Fortunately, I was never tortured or severely beaten.  I was hit on the back with the flat of a sword one night and I saw many  beatings and many men put to death because someone in their group would try to escape.  They were hanged on a barb wire fence for several days, begging for mercy or water until they were dead or the Japanese finished them with a bayonet or sword. 

Many  men  were injured in accidents in the mines where they worked 14 hours a day.  Hot water was practically all they had to use for mangled hands.  Normally anyone would get antibiotics but all they could do was give these men pans of hot water to soak in and I saw more than one cured  that  way.  I became a  firm believer in using hot water for infections, cuts, etc. and it really does work. 

I was also able to take a small jar of a salve called Nixoderm through the prison camp. I found it very good for healing, especially jungle rot. There was one man I helped with jungle rot who had it so bad that his feet were full of big holes. 

Aug 6, 1945
Early on the morning of  August  6,  1945 a  Super fortress  flew  over Hiroshima.  In  seconds  the city was wiped out.  One hundred and fifty thousand people were dead or dying.  Three days  later, on August 9,1945, Nagasaki was hit.

Day 1226
On August 15, 1945 at 11 a.m., six men jumped from an airplane. Also dropped were equipment and supplies, parachuted to the ground.  They landed in Hoten compound.  The men who were dropped were an officer, paramedics, radio operators and American interpreters. Incidentally, not one had ever jumped from a plane before. 

The six OSS men were sent to gain the release of  the American prisoners in Mukden.  They were sent by Major Sen. Albert Wedemeyer from a base in China. They were taken to the Hoten headquarters building and here, the Japanese found that the war was over for them. 

The POWs were ecstatic!! 

This is it! Liberation!! 

No one slept that night. The halls were jammed with shouting men. We were ecstatic! Before this, the Japanese guards had patrolled through the barracks every hour on the hour waking us and asking, "Why had you run away?" This night none came.  Before, all lights were turned off at 9 p.m. - this night they stayed on all night. 

The next morning a voice over the loudspeaker asked everyone to assemble in the prison yard and there, on a raised platform  in the center, Colonel Ito surrendered his sword to General Parker.