The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 9, 1995 Page: 4 of 18
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4A — The Cuffon Record —
. August 9, 1995
• Bosque County Man Was
POW3Vi Years
go over the hill. It has te go through
or under You hod to moke fills, to put
the trucks on top of, or make cuts for
the train to go through We used picks
end shovels. There were no power
took*
“We’d take a long bamboo pole,* Sim-
mers said, make a carrying pocket, load
about 200 pounds of dirt, and a pris-
oner get on each end of the pole and
haul the material up the hills and dump
it.
According to Daws' book, prisoners
were subject to a hard day's work un-
der boot and whip, and expended con-
siderable energy. Unfortunately, the
Japanese food scale for a prisoner do-
ing hard labor amounted to less than
40 percent of the American peacetime
ration.
“For a nonworking enlisted man,
meaning a man too sick to work, the
scale was slow starvation," wrote Daws
At one American camp there were dif-
ferent-sized scoops for workers and non-
workers, “and. the non-workers’ wa^
known as the Death Dipper "
“Getting hold of extra food became
an obsession.”
Summers told the story about a Bur-
mese man who got a job with the Japa-
nese helping prisoners on the railway
The man would haul things up and
down the railway for the Japanese with
his bull and cart.
“He was seemingly successful. He
wasn't too skinny, getting enough to
eat and everything.
“There wasn't a camp anywhere that
would hold you We would occasionally
get out of camp, at the risk of losing
our lives We got out one night and
killed that bull and hacked it up into
little bits, gave everybody a piece of
meat drank the blood Anyway, we
stole the engine out of his bullcart.
“He was ..real hurt That was his
life's possession. But we had eaten it.
He'd be sitting in his cart when we
went to work. He’d be sitting in his
cart, begging for food. Next day wed
be coming along thefe and he'd be lay-
ing down wanting food. Three or four
more days, he was dead We took his
cart, put stuff around it, and set it on
fire, burnt him
“Now that seems unreal...doesn't
seem possible...you wouldn’t think I
would even tell it, but that's how low
down we became We were just abso-
lutely horrible. A guy would get sick
and we'd say, ‘I wish to hell you'd die
and let me have your rice ration.’ We
were horrible. We were absolutely hor-
rible. When it really gof bad, you
wouldn’t help a guy We were desper-
ate, caged animals."
Summers told of the horrors of wet
beriberi, how the sick would retain
water, with various parts of the body
severely swelling up.
The Japs would have a blitz. They’d
come in and make eight or 10 more
sick people go to work." If a prisoner
had wet beriberi, other prisoners would
mash on the edema. “You could make
grotesque shapes. We'd take a guy and
make him have all kinds of bubbles on
his head." This, Summers said, would
sicken the Japanese and sometimes
give that particular stricken prisoner
a temporary reprieve.
“A Japanese could stand you at at-
tention and slap your face, and you had
to stand there and take it. You just
look cross-eyed at some silly little Jap
and you'd get it. Your eyes are the
mirror of your soul. They just look you
in the eye and if they don’t like what
they see, they’d'knock your head off."
Guards came in all temperaments,
noted Summers. “Some were sadistic.
They’d bash you, kick you, knock your
heads off. Some guards were worse than
others. We had a Buff Head, Liver Laps,
Brown Bomber, John Dillinger.
Dillinger was a homosexual. He shot
an Australian one night. We felt sure
the Aussie wouldn’t allow his pleasure,
so the Jap shot him.
“We killed Dillinger. I personally did
not, but I watched. I was the lookout.
We buried him in the prison, in Saigon
after the railway was built, in the flood
plain, about four-feet deep, and made
sure we kept fresh sand on him. That
was in the spring of ’45."
Summers said that records were kept
within the camp, in secret, of the pris-
oners who died and what it appeared
they died of. After the war, these
records were turned over to the Army
so that appropriate notification to fami-
lies could be made.
“After Jay and I both came out of
the jungles at Kanchanaburi (in Thai-
land), the Japanese were getting a con-
tingent together to take to Japan. I
told Jay I would try to go to Japan if
he would stay in the jungle. I didn’t
feel like I could make it one more mon-
soon season in the jungle. They took
us by train to Bangkok, down to Phnom
Penh, then we got on a riverboat and
went down the Mae Khlong River to
Saigon, were loaded on a ship there,
and the Jap captain ran us all off. Our
^.Continued From Page 3A
PW comandant couldn’t make has take
us. So they cut off about 200 Ameri-
cans and left them la Saigon and all
the Australians that yrere in this Jap
bout were taken back by train to
Bangkok and buck down to Singapore
They put them on a ship in Singapore
That ship was sunk in June of '44
Roughly 40 men survived out of the
2,000“
Summers said that the ship had been
unmarked as holding PGWs and was
bombed by the Allies Overall, he and
his fellow prisoners, during the course
of the war, had “been bombed by the
Americans and by everybody else "
During his incarceration, Summers
said his family was not informed of his
being a POW Family members did
write letters, dispatched through the
Red Cross, in hopes that if he was alive,
the letters were somehow reach him
Of the letters he did receive, Sum-
mers said he burned them
“1 was a smoker at the time. I would
cut the letters into little squares of
paper to use to smoke cigarettes with
But it was spring of '45 before they
released any of these letters to us
When I was in Saigon I got six or eight
letters out of all those that had been
mailed This was toward the end of the
war, and my family still did not know
if I was alive "
Summers said that prisoners were
able to get tobaccy bv trading things
“It w as quite a big racket We became
really good thieves 1 had a hard time
breaking myself of that habit. I’d steal
things when I got back."
He said a doctor told him he would
have to stop stealing things, or he
would ultimately have to go to jail.
“That was good advice. I damn sure
wouldn't w ant to go to jail after what
I’d been through, so I quit."
Upon arriving at Saigon, and though
weak and sick, he was forced to work
on the docks, loading and unloading
ships The Allied planes nearly got him
as the bombings never let up. He was
here when the Japanese surrendered.
Although the Vietnam conflict was
to be years in coming, Summers spent
about a year-and-a-half there, in vari-
ous prisons, where bombings kept the
skies lit up
“When the Americans came in there,
they’d scare the daylights out bf you
Best air shows ever seen I’ve seen dive
bombers hit us at daylight. They’d hit
us at daylight and stay over us bomb-
ing and strafing until dark Man! They
worked us over. You’d just lay down
and take it. The Japs were just as
afraid as we were.”
Summers learned of the victory over
Japan from certain Japanese guards.
“They didn't know what the atomic
bomb was. They told us when they
dropped both bombs; but the handwrit-
ing was on the wall. Heck, we were
going right straight to Japan, and there
were Marines out there. They knew
that it was over."
The former POW says that prisoners
kept up with the progress of the war
through secret radios that were con-
cealed in the camps. Daws writes in
his book that “hand-built receivers by
the number were sealed into the bot-
tom half of canteens, the top half full
of water." Other hiding places were in
false-bottomed chairs and tables and
bed frames, plus a number of other
ingenious hollows.
Summers was in Saigon when the
Japanese surrendered and remembers
pamphlets floating down inside the
camp walls. The war is over. We’ll be
there. Be careful."
When Allied planes finally came into
camp, Summers helped put the men
on stretchers on board, then he was
the first one on after that. Numb, ema-
ciated, confused, unable to eat, they
set out for home. He says he wanted to
cry, but he couldn’t do that either.
They stopped in Calcutta, India for
a long hospital stay. Summers was in
the shower when he heard, “Mark!" It
was his brother, Jay, who had made
it, too.
As Margaret Summers put it, “What
a reunion — two bones hugging each
other to pieces."
When Mark got back to the United
States, his “girl" (not married) was
waiting for him — Margaret, no less.
Some of the men’s wives had married
again, so Mark says he lucked out.
“Jess Stanbrow was a prisoner with
us," said Summers, “Sergeant
Stanbrow. He and I both went to the
University of Texas when the war was
over. He majored in physics. He was a
brilliant, brilliant guy. He had run
radios all during our stay in the prison/"'
canrp. He later became NATO's top so-
nar man and is living up in Connecti-
cut right now.
“You’d think nothing should impress
you as much and stay on your mind
for 50 years. A great trauma That’s
what it was,” he said, contemplatively
of his life as a POW.
Summers reflected that he tries not
State Representative
Arlene Wohlgemuth
invites you to
A Town Hall Meeting
Topic: Bosque River
Various state agencies and interest groups will
present an overview of the past, present, and
future efforts to improve the Bosque River.
7:00 p.m. Tuesday, August 15, 1995
Meridian Civic Center
Meridian, Texas
JAY and MARK SUMMERS.
1941, Chico (Wise County), Taxas
to dwell on the experience, but he
knows that it stays there, “somewhere
in the back of my mind
“Used to, for no reason at all, I’d
just start crying Just so depressed,
so...." A pause That’s why I had to
stop teaching school. When I was
younger, it was all right It was all
right. But I got to where I couldn't
deal with people at all I was the prin-
cipal of the biggest junior high school
in Fort Worth, and finally I just de-
cided to check it to them, when I was
56"
He says that what he learned from
his POW experience is that “life’s aw-
fully damn short and it’s no bed of
roses. This, I guess, is about all that
anybody ever learns from that. It
doesn't matter how much money you
make or whatever, as long as you do
things that make you happy.”
Summers explained that once in
America, it took many years to erase
the negative impact starvation had on
his body.
“When I started at U.T. I weighed
l40 pounds The heaviest I got in 10
years was to 177 pounds. I weighed
210 when I was taken prisoneryand I
weigh 210 right now It took me 10
years to get back on tracki You see,
your whole digestive system changes
They put me in Walter Reed Hospital
in D.C., flew me there from India. I
went for a week and never went to the
mess hall. Couldn’t eat Now that’s
strange, isn't it9 The food was just too
rich, or something.
“My brother and I both graduated
from the University of Texas. I then
taught in Fort Worth. I taught math,
and science, then later became an as-
sistant principal, and then principal.”
Summers explained that a class-ac-
tion lawsuit is pending against the
Japanese government to benefit former
POWs and their families. However, the
Japanese, he says, refuse to admit that
atrocities occurred during World War
II.
Regarding his feelings for the Japa-
nese, Summers says that life’s too short
to carry deep grudges.
“I don’t carry a lot of hatred. When
I was a principal I would have Japa-
nese people visiting this country in my
.home, I would talk with them. Those
that were my age and had experience
in war...they had a hell of a war. God
almighty, we killed those people like..”
A pause as he shook his head. They
paid the price for starting it. Now, they
didn’t have to treat us the way they
did. They could have given us some
medicine and they could have given us
some food, but they paid the price.”
Although the Japanese in the POW
camps did not readily sacrifice them-
selves like the kamikazes, Summers
illustrated a type of chant they would
go into prior to battle.
“They'd work themselves up into a
frenzy." He shook his head. “We never
had anything like that in our army.
To them, it was like a religious frenzy.
The war was a religion to them.
Bushida was a warrior code, part of
their religious experience."
Summers has in recent years jour-
neyed back to the land where "a life’s
experience* unfokfed during those dark
days of the war He has KroUed across
the Bridge so the River Kwai, which
has become a substantial tourist at-
traction. and he has placed wreaths on
memorials that honor his comrades
“I’ve been in London an Remem-
brance Day, Armistice, Nov 11,* he
said
They honored all their Changi pris-
oners, all their prisoners of the Japa-
nese. I told a guy in the hotel that I
had been in a Changi prison and there
weren't many Americans Gosh! He got
me and took me down there and the
Queen, and Phillip, and the Queen
Mother and the King of Norway were
there. He said, ‘You sit right up here,’
so 1 got a front-line seat for it. They
were real, real nice. Australians do the
same thing.”
Summers received numerous deco-
rations upon the end of the war.
“I don’t even know exactly what
medals I have," he said modestly, but
he named a few that came readily to
mind.
After the war, “I came back, got
married, started at the University of
Texas, and I never did go to many re-
unions or anything — anything they
had for us. I just emersed myself in
school."
Mark and Margaret Summers have
two grown children. Steven is a me-
chanical engineer with Mobil Oil in
Qutar and daughter Leslie is a house-
wife in Fort Worth with two children.
Margaret Summers says that her and
Mark's years in Bosque County have
been good ones She noted that, as a
matter of record, "no Japanese prod-
ucts are in any of the ex-POWs' homes."
And, as if in answer to the starvation
that impacted them as youthful pris-
oners, “they all have full deep freez-
ers, like to buy groceries, and cook!"
It’s been 50 years since the victory
over Japan — 50 years since the end
of some of the most horrible atrocities
known to man. But Margaret says
when Mark's face looks sad, eyes va-
cant, and body as rigid as a tomb, she
knows he is still very much a prisoner
of the Japanese. She is quick to add
that whatever his sufferings and expe-
riences were 50 years ago, “Mark is
still a very sweet man.”
Legion Announces
August Calendar
CLIFTON — The local Ameri-
can Legion post has announced its
August calendar, beginning with
a meeting of the Sons of Ameri-
can Legion on Aug. 7.
The post and Auxiliary meet-
ing is planned for Aug. 10, begin-
ning at 7:30 p.m. in the post home.
Ladies are asked to bring a salad,
vegetable, or dessert.
On Aug. 12, a benefit dance for
the medical expenses incurred by
Annette Hoffman is scheduled to
begin at 8 p m. at Womack Hall.
Music will be provided by Jimmy
Schmidt and the Dutchmen.
On Aug. 21, the VA hospital
party is scheduled. The month will
conclude with a planning meet-
ing in the post home on Aug. 24.
An Auxiliary dinner will not be
held in August, but is scheduled
for September.
DAVIDSON
CHIROPRACTIC
HEALTH CENTER
Tommy Davidson, DC, PhD
Mon 8 5 30 Wed 8 12 Tue Thur 1 7
Gatesville 817 865 6817
Tubs & Thurs 8 a m to 12 noQn
Valley Mills_817 932 6105
Ernest J. Erickson, D.D.S.
FAMILY PRACTICE
ORTHODONTICS
COSMETICS & IMPLANT DENTISTRY
HANDPIECES HEAT STERILIZED
OFFICE: (817) 675-8301 * 102 S. AVE. T
HOME: (817) 675-3911 CLIFTON, TX 76634
For Peace
Of Mind...
Ask about our prefinancing and pre-
arranging of funerals. We welcome the
opportunity to answer all your questions.
We are licensed by the State
of Texas to sell pre-need
_funeral arrangements._■
Clifton Funeral Home
675-8611
MARK’* "black baldies" post in front of tha bam at the Summers
farm in Bosque County.
LAYING WREATH - At Kanchanabur, Thailand, P.W. Cemetery, Mark
Summers, representing the 131st Field Artillery, and Joe Gans, repre-
senting the USS Houston, lay a wreath. In 1981, a plane of ex-POWs -
members of the Lost Battalion and USS Houston, which was sunk in the
Battle of Java in the Sundae Straits, made a journey back to old prison
camp sites.
Stephanie Webb, from Waco and granddaughterof Dr. & Mrs. Phil
Webb of Clifton, was the July winner of a limited edition,
Herschberger Cartoonist T-Shirt. Her name was drawn from hun-
dreds of entrants on Monday. Jerrry and Peggy invite you to regis-
ter for another T-Shirt give-away for the month of August.
meridian
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I .-I
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Smith, W. Leon. The Clifton Record (Clifton, Tex.), Vol. 100, No. 32, Ed. 1 Wednesday, August 9, 1995, newspaper, August 9, 1995; Clifton, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth788608/m1/4/: accessed April 23, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nellie Pederson Civic Library.