth in front tied around the waist with a
shoestring. We used to play catch a lot for exercise And to keep
busy. Sometimes we played a different game of softball which was
probably thought up by someone in camp as I had never heard of it
before. When you got a hit you could run either way, to first or
third base, but you had to continue in that direction all the way
around. Sometimes there would be six men on base and it made for a
lot of activity when there was a hit!
One day I leaned across the table to lift a pitcher of water and that
was the first time my back went out. The pain was so severe and I
didn't know what had happened. I didn't go outside to the hospital
but saw the two pilots who had had two years of chiropractor
schooling before being drafted. They were our medical team. There
were no supplies, other than aspirin and band aids. They did help me
with massage and they decided it was caused by the jolt when my
parachute had opened. When this happened, several times while in
prison camp, I would lay on my stomach on a bench with my arms around
under the bench and sweat. After a couple of hours this way I could
get up and move around some. A couple of times I could not get out
for morning roll call count and a guard was sent in to check on me.
This is the only medical problem I had in camp, except for hunger
and, later, dysentery.
We fixed a place between the barracks to play volleyball and played
occasionally. We also made a boxing ring and got the padded gloves
from the Red Cross. We didn't allow any fighting in camp so when
there was an argument, those involved were scheduled for three one
minute rounds in the ring. We would gather around for these events
and usually no one got hurt, but this was the way to settle
arguments. Neil Ullo was a very serious type and did a lot of
studying. Being in another room he made friends with a different
group and spent less time with Bruce and I. We did everything
together and I did learn a little from Ullo about the stars. We would
go outside after dark and he would point out the primary stars. I
remember learning about Orion a formation of Seven stars and I still
look for it in the night sky today. I always think of Ullo and that
time in our lives when I see it.
We had one Black pilot in camp and one day we were at the main gate
watching another group of now prisoners being brought into camp and
he saw another Black pilot he had flown with. They were only about
100 feet away so we could talk to them as they went by. The fellow
was so excited to see his friend he yelled "What did you do with my
clothes?" and the new man replied "I sold them!" To this day I can
still hear them saying that in their deep southern drawl.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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