Devil at My Heels - Louis Zamperini [83]
I gave them an emphatic no.
They spoke in Japanese and walked into another room to confer further. I looked at the desk and saw four or five copies of the speech just lying there. I stuck my hand in my overcoat pocket and stood close to the desk. Then I slipped my hand through the slit all overcoats have in the pocket so that you can put your hand into your pants pocket without opening the coat—and snatched a copy of the speech. I quickly folded it with one hand and prayed they wouldn’t miss it, because then I’d really be in trouble.
The men returned and asked me again to cooperate.
“No. I positively can’t do it.”
That seemed to make up their minds. “Because you will not read this, I think you go to punishment camp.” Those are the exact words he used: I think, meaning a moment of hesitation in case I wanted to change my decision.
I didn’t. I’d taken an oath as an officer. What’s more, my immediate thought was, Great. This will get me away from the Bird. I couldn’t stand to be around that guy.
But then, they knew that.
By the way, here’s what they wrote, exactly as typed.
Well, believe it or not…I guess I’m one of the those “Lucky guys”, or maybe, I dunno, maybe I’m really unlucky…Anyway…here’s me, Louis Zamperini, age, 27, hometown Los Angeles California, good ole United States of America speaking. What I mean by lucky is that I’m still alive and healthy…Yes and it’s a funny thing…I’ve heard and also saw with my own eyes that I’m washed-up that is I was reported to have died in combat…Yes, one of those who died gallantry fighting for the cause…I think the official report went something like this…‘First Lieutenant Louis S. Zamperini, holder of the national inter-scholastic mile record, is, listed as dead by the War Department…the former University of Southern California miler was reported missing in action in the South Pacific in May 1943’…Well, what do you know?…Boy…that’s rich…Here I am just as alive as I could be…but hell I’m supposed to be dead…Yeah and this reminds me of another fellow who’s in the same boat as me or at least he was…Anyway he told me that he was officially reported as “killed in action” but in reality he was a prisoner-of-war…After several months he received a letter from his wife in which she told him that she had married again since she thought he was dead…Of course, she was astonished to hear that he was safe and held in an interment camp…she however, consolated him by saying that she was willing to divorce again and marry him once again when he gets home…Boy, I really feel sorry for a fellow like that and the blame lies with the official who allow such unreliable reports…After all the least they can do is to let the folks back home know just where their boys are…Anyway that’s not my worry but I hope the folks back home are properly notified of the fact that I am still alive and intend to stay alive…It’s certainly a sad world when a fellow can’t even be allowed to live, I mean when a fellow is killed off by a so-called official report…How about that?…
Yes, how about that? I don’t think it sounds like me at all.
BACK AT OMORI, I hid the pilfered speech in the wall and later gave it to the War Crimes Commission.
Of course, the Bird and his guards were mad. I guess I’d made him look bad. They beat me for a week.
Around Christmas, Bill Harris arrived from Ofuna, with some other prisoners I knew. Now my friends were all in one place: Harris, the Scots, Lempriere, Lieutenant Green, who flew for New Zealand, and others. Suddenly, I wanted to stay instead of be transferred to the punishment camp.
For the holiday, the Bird distributed Red Cross packages from America. Actually, he allotted three packages for every five prisoners. Typical. I was hungry, as always, but I gave my part to Harris. He was still haggard and sick and in the infirmary with a temperature of nearly 105. “You’re a fool,” he said, when I handed it over. “Your life depends on that box.” Ever since his pummeling at Ofuna, Harris had