Diary Jack Lusby Burns - May - Sep -1943 - Part 3

Friday 21st May 1943.

Sweet buns this evening

managed to "cut" a high card

& get two buns - the lower

cutters only get 1½ each. The

office took their usual 500. A

lot of bridge, cribbage & Acey-Ducey

 tournaments have sprung

up of late and the "books" are

doing roaring trade. The chap

next to me had a birthday

today so I have a bit of bread

& rice & turned on morning

tea for him. I even managed

to procure a couple of candles.

Twas very chilly last night.

Had to put on another blanket

throughout the night. Hell, the meals

are lousy. New order - must have our 

black-out curtains drawn by

midnight

 

Sunday 12th September 1943

The concert this evening was

run by the Aussies (or the Diggers)

as we're are called) Damned

good show. Started to run a

bookkeeping class - was requested

to do so by a few lads & now

have a class of 6. Was taken to

town today in our "partie" of

bridge. Lost 12 smackers.

Put in as having NO money

for this quarter month. although am

owed about 60-70 Yen. Doughnuts

for the evening meal. These

little things sure taste lovely.

Lost a shaving brush down at

the wash rock. Left it for about 3

minutes & when I returned it had gone.

 

Saturday 22nd May 1943.

Decided to start air=raid

precautions in the next few

days. Instructions are being

given tonight & we can expect

a precautionary measure within

the next two - three days. Had

cheese for lunch (¼ of a Red Cross

Box for each person) Unfortunately 

had to give in ½ of a loaf of

bread for Major Wilson's birthday

tomorrow. All the other

Indep. Coy's officers did the Same

We also gave in our milk.

We should have a great party.

Went out today shovelling earth

Twas easy work. A blessed

rabbit nipped me in the

forearm this morning. Blow

him - Duty day - helps to occupy

the time a bit. Had a visit from the

Papal delegate today

 

Saturday 11th Septemberc1943

Just on tea time we experienced

a fairly severe earth tremor.

From the length of it I guess

that there must have been a

very severe shock somewhere.

Had the room duties for field 

day. The J.'s conducted a

typical J. Saturday aft.

inspection. The work squads

have been changed round

& more people have been

put onto the outside agriculture

squad. I don't see very much

voluntary work about this

show as it was promised

to be. The ranks above Major etc

do NOT do any work.

 

Sunday 23rd May 1943.

Pay day y'day received 25 Yen

cash. Major Wilson's b'day &

had the job of looking after

him till the b'day party

at morning tea. Hell it was a 

great spread. About 6

different kinds of sandwiches

plus a big cake. made of

bread. We brewed some wine

out of prunes. (No limit to the

scope of resourceful people).

The major was quite overcome

with the whole show - It made 

one forget the idea of prison life

for a 1/8 hour or so. Had a

couple of air raid precautionary

drills today. I have been assigned

to a fire extinguisher. The bath

water was nice & hot. Of late there

have been enforced black out

precautions - curtains being dragged

across the windows etc.

 

Friday 10th September 1943.

It is usual for me to get up

at least once a night to make

a trip to the "Heads". Great news

in the paper today re the

collapse of Italy. Some people

are now convinced that we 

shall be home out of here by Xmas. Hell

I hope that they are right

but deep down in my heart

I cant see this. The meals

have been picking up a

bit of late. The J.'s have

promised to issue us with

all our Red Cross goods that

they have collected out of our

parcels to date.

 

Monday 24th May 1943.

The final of the Aust. Bridge

Tourney was played. Bob Allen

& self who ran the "book"

managed to win about 20 Yen

on the whole match. Was weighed

& gained .1 of a kilogram over

last month's weighing (Now

weigh 66.7 kgs.) Got into a cribbage

tournament. am partnering

Doug. Millicon. Heaven knows

how we will fare? An order

came round this morning that

we had to deposit all of our

printed matter (inc. Tckt books)

with the J. offic. There are also

rumours of a big inspection.

Still time will tell. Now need

only 2 blankets of a night-time

am sleeping well of a night time now.

 

Thursday 9th September 1943.

Managed to buy a packet of

Roy cigs. for 20 Yen. Money

sure has No value here. We

were issued with a Gillette

razor blade yesterday. Some

more pills (Comvita Vits A.B.C & D)

were issued last by the canteen.

The 2nd lot within a week. A

rumour going round is that 

J.'s are trying to bleed us of

cash as they didnt pay us 

last month. I think that this

idea is silly. Have a lousy 

cold at the moment. Sure would

like some "Heenzo". Had to get up

twice last night. damn it. 

Managed to check out some more

sulpha - tablets.

 

 

Tuesday 25th May 1943.

Put in all my J. Text books & 

periodicals to the J. office

to be censored or something. The

J.'s are still withholding the

newspapers from us. Many

are the rumours etc. that are

flying around as to the reason

of their repeated absence. These

cigs are a problem. I'm out

already & we don't get any till

next Friday. Heck I would

love to receive a letter from

home - just to hear how things

are faring with them. 'Tis a

great pleasure to look forward

too. There are also rumours

of the arrival of new prisoners.

Killed 15 rabbits today for the

evening meal. But I'm still hungry.

 

Wednesday 8th September 1943

The committee of senior

officers were called down to see 

the J. Colonel. They asked about

the English & Aust mail. The J.

colonel said he knew someone

in Tokyo whom he was writing to

in regard to this. We asked for

more cigs. & food also more than 

5 blankets for winter plus coal

& underclothes - We were told

that there would be No fires 

this winter., 5 blankets only would be

issued, No u/clothes & as the J.

internee's in England only

rec'd little tobacco so should we.

In fact we were told to live less

materially & more spiritually?

The J. Col. also stated that he would

like to give us a good evening meal

but it was against regulations.

 

Wednesday 26th May 1943.

'Tis amazing some of the prices

that have been paid for bread

& food in this camp. eg.

Bread fetches    20 - 40 Yen

Coffee Tin          150 - 250  "

Butter   "            250 - 350  "

It gives one an idea as to

how much the Yen is valued at

considering, we only get 50 Yen

a month. Have entered into a

Crib tournament. - so far

won 1 game & lost 3. - Partnered

by Doug Millican. This evening

meal was absolutely lousy

just cabbage & water & rice.

Heck, would love some of the

Mater's cooking. Most of the lads

are getting a brown colour up

through sunbaking. Sure love learn to

waste time here. Beans for b.fast.

 

Tuesday 7th September 1943

Ron Currens birthday. J

turned on an apology of a morning

tea for him (Jam, milk & Rice)

whilst he had a lovely

chocolate "cake" for aft. tea

plus a packet of "Ray's" J

gave him some cigs. & soap.

The rabbits paid another

dividend for the pot for the

evening meal _∧(30 of them) they were served

in gravy. Everyone seems

extraordinarily optimistic re the

news although I feel this may

deep down in my heart I have

some misgivings as to when we

shall be out of here. The bugs

seem to be under control at last.

 

Thursday 27th May 1943.

The boys have started a game

of "crap" in our room. Tonight

just prior to muster, I lost 10

yen in as many seconds. It's

sure sudden death. Had

pretty good chow. Today is

Navy day. so the J's. turned

on pork soup for lunch &

fish patties for the evening

meal. Just because I did

some washing today & aired

my blankets. it started to rain

If everything goes O.K _∧ 5 years after

this war 4 of us are going

for a trip round the world

in a ketch owned by Ray

Tyrell. We are all up in the

air about the idea. Fish croquettes

for evening meal.

 

Monday 6th September 1943.

Stiil got the runs. 'Tis

damnable having to go twice

of a night-time - makes one

feel dashed tired during

the day. Issue of 1 cake

of toilet soap plus 1 cake 

of laundry soap. The latter to

be shared between 2 people.

Traded my share for 5 pkts.

of cigarettes as I am fairly

well off as regards this

item. The meals are on the

improve again - thank heavens

due to a representation to the J's.

by one of the senior officers -

Bless him. Have been playing

a bit of chess of late. But am

NOT so hot at this game.

 

Friday 28th May 1943

Had a surprise inspection today.

Had ¼ hour's warning & did

things hum in getting the place

cleaned up. It rained again

today so I was still unable

to dry my clothes. Rumour hath

it that a 3 point landing has

been made in Europe - one each

at Denmark, Holland & Turkey

Tis pretty lousy being without papers.

also the library is still closed

although over 200 new books are

still supposed to have come up

in. The mosquitoes are pretty

bad of an night now. I

understand that we get

mosquito nets at the end of this

month. Bridge & Cribbage

tournaments seem to be the order

of the day.

 

Sunday 5th September 1943

The news in the paper re a

landing on Italy sure reads

grand. Heck I hope we won't

be long in this place. A

rumour - "The J. doc. is

reported to have said th "You won't

be long in J. - America

becoming too strong." The concert 

this evening was put on by

the English - quite a good

show. Of a Sunday have  a

"partie" of bridge. We have

a damn good time. Had 200

tins of our Red Cross fish

for evening meal as well as

doughnuts. The J.'s. have

promised to issue to us all

of our food in the galley. There

is some stuff there from our 1st parcel

of November 1942.

 

Saturday 29th May 1943.

Read some of this diary over

with Teddy Goode this evening

& pow-wowed over old times

& times we hope to have in the

future. Received an issue

of 2 pencils from the J's supply

today. It appears as if the J.

Sgt. was getting rid of a surplus

in his books. The books

that we had turned into the 

J. office a few days ago were

returned to us although they

kept the periodicals & magazines

One chap put in an atlas &

received back the covers &

the index? Had a fairly

thorough preparatory inspection

this afternoon. We still don't

know when the big inspection

is to take place. The boys have

started a two up school so far lost 

15 Yen.

 

Saturday 4th September 1943

Field day - swabbed our

decks down - we aren't

troubled much by bugs of late

thank heaven. The J's have 

given sort of money orders to the

enlisted men from 1 Yen to 4 Yen

as "prizes" for the work they

have done. They are supposed

to be allowed to buy anything

except sake & cigarettes. Sort

of a sprat to catch or mackiral

The rice has had a 20% cut

but we have more soy beans

put in with the rice which

should even things up. Issue

of jam - 1 tin to 3½ men

clicked on some peach -

just missed out on the 

marmalade thank heaven.

 

 

Sunday 30th May 1943.

Doughnuts for the evening meal

(8½ each). Also, we received an

issue of burnt rice. This

supplements our ration quite a

lot. Had morning tea with

Ron Currens - we bought a loaf

of bread for 15 yen. Also, had

an issue of milk today - so kept

my rice & made a chocolate

pudding. Had to go out & clean the

grass from around the rabbit house

this aft. after our bath. This

evening just as the concert was

about to start the order came round

for all officers to fall out in the

front of the building. it turned

out that there was a spade missing

& we had to go & search for it. It

is still missing & we had NO 

concert. Feel tired tonight always _∧(do)

after a hot bath.

 

Friday 3rd September 1943

Burnt rice issued to our 

room. This seems to come

round now about every 3 weeks.

Feel a bit chronic in the

tummy today - think I'll be in

for a "rough" night. If so I will

be very tired tomorrow. "Black

out" precautions observed again

this evening- makes the room

very stuffy. Lost my shaving

brush down the sink hole

One of the things I've had from

Rabaul. So raked out my C.C.C.

Red Cross shaving brush.

Played a "ladders" match in the

aft. The Soups today have been

very watery. As I returned a

book 1 day late to the library, have

been fined 4 days.