Diary Jack Lusby Burns - July - Nov -1942 - Part 4

Saturday 12^th September 1942.
"Time & tide waiteth for no man" had
to bet. that today was Friday needless 
to say, I lost..
Changed the time of our Shorthand
period from 1030 to 0730 hrs.
Thus now have every morning free.
The building of houses proceeds apace,
Some of the chaps have produced dashed
good designs. some of them (Lieut H. Green)
are even doing the various rooms in
perspective.
Just about busted all my pay for all of
this month - bought a "slide rule" for
9.60 yen.
Played a fair bit of "acey-ducey"
won as many as I lost.
Decided to invest in a 10 yen
photograph of all the officers in
this camp - They include American
English Dutch & Aussies - also
a 30 sen photo of the group of 4
that I was in
Sunday 13^th September 1942.
Attended church service at 1000 hrs..
in which the padre regaled the yanks
on pidgin English.
The concert at night 1800 hrs was an
extra show!
The breakfast. was a mixture of boiled
grass. - Everybody moaned.
Played bridge in the morning won
by about 2000.
At last, bug powder has arrived,
they sprinkled it around the cracks
etc. of the partitions. Let's hope we
get a goods nights rest tonight. Still
I think the only way to get rid of
these bugs is to burn the whole
damn building.
Slept most of the afternoon.
Had doughnuts for tea. - they were
alright - 2 per man.
There was a great deal of movement
at the Shrine across the way by
J. soldiers from early in the morning
practically to 1000 hrs.

Monday. 14^th September 1942.
The new men were released from quarantine
today - we received 4 of them in this room
thereby increasing our total to 22. As
I am last to number in the room when
the rolls. during muster, are checked and
as the numbering is done in Japanese - 
"Ni-Ju-ni" - seems quite a mouthful to say.
Signed a screed yesterday which was
circulated amongst the officers. It dealt
with:- Should a centralised control of
senior officers buy all things for us.
e.g. papers, buns apples etc. Tis a good
idea as we will be able to have
greater purchasing. power. I signed on the
"yea" side.
Was taken to town last night at bridge.
There was a great "shindy" on at the
J. school across the way, at the back
of the J. Shrine. All boys were stripped to
the waist and all girls wore gymnastic clothes
All marched in perfect co ordination - They
did it well was a very good sight to see.
Tuesday 15^th September 1942.
The new arrivals are all english, many
& varied are the tales they tell us
still they seem good eggs.
"Cut" shorthand today - got stuck
into a game of bridge & became
interested in it.
Decided to buy a photo composed of the
potr portraits of all the officers in
camp for 10 yen - also one of the
group of 4 (including my O.C. Capt. A.E Goode)
in which I was taken.
Dashed if I can beat my C.O. Major J.E.
Wilson at Acey Ducey.
Had the haircut cut and tried to
carve a yunk out of my face whilst
shaving with a J. blade.
Owing to the increase in numbers in
our room we have another table. & our
messing is split up. 10 mess one
end on 1 table and 12 mess at the other
on 2 tables.
The weather promises to become cold.
Hope we soon get more blankets.

Wednesday 16^th September 1942.
A new rule came in today. 0 Now, we
are prohibited from:-
(a) "Sleeping in" between reveille 0530
& Muster 0600 hrs.
(b) "Walking" after muster 2000 hrs & "Lights
Outs" 2100 hrs.
(c) Each person must sleep in the space
allotted them in any room.
Thus A. & B. affect my activities somewhat.
and C. affects all those poor blighters
who wander off to another room with
their blankets to get away from the
bugs.
Missed out on bridge last night.
Kilner had a touch of malaria &
Stirling  "     "     "        "   flu.
Played pontoon with some of the new
English arrivals - managed to keep the
old head above water.
Tried dominoes with Lieut. Bowring
Sure took me to learn.
This morning fooled around in Charlie Todds
room - golly we had some fun.
Thursday 17^th September 1942.
Put in for a new lecture - Engineering
Knowledge of this subject ought to be fairly
[[?]].
Was introduced to pontoon by some of
the new arrivals - Found out that
one was a Melbournite from Balwyn.
Managed to preserve the family fortunes.
After tea put in a canteen list for canteen
requirements (2 bowls toothpaste, 1 [[bic?]] refills
& 1 attaché case 26") The last item is
a new item costing 26 yen, ½ a month's
pay - Whew.
Taken to town last night at bridge.
Supposed to go for a walk yesterday this afternoon
at 1600 hrs but it rained & it was
declared off..
Hell, 'twas cold last night. Slept in the
nude under on the blanket - woke up cold -
hopped under the blanket - still cold so
got dressed & still shivered.
Have developed a cold in the chest.
Quite a few lads are down with Malaria.
 

Friday 18^th September 1942.
Developed a ruddy cold - damn the
thing. Seems to be in the chest and
taken on the whole there are an
abundance of colds in this camp. 'Tis
rather heartening to wake up in the
night & hear various people coughing
in different keys.
With Bill Spears as partner went to
town on 'Spider' Wilde & 'Woodie' in
bridge.
Shorthand period has been changed
from 1030 hrs to 0730 hrs. - an
excellent idea as the latter time enables
us to use the lecture room. We definitely
weren't wanted in the other room. The
atmosphere in that room was
particularly chill — ?
The soap position is becoming pretty
acute. One of our room Lieut. Bussell
went to the Sick Bay - Malaria - another
- Lieut. [[?]] Irwin should be there. If
this ^semi cold weather suddenly breaks I'm
afraid that there will be quite a few malaria
cases.
Saturday 19^th September. 1942.
Bug cleaning or hunting day. - all of us
attacked some of the fixtures and poured
boiling water down other "cracks" we
could not bare. Must have killed
thousands of the blighters. Unfortunately,
about 3 minutes after we had started the
people from underneath came up in a
great state saying that water was
coming through & asking us to desist.
— did we NOT on your life.
Issued with 3 extra blankets - I guess that
we'll soon be needing them as winter is
now on its way.
Even the tables and benches are absolutely
riddled with bugs. - The best method of
treatment is to take the water in the
ash tray which is impregnated with
cigarette butts & ash - it seems to knock the
bugs O.K.
We get two Japanese daily newspapers here.
the Osaka Marnichi & the Tokyo Times - the
latter is the conservative paper & is based
on the London Times. 

Sunday 20th September 1942.
Rained all day so practically
played bridge all the time. Had
two very interesting games. espec. with
Lt. Spears V'S. Gunner Borth & Charlie Todd.
Managed to cotton onto 10 pkts. cigs.
They are a great help. Gave four
packets away. Two to Englishmen, one
to Bob Allen & repaid one packet
to Charlie Todd.
Cannot seem to keep cigarette holders.
They just seem to disappear - guess I
leave them around the place.
Our room received an "Acey - Ducey"
set complete from the Yankee commander
(Cmdr. Keene) - damned nice of him.
Missed Church this morning.
"Acey - ducey' seems to gained in
favour in this room. I believe it
is a Yankee game introduced by
the Navy. Sure have a blinkin'
cold just about run out of h'chiefs.
Had doughnuts last night.
Monday 21st September 1942.
Had a preliminary inspection xx today
- one of the most thorough we've had
since we've been here. Boy it sure
caused a stir. It lasted from
1500 - 1630 hrs. - thus causing me
to miss Spanish. Tomorrow we
are going to have the real thing
(as today's was to see that
everything was in ship-shape
order) for the new general in charge
of this camp.
Rained solidly all day. - there was
water everywhere outside practically
2-6 ins water covered the front
outside the building.
Felt very home sick last night.
How I hope that Mother & father know
where I am. God bless them.
My new Lecture of Engineering is
on Monday & Wednesday's at 1500 hrs.
Sort of infringes on Spanish.
Word of rumour has come through that
the rice stores were flooded out.? 

Tuesday 22^nd September 1942.
Whacko - pay day. Received 50 yen
in cash, was deducted 2.00 yen & 14.65 15.34
Yen for cobbler and food resp. the
balance 18.15 17.66 was banked. At
last the General's visit is over.
We all lined up outside at 1410 hrs.
in two lines - after the general had
walked in front of us we went back
to our rooms - then later the general
came through, inspecting. - then we
lined up again in a compact mass
and the general read us his address
then his instructions. This two
"speeches" were passed on by means of
our interpreter - later on a copy of
the speech was given to each room
leader. - As a rhetoric effort, it was
damned good.
Managed to cop onto 3 packs of
cards - The 10 pkts of fags I received on
Sunday have all gone — gave 5 pkts away.
Our lectures the 2 two days have been
upset on account of the inspections. - Now life
can return to normal.
Wednesday 23^rd September 1942.
Paid 5 yen to Lieut Shiling for our
room levy. i.e. to pay for toilet paper,
buns (if any) orderlies papers etc. and
another 5 yen as a levy made on
all officers for a central fund — to pay
for papers orderlies etc. So now it
looks as if one has to pay - 5 yen to the
room, 3-5 yen to the central committee & 3
yen to your wash orderly i.e. a total of 11-13
yen permanent expenditure per month.
Sleeping very well these cold nights.
Dame rumour hath been on the loose
again - the seems to think that some of
us may be going to Nagasaki to do some
work. I Quién Sabe?
There are 6 men in the "peter" for what I
don't know.
There are thousands of rats in this
building. - they hold a "derby" in the
ceiling each night after lights out.
Most of us have now cut down on the
showers and & ^ now have one about every 2-3 days
and NOT every day. 

Thursday 24th September 1942.
Went for a super hike today. - it was 

expected to be 12 miles in all. - Gosh
were my muscles sore when we
finished I bet I sleep like a "log"
tonight - we went South to the next
town - unfortunately we didn't see it
but turned off about a mile short. We
had two rests on the ways. At the second
halt, we stopped near a creek. - practically
all who could raise the energy bathed
their feet. The hike lasted from 1300 -
1630 hrs. Made your blood boil a bit to
see the smiles of derision on some of the
civilians - but I guess we can't expect
much being as we are?
Canteen opened yesterday today - all lessons were
stopped in the morning so as to let
people purchase. They had quite a huge
stock. - managed to click onto a mirror to
replace the one I lost.
Weighed to day  73.1 Kgms. thus have lost 2/10 of a 
kilogram since I was last last weighed.
Thus have lost during the three times I was weighed
Friday 25^th September 1942.
Had a "short-arm" inspection at
1400 hrs. Was advised by the doctor
american to be circumcised when I
reach Australia. This is my
first ^short arm" since 1939. The shower isn't
very popular this weather. 'Tis lovely
and warm during the day whilst you
can sit in a sheltered spot in the
sun - but inside its nippy.
Slept like a log last night. Golly my calf
muscles are stiff after such a strenuous
walk especially when one is NOT
used to it.
Joined a "bridge" school run by an
English Commander (Cmdr Richardson)
at 1430 hrs each aft. - 8 lessons.
Received a soap issue - 1 cake of toiler
soap per man per month. Before we
received this I haven't washed in soap
for about 7 days.
The Warrant Officers here aren't paid any
money by the J.s. They receive an issue of 30 pkts
fags, 1 tooth brush, 1 razor blade, 1 pkt tooth powder &
cake soap per month - 

Saturday 26^th September 1942.
Contract bridge has taken this room
by storm. The class being run here
seems to have gather impetus and
every one is talking honours.
Some high ranking J officers came
through at lunch time. Sort of caught
us with our pants down. I was
lying on my bed whilst the majority
were eating.
Some of the lads got into :trouble" by
the J. duty officer who happened to be
the camp doctor. He came through
on an unheralded inspection & caught
two lads in bed. (When an J. officer
comes through the first person seeing
him calls out "yeotskai" - attention - & the
people in the room must spring ^up & stand at
attention.) We did this but unfortunately
the doc. saw these men getting up from
bed. He asked them why they were there &
one said that he had a cold. - The doc. then
asked him why he didn't attend the morning
sick call. - Quite floored the chappie
Sunday 27^th September 1942.
Played bridge in the morning & the
afternoon. Sunday is the only day I let
myself go on bridge. - Managed to win
a few smokes. Invested in some
more clothes & u/pants from the canteen
yesterday. Now that winter is coming
on I guess colds will be pretty prevalent.
I have had two so far.
Had a good sleep just after lunch - from
1230 - 1430 hrs.
Attended the customary concert at night.
'Twas an "all 'darky' night - it was
extra. This hours entertainment
from 1800 - 1900 hrs. every Sunday
night is a very pleasant interlude - &
forms a very nice break.
Had 2 doughnuts again last night.
Twice we had onions fried in butter for a meal.
Where we got the butter is very funny - it appears
as if the J. gov't issued each farmer with ½ lb butter
& 1 loaf of bread - the farmers did NOT know how to
use it - some used it for their hair, some used it as grease
& some threw it away. One of the camp officials kindly
went around & collected this butter & presented it to us. Very
decent of him. 

Monday 28^th September 1942.
A Cribbage tournament is in full
swing between room 21 & 22. There
are about 44 officers in both of the rooms.
I managed to survive the first
round but fell on the second
round.
Missed my lecture on Business Adm.
today through getting stuck into a
game of cribbage.
One of the Yanks - Stirling - gave
me a packer of cigs - bloody decent
of him.
The Spanish Class has increased
by the addition of 2 new members.
There is a rumour of a cig. issue
on the 30^th - I hope it true.
The general committee - (to which we paid 5 yen)
decided to grant rooms of 7 or less 1 lot
of papers - (Tokyo Times & Osaka Marnichi) to
rooms of 12 or more 2 lots & to rooms
of 18 or more 3 lots of papers. So our
room gets the latter.
Tuesday 29^th September 1942.
Had another inspection today. - About
1500 hrs every one came abit a dither.
Dame Rumour spread her wings & a
report came around that a party of
60 J. officers were coming through
this camp armed with note books,
taking notes at the conclusion of their
visit a report was to be handed to
the authorities. We wondered what the
hell it was. Anyhow about 4 officers
only came & they inspected the senior p.o.w.
officers barracks only.
It caused the Spanish class to be
postponed.
Held an inaugural meeting last night
for accountancy. Finally, decided
for a number each of us to take a business
and talk on it. Should be dashed
interesting. Hope it goes off with a "bang."
as I don't like approaching people
with white-horse schemes. Lieut Carlson
Amer. Navy - the Bus. Admin. lecturer, seems
to be very interested. 

Wednesday 30^th September 1942.
It seems to have become warm again.
'Tis glorious sitting in the sun.
Crowds of us are taking sun baths.
Had my hair cropped today
I have only about ¼ to ½ inch of hair
on the top - have been chipped
quite a lot about it.
Learnt something about a slide rule
from Lieut. Dixon A.I.F. The thing cost
me about 9 yen.- it is really a marvellous
little instrument.
Have taken on German as a lecture.
- am doing this on ^every Saturday morning
at 1030 - 1130 hrs. Should know
something about it in a long time.
Still who knows how long we will
be here.?
Some of the lads dreamt about home last
night - I hope it is a good omen.
Bridge still proceeds apace in this
room. One funny incident took place. The
instructor was playing with three of the pupils.
when his partner trumped one of his
tricks. Whow!
Thursday 1^st October 1942.
Whacko reveille has been put
back ½ and hour - we now arise
at 0600 hrs instead of 0530 hrs. The
extra half hour is very pleasant.
The librarian has been on my
tracks for keeping a book longer
than the prescribed time.
The whole trouble is now that I never
seem to be able to settle down to a
book. Although we have some excellent
books in the library - practically
all presented from the American
ambassador.
We received an issue of cigarettes this
morning- by the time I repaid the
two packets I owed plus sundry
smokes, I had finished the lot by
evening. We received 4 packets.
I still owe one packet of fags to Charlie
Todd.
The crowd went for a short walk this
afternoon at 1300 hrs. - as our costing lesson
was then we had it forwarded to 1230. Decided
to change Costing to Wednesday.