Diary Jack Lusby Burns - Jun - Aug 1945 - Part 1

J.L. Burns Lieut. A.I. F.

Hakodate No 4. Camp

Nisi- Asibitu No. 1916

Friday arrived Nisi-Asibitu
June 29  1915 New camp- evidently
old work camp- partitioning
just slapped up. Learnt that
it hadn't been started until       
we left Zentsuji. Issued with 5
blankets - very thin in an
undescribable  filthy condition.
Very disappointed in the state
of the camp
Sat June 30^th Soups very small
hardly any vegs.- Rice better
than Zentsuji. Straight white
rice with some kind of rhubarb
veg (which grows wild)  mixed
with rice. No tea or cigs.
However had "miso” issued with
hot water. No laundry arrangements
"Banjo" facilities filthy. Stinking
drains. Ordered sign parole.
Can see through hut. Feel as
if being screwed on rice.
Sunday July. 1^st Church  service
Music ( Len Fraser) at night. Cigs (3
per person) issued after evening
meal- daily occurrence.  Cleaned
camp area up. Saw other prisoners
(think English enlisted men.) working
in mine & saw mill outside
compound. Hot bath. plenty water
Monday July 2^nd Worked both
morning & afternoon on drains
& shifting rubbish. Felt very
tired.  Saw other prisoners who
also saw us. Look in good nick.
Rice issue very poor. Very
hungry when went to bed.
Tuesday July 3^rd Inspection by
the C.in C. of P.O.W. Camps in
the Hakodate area ( full Colonel.)
at 0820hrs. He gave us a speech
-take good care of your health
& intimated that we were to do
 

some agricultural work in the
fields outside. Afterwards the
interpreter interviewed each
one of us - We gave him the story
of being "starved" & broken promises
of the past. – said food conds.
bound to improve - new camp
& have to wait for supplies.
Hot bath at 1630 - 1800 now
appears, to be a daily institution
Hope  to get our cig. ration increased
to 5 a day

Wed. July 4^th Worked on some
"go - aheads". utterly bored 

in afternoon. Borrowed knife from guard.
Thurs July 5^th Js. measured
out 130 grams of rice-cooked
it up & put it in our rice
containers -xxx less than what we
have been getting so far evening
meal measured out 45 rations of
130 grams - smallest ration so far
thus we have been getting more
than our ration - So much for
bitching. Bought some strawberries
for 3 yen -  enough for 5/6 per
officer- tasted delicious
Friday July 6^th Remarks passed
which are serious now but
will appear humourous to us
later - about midday one chap
said - "I'm now going to prepare
for one of the 3 most important
things of the day"- We certainly
live from meal to meal. about
500 fish came in. We were given
the fish heads for the mornings
soup. One chap remarked - Fancy
enthusing about fish heads -
no use keeping a cat when we
get home. News came that 38
more officers were coming in.
Interpreter remarked - No blankets
& no rice. Rained all day, &
very cold. This is certainly a
barn of a place. you can
literally see through it.
 

Saturday July 7^th 1945 -38 new
officers came in - 35 Amer. (from
Wake Is. Trintsin Pekin Shanghai)
2 Brt & 1. N.Z.) -They came from
Shanghai- been 3 weeks on the journey
They are in excellent shape & they
swore when they saw our ration.
Now supposed to salute J. N.C'.O'.S..
There will be a protest over this.
Felt "shagged" after work xxx light rice
ration at night.
Sunday July 8^th  1945. Church service
"Showdown" with J.'s re the food.
Promised a 50 gram increase in
rice per day. Tried to get in touch
with the civilian manager of the
mine - sort of "shook" the commandant.
Boiled fish for supper  - lovely. Our
future seems clouded in mystery
as to whether or NO we work even
Feel very optimistic re the xxx
termination of the war.
 Monday July 9^th 1945.
Sewed booties cleaned undergrowth
Lent 2 Royal Scot lads some
clothes - Shanghai seems to have
been a paradise camp. Had
3/4 coffee can salt given me.
Tuesday 10^th July 45
went for 6 mile hike after "fungi"
for soup - Rumour of 500 grain
cereal ration from tomorrow
on. Officers started on agric.
project. Evidently 10 per
morn. & aft. Suffering a bit
from neuralgia Oh! for the
good things of life.
Another can of salt given me.
Wednesday 11^th July 45.
First occasion at work. On the
road side cutting bamboo
& clearing ground. Went onto
600 grams for evening meal.
Thursday 13^th July 45.
First game of bridge with the
Yanks- worked on new agric.
 

plot for in the aft - 2 hats of
strawberries (cost ¥3.50) for 15
officers- very tasty. Hot bath once
a day very acceptable - No
restrictions on coal Like Zentsuji.
One stove installed in each room
allowed to light after ^evening muster to
morning muster,  provided we
provide an "anchor watch"- the
Amers. lit theirs - we voted against
it through our association of
"anchor watchers" at Zentsuji.
Friday 13^th July '45  Everything
stopped in the town. The 3^rd, 13^th &
23^rd days of each month observed as
rest (Yasumē) days. The factories
closed down. We are to be allowed
to rest of a Sunday. The J's. sold
us 5 bags of dried fish ¥58.60
each. One grilled fish per person.
put on in the morning & one steamed
fish per person at night. Bones
came in - beautiful meat stew
for evening meal. "made” go - aheads
all day - Teeth troubling me.
 Rumour that we are to be allowed
to buy beans also The Yanks don't
care much for their fish-hence
the Aussies benefited. Wild
tobacco leaf brought in by some of
the officers from the agric  plot.
We intend to "use '' it for the pipe
3 cigs a day NO damn good.
Saturday 14^th July '45   - 50 word
P/card put into J. office for home
No mention to be made of conditions
of move, weather, weight, health.
Ruddy ridiculous. - feel as
if the war is dashed near
over. 5 fags from a J. for
making him some "go - aheads"
Bones in the soup- very tasty.
fence around compound adorned
with green wild tobacco leaves
drying- unfortunately haven't
seen sun for over a week.
air - raid alarms have been
sounding on & off all day.
must be a Task force around
 

Sunday 15^th July 1945
Literally "grazed" all day.
Fish in the morning & evening.
I acted as a human garbage
tin for the fish heads. First
concert after evening meal.
Consisted of community
singing. Had job of room
orderly.

Monday 16^th July 1945.
Extra fish are very nice.
have them steamed twice a
day - morning & evening.
worked on hill clearing
Tuesday 17^th July 1945.
Reading with meals. Teeth feel
a bit better - having slight
tummy trouble - NOT as bad
as some of the boys. Had
flour in the evenings soup.
 7 rabbits came into camp. Had
to sex them. Built hutches
for them. They are about 2 mths
old. Dug up area which we
cleared. Tools much better
here than Zentzuji. Issued
with "black-out" blinds & shades
for windows & lights. Bit of
excitement - The Yanks stove
set fire to the roof. Evidence
points to this camp being only
temporary. Aussies & Yanks
each divided into 4 groups
for emergency. Legs becoming
noticably thinner.  Losing
a lot of water through protein
of fish- Everyone optimistic
Wednesday 18^thJuly 1945
Filled in another screed
about the 4^th or 5^th of its
nature since coming to J.
Clicked on to some strawberries
on the "Hill" . Amers. out all
day collecting "Jukui". New
 

time - table came into effect- 3^rd
since we've been here.
Thursday 19^th July 1945.
Worked around camp. - shifted
out -building to make new guard
house. Shingle roof caught fire
over galley.
Friday 20th July 1945. This
morning ^(0230 hrs) after ar visit, to " Head"
developed very sore right side & kidney
stretching along hip bone to
testacles. Couldn't get comfy
in bed. - Stayed in bed for
muster - attended sick parade
given morphia tablets ,1 after each
meal through out day. About 1300
was sick & felt better ever
since. Couldn't straighten up
& was passing blood - must of
been a strain as I had a nasty
fall about 3 -4 days ago in the
bath- room, Only ate ½ ration
 rice all day. for the evening
meal. Wished I hadn't as I
feel blown up now. Rumours
of a Taskforce hitting this
island-We shore had enough
air- raid alerts. Hell I hope
this war is over soon.

Saturday 21^st July 1945. Spent.
the day in bed - attended sick
parade- rec'd a bed tag.
Morphia had an after affect.
Salted fresh fish came in. Have
to give my dried fish away as they
make me squeamish. The smell
of them nearly upsets me.
Sunday 22^nd July  1945..  Rested
all day.- No concert
Monday 23^rd July  ‘45
The J.'s
have constructed for them -
selves a separate kitchen.
Steamed fish tonight - No soup
 

screwed again, Last of the dried
fish purchased by us. Hair
cut- Beautiful day. News
of our new camp where we were
told we would be working on
shovels-making & repairing of
same. Some of the J. guards went
fishing a brought back 7 beautiful
salmon. attack of the "blues".
Feel as if this ruddy war should
be over.
Tuesday 24^th July 1945.
Made go -aheads all day.
Sold another cake of soap for fags
Ran out of rice for lunch. Had
to wait till it came in.-"
lunch at 1400 hrs. Bones &
meat came in. Had a bone
piece for evening meal. Lost
a front tooth on it. Weighed
- gained 3.3 kilos. 60.6 Kgs.
 Wednesday 25^th July  1945. Bad
attack of kidney trouble again
- left side this morning. Ate
no rice all day. Passed blood
in my urine. 2 shots of
morphia. Feel lousy.
Thursday 26^th July 1945 -
attack still continues tried
to eat the rice today- tasteless.
Sore pain in back all day.
Can't get comfortable in bed.
Friday 27^thJuly 1945.
Bad
attack last night -  2 shots of
morphia.  J. C.S.M. has same
complaint. He was taken to hospital.
 J.'s. have some eggs in
& various people have been
trying to get something in this
line for me. The J.'s say it
 

is impossible. Lousy swine.
Visit by J. Superintendent & 
a D. General. The Super.
gave the Yanks a pep address
the same as he gave to us.
Thought his address was one
of apologies as regards
food conditions etc. J's. put
up idea of 40 Officers working
shovelling coal for a 630
grain ration. Idea vetoed.
Saturday,  28^th July 1945.
The work project scheme seems
to have fallen through. Amers.
refused, -Aussies stated too
weak to do anything - give us a
month, to build up. News given
out by J's re British Cabinet
Prisoners. think there will be
a negotiated peace. Amer. gear
 arrived from Shanghai. Trunks
& yet more trunks of the stuff
Funny they couldn't shift our
gear from Zentsuji especially
as the Amers. stuff came from
Moji. - None of the food came.
Had my evenings ration of rice
gruelled up. It certainly
tasted nice - too bad no jam
sugar or milk to go with it.
Had 2 motions last night.
first for 5½ days. Did much
to clear the "air".  Had a bath
- by Len  Fraser. Give 200
vitamin pills. - to take 10 a
day -face all swollen with
berri-berri. Clarrie Archers birthday.
Sunday 29^th July, 1945.
20 of the lads went after "fukin"
which is dried & stacked for
winter use. They go out all
day & one of the sights is a
 

salmon “race”. All the camp
had to go out to the "farm".
Planted buckwheat, Explosions
at mine - told man carrying
case of dynamite slipped &
fell- NO man.  Rained at
lunch time. Amers. had
some of their gear inspected
One had 7 or 8 o'coats.
The J's tried to get him to part
with some. When asked what
for they replied "yen". Money
nowadays in J. is absolutely
worthless. Looked at some
magazines printed in 1942
"Freedom". The J's. certainly
have a different tale to
tell nowadays from then.
It certainly makes one boil
to see & read some of the stuff
printed by them then.
Rumour hath it that we will
be shifted towards the end
or the beginning of August
or Sept. resp to some
cottages about 4 ½miles from
here. Hell! I wish this
bloody war was over. Everyone
is absolutely fed up. All are
sort of waiting for something
to happen - besides being
bloody minded & bloody hungry
in the interim.
Monday 30^th July 1945.
Heard the best "outburst"
accorded to the J's from our
doctor (Comdr USN.) & a
(Major USM.C.) re our Medical
stores since I've been a
P.O.W. The J's wanted to keep
our medical stores and 
J. "lance jack" (Medical
Orderly  is in the position
to overrule the doctor. This
is typical of the J's . &  is
damned ludicrous. Spent