A shaken Father Theo is back. Despite all admonitions, the wife of Peter Perkins included a note in his package, and the Japanese found it. The commandant was livid. "Can't you understand we shoot people on the spot for a thing like this?" he said before banning all personal POW packages.

Father Theo met Joe and said he's in tip-top shape. Joe was disappointed at missing my package, though he did get the previous one. In fact, he's lucky to still be in the Philippines. On his march through Plaza Goiti late last year, he walked side by side with the Baldwin boys, and they're now in Japan. Joe was sent to work in Bataan for a month then back to Cabanatuan.

The camp commandant that accompanied the prisoners to Japan has since returned, and under him, the treatment of POWs has improved. The P60 deducted from the officer's pay for "board and room" is actually being spent well. In the last 14 days there hasn't been a death there.