A Song For Lisa Read Free Page A

your
assault.”
    “How many inmates are in the prison?” Jonathon asked.
    “Our best estimate is about seventy-five,” replied Sergeant
Hammer.
    “Seventy-five?” exclaimed Jonathon. “I was led to believe
that it would be a couple of dozen. We couldn’t get that many on the boat even
if we made it back before the invasion! Why did you recommend that this mission
be substituted for our previous one?”
    “The family of one of my men brings supplies and vegetables
to the guard detachment. A short time ago the original Japanese army guards
were replaced by a fanatical Japanese naval infantry unit. They are much more
brutal and oppressive to the women inmates. The sick list and the death rate of
the inmates has doubled since the change in guards. Something else has been
taking place at an alarming rate,” Sergeant Hammer explained.
    “What are you trying to say?”
    “The inmates, young and old, are being beaten and raped by
members of the detachment. Every night we hear their cries and screams from our
overview position.”
    “My God!” cried Jonathon. A few of the men heard what the
Filipino scout had told Jonathon. The grim message circulated from man to man
galvanizing them into an avenging fighting unit. Now they understood the
urgency of their mission.
    “There’s something else, Lieutenant,” added Sergeant Hammer
in a strained voice. He stood up grasping his Springfield bolt action rifle
firmly. “The day that the Japanese detachment is informed of the American
invasion of Luzon, they will not hesitate to kill every one of the prisoners.
They want no live witnesses to the bestial behavior of the naval infantry.
Massacring prisoners, military as well as civilian, has been a trademark of the
Japanese throughout the Islands.”
    “Lead the way, Sergeant Hammer,” ordered Jonathon with a
stern set to his jaw. “Let’s get Operation Snapdragon underway!”
     

Chapter Two
    Evening shadows descended on the small sugar cane plantation
known as Los Tomas. A cool sea breeze swept the surrounding jungle vegetation
depositing its moist cleansing aroma throughout the confines of the barn and
nearby horse stable. Occasionally the fetid stench of the prison compound was
displaced by the cool trade winds, but when the night air became still and the
winds shifted their direction, the dry putrid smells from the open latrine pits
were overpowering. Unwashed human bodies added another dimension to the
offensive foulness that permeated the two structures where the women prisoners
were detained. They spent each day in the field planting, cultivating, and
harvesting sugar cane and sugar beets. They were allowed a small area for the
production of vegetables, which never reached maturity before the starving
inmates consumed every stem as soon as it sprouted from the rich soil. Fear and
despair hung over the prison camp. Death was commonplace.
    During the earlier months of the war the inmates were
treated poorly, but a strong element of hope permeated the atmosphere. The
Caucasian female prisoners were secretaries, office workers, nurses, domestic
workers, nannies, and school teachers. Many were married to consulate and
government officials and military officers. Immediately upon surrendering they
were separated from the men.
    That first year, they were treated relatively well by the
Japanese commandant who followed the covenants of the Geneva Convention. Good
judgment was used in handling the female prisoners on the assumption that they
may be returned to the Allies in exchange for Japanese officials arrested in
Washington and London at the beginning of the war. Red Cross packages were
regularly distributed. The inmates ate as well as the compound guards. There
was a chance that they would be repatriated, but efforts to accomplish an
exchange were feeble and infrequent.
    The Japanese guard replacement took place in late 1942 when
conditions began to deteriorate. Food became scarce even though the prisoners
had cultivated