Having Wonderful Time

U.S. newspaper readers got a fresh point of view last week on the horrors of capture by the Japs. Inexplicably, Duke University published a rather jolly piece of reading on approximately the same subject. To the quiet North Carolina campus had come a sunny, mellow letter from James Halsema, Class of '40, son of the ex-Mayor of Baguio in the Philippines and now a prisoner of the Japs at Camp Holmes in the Baguio area. Duke's publicity office released to the newspapers the entire text of the letter (some 700 words), to run, presumably, in conjunction with the fiend-ridden experiences of Lieut. Colonel William E. Dyess and the thousands of other Americans captured at Bataan. Excerpts:

"This experiment in close living has lasted 600 days so far. The first 500 were the hardest; they are now increasingly pleasant." The meals, the weather, the prisoners' health, the social life, reported Halsema, were all pretty dandy. "Camp food is exotic," he wrote, "and we're used to it: rice, all you can eat, stew with some meat, native vegetables, occasional tropical fruit." For fun, said Halsema, there was always bridge, poker, pinochle, chess, handicrafts, and a weekly entertainment. "Fortunately there is plenty of work. . . . Work is satisfying. . . . There's a big crew on the hill . . . getting out firewood for the stoves, good healthy outdoor labor." Further, the camp was "on a mountainside . . . with an incredibly beautiful view. . . ." He remarked: "Looking forward to eating wheat bread, cheese, ice cream, steaks again, but don't really miss them. . . . My health is as good or better than it ever was." He swore: "We never feel cooped up.'' Everything considered, said Halsema, Camp Holmes deserved the label: "The Orient's finest concentration camp." It sounded fine.

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