Roberts H. Jernigan Talks Of 21 Month In Jap Hands By Harry D. Hollingsworth
Americans in Japanese hands are receiving enough to eat to keep them alive, but little more. Roberts H. Jernigan, Jr., of Ahoskie, son of Mr. and Mrs. R. H. Jernigan, who was repatriated on the Swedish exchange ship Gripsholm, this month, related here this week.
Practically all of the Americans in Japanese camps are losing weight for the lack of enough food, but very few of them are receiving too little food to keep them alive, he said. A large part of the ability of the Americans to keep alive in the camps, however, is due to the internal management of the camps which has been placed in the Americans' hands, he revealed.
Jernigan spoke from his experiences after having been detained by the Japanese government for 21 months in Pekin, Weihsien and Tientsin following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.
"We knew back in 1940 that war between the United States and Japan was coming when the United States froze Japanese credits here and when the Japanese government froze the credits of the United States business houses in Japan," Jernigan said.
"But we didn't know and couldn't tell in China when or where the United States would be attacked. So we weren't surprised when a Japanese came into our home on the morning of December 8 and held up a poster written in English telling us what had happened and that we were prisoners of the Japanese government."
Jernigan said that he was kept a prisoner in his own house in Pekin until February 24, 1942, when he was moved to Tienstsin. During the time that he was kept in his own home, the Japanese government allowed him the use of one room. Officers and other officials were quartered in the remainder of his home, he said. His food was brought to him daily.
Other prisoners of the Japanese in Pekin were allowed the freedom of certain parts of the city, but Jernigan said that a guard at his front gate warned him that it would be better if he stayed in his home. "Never during my stay in Pekin or Tienstin was I allowed to get in a group of five or more people," Jernigan said. "A guard was always following me wherever I went."
From February 24, 1942, to March 28, 1943, Jernigan said he was kept prisoner in a camp about three-quarters of a mile long and about one-half a mile wide in Tientsin.
From Tienstin he was moved to Weihsien where approximately 1,800 Americans were quartered in what at one time had been an American university.
Americans, he said, were allowed to organize the camp internally. "The Japanese seemed surprised at our ability to operate the camp so efficiently," he said.
"We cleaned the place, built shower rooms, kitchens, repaired pipes, installed six pumps to supply our water and put the entire camp in good working order. We did all this without any aid whatsoever from the Japanese. We salvaged our building materials from what we could find in the camp.
"My job was director of the 20-bed hospital. Medical supervision was in a doctor's hands, but I acted as business manager. One of the hardest jobs I had to perform was dividing 25 gallons of milk --which we obtained daily from cows furnished us by the Japanese-- among 300 children.
"Diet of all the people in the camp lacked a sufficient supply of calcium. We were most disturbed about the children. We even saved the egg shells, ground them into small bits and sprinkled the food with the bits to get calcium," Jernigan revealed.
Few cooking utensils were furnished the camp, he said. "We had to cook our food always as stew in big pots which the Japanese gave us. We had stew every day. We did have plenty of bread and flour, though. In four ovens which we constructed, we cooked 500 loaves of bread daily."
Toilet facilities in the camp at Weihsein were about the poorest possible. "We had eight toilets for 1,000 men and the same number for about 800 women. They were of the crudest construction and offered one of our biggest problems," he stated.
The Americans received much food from the Chinese coolies by buying it over the wall at night, Jernigan said. "We entered the camp with a little money and the coolies would bring us eggs and other food and slip it to us for a good price. I have purchased as many as 2,000 eggs in one night in this way," he said. "The Japanese put up a charged barbed wire fence around the camp to keep the coolies from getting close to us, but the Chinese secured a long pole and vaulted over the fence."
It was around September 1 before Jernigan knew that he was to be included in the list of 355 people who were to be repatriated from the Tientsin camp.
"It took us three nights and four days to make an overnight trip from Tientsin to Shanghai where we met the Taru Maru," he said. "The Japanese packed us into fourth class coolie coaches. That was one of the worse trips I have ever made."
Jernigan said he lost 40 pounds during his 21-month stay in the hands of the Japanese, but that he regained it during the trip back to the United States.
He plans to enter the Marine Corps around February 1. [A picture of Mr. Jernigan accompanied the article] "The Gates County Index", Gatesville, [Gates County], N.C.
Wednesday, December 22, 1943
Return to Miscellaneous Menu