We were given a couple of days to settle in at the camp. The British party was commanded by an officer of the Cambridgeshire Regiment, Captain Dean, and Lt. Col. Robert C. Gaskill, a medical man, of the American army, was in charge of all camp prisoners. Jock, the Scottish Corporal, headed the working party of which I was a member.

The camp commandant was a young Jap officer with a limp; his second-in-command was a beefy little Jap sergeant, and there were the inevitable guards. That was the set-up. There were 250 American prisoners working in the mine. The Japs issued each prisoner with a carbide lamp with instructions that it had to be carefully cleaned each day. Each man was also provided with an impressive list of safety precautions for mine workers. The list, written in English on flimsy paper, was headed "Safety First" and was an enlightening document on the Jap approach, with touches of unintended humour. Here it is in full, with its occasionally quaint phrasing unaltered:

     A. ALL MINERS

     1. Wherever you go you must always carry your lamps.
     2. You must learn and understand your own work as fast as you can.
     3. You must always keep your lamps clean and keep your lamps burning at all times.
     4. Always pay good attention not to be struck by falling rock.
     5. Be sure to learn all signals, go up with empty car; come down with loaded car;
         signal blasting or accident.
     6. When your lamps go out, stop and do not walk or work.
     7. At the blasting signal, all men go to a shelter (to the direction of signals).
     8. When there is a wrecked car, or an accident, hurry to help.
     9. If you see any dangerous places report them at once to your supervisors 

    B. DRILLERS

    1. Inspect all holes for dynamite
     2. Immediately after each shot, examine for loose rock and begin work.
    3. Inspect your bits before using, then fit into drill.
    4. Keep a level bottom at all times because the drill will slip and you may get hurt.
    5. You must hold drill at connecting point with your left hand and operate trigger
        with right hand, otherwise the bit will get bent or broken.
    6. Keep drill in vertical position and if drill slips, stop it at once and push it down.
    7. Stay behind drill while working.
    8. Always call before going up ladders or from one shaft to another.
        The upper men must stop work until the lower man gets up.
    9. When finished work, carry your tools down and do not drop them through the shaft.

    C.TIMBERERS

    1. Timbermen must always use ropes to carry timbers because you will skin your hands
        on the rocks.
    2. When using ladders, hold on to the outside, do not use the rungs because the
        rungs may break and you will fall down.
    3. Timbermen must pay good attention to his surroundings when the lamps go out.
    4. Pay attention to old timbers, rotten or not, and bend all nails so as not to get
        hurt or tear clothing.
    5. Become practised to the danger signs of the mine.
    6. Timbermen pay special attentions to the foundations of the timbers,
        the foundations must be strong and solid.
    7. Knock down all loose rocks and keep your working place clean.
    8. Timbermen pay special attention, and also other workers, to all dangerous places,
        report at once to your supervisor

    D. CAR MEN

    1. Car men must keep 30 metres apart.
    2. When stopped, report to other car men, stay from behind car.
        Car men behind hurry and help push.
    3. All men close to a wreck or an accident hurry to help and do not strain
        yourself by pushing or lifting. Call for help.
    4. When pushing cars, the last man must not forget to throw the switch because
        the cars will get derailed.
    5. Don't ride cars down hill and don't go fast, use the brakes.
    6. Pay special attention to your feet when loading cars, use the lid of the
        chute to cover them with.
    7. When you find and empty car under the chute a dynamite may be blasted,
        so go to a shelter for 10 or 15 minutes.
    8. When loading the car keep your hands and lamps off the car because you may get
        them hurt.When pushing cars hang your lamp on to the car, but not when
        loading, hang it on the wall.

     The safety precautions concluded:

I regret to say none of us obeyed the last command in spirit. From the first time we entered the mine until the end of the war we cursed the Mine God daily under our breath, and added a few more blasphemies for good measure. Before entering the mine entrance, all labour units were paraded and an order was given to doff caps and bow to the God. The procedure was repeated when we came out after work.

After an interrogation on the first day in the mine, the British party was split up into groups of two and three. A supervisor conducted the groups to the various sections, which were numerous, and gave a small amount of instruction on the jobs to be done. After that, prisoner were left to do the jobs themselves. Most of the regular Japanese mineworkers, tough and sinewy though they ware, seemed a sad and disheartened lot of men. They were exceedingly competent, and we newcomers marvelled at their intricate knowledge of the mine workings.

Our mine duties were strenuous but monotonous. We spent hour after hour filling trucks with dynamited earth for transportation to the central collecting point. It was back-breaking work for us when the earth was at ground level, less difficult when we could load the trucks from chutes which carried the raw ore from the labyrinth of passages in the upper reaches of the workings. Filling from chutes was often dangerous. Large rocks often hurtled down without any warning. Until I became skilled and wary, I was knocked from my working perch many times as I was releasing the wood beam which held the earth in check. Sometimes a rock would lodge up the chute and block the flow of earth. Too much prizing and pressure in efforts to free it would result in an overflow of earth and rock on to the rail track, and one had to dodge quickly. This sort of thing happened regularly when we were inexperienced, but later on we learned how to avoid it, and became quite expert.

Our duties included drilling in the shafts so that the engineers could put in their dynamite charges. It was hazardous climbing ladder after ladder into the higher passages. A kotcha - a working tool with wood shaft and metal head for scraping the earth into small metal pans - was pushed down the back, between body and tunic; one hand held a spluttering carbide lamp, and a little wooden box containing a rice ration for mid-day was pushed between the chest buttons of the tunic for safety. Mud on the ladder rungs made the climb in semi-darkness very slippery, and the landing stages between ladders were often terribly greasy. To reach the uppermost gallery 14 ladders had to be climbed. The return journey, when one was tired, was even less to my liking.

The heavy labour soon began to sap one's strength, but the Jap insisted, as usual, on more output. The mind seemed constantly dulled. Strain had the by now familiar result; bickering among the prisoners in their quarters, leading to overheated arguments and the striking of blows. I seemed to have fallen for the job of peace maker - I suppose I ought to thank my lucky stars I have always had an even temperament - and more than once I had to throw my full weight, now no more than 7 _ stones, between two grappling bodies and try to force them apart. Usually a sharp rebuke would make the offenders realise we were all all in the same plight and that fighting among ourselves was folly, and there would be handshakes all round. Nobody bore malice. There were other equally personal irritations about this time., after the bugs of Thailand, we had to endure in our quarters the fleas and lice of Japan. I do not know whether the Jap specimens were more insistent than those elsewhere, but they seemed to be. You would settle down under the blankets, hoping for sleep, when the fleas would start their wandering and jumping, emitting a distinctive clicking noise. If you were particularly sensitive to their attacks, as I seemed to be, you spent a lot of time with the blankets thrown back trying to catch them, but they were expert at burrowing and sometimes defeated the most persistent attempts at annihilation. This did not improve our tempers. Lice, too, got into the seems of shirts and trousers with an easy familiarity, and sustained de-lousing was required. There was one Latin-American prisoner in the camp whose name became a by-word. He occupied the hut next to mine, but I thought it no honour. Whenever I saw him I tried to put as much space between us a quickly as possible. He was, regrettably, the biggest flea-carrier in camp and how his companions could stick sleeping near him I cannot imagine. I had become inured to stench, so I thought, but this chap was unique in my experience. His greatcoat was often a bulging, lifting house for flea battles. The back of it usually swarmed, black with fleas, so that the garment rose regularly from the shoulders, as if the man were panting after heavy exertion. To me he was not only an inevitable reminder of the itch but the camp's biggest enigma - and that is saying a lot.

On tub-filling duty in the mine two or three prisoners would be detailed to clear a particular section. The engineers set the task and then left us to get on with the job. So supervision was required, in any event. The work consisted of filling a metal loading basket with the help of the kotcha and then lifting and heaving the load by hand into the cars. A set number of cars had to be filled before we were allowed to leave the mine and return to camp. We often tried to find ways of dodging the slogging. One of our tricks was to use old pit props and large stones. Props well placed in the cars left a large gap between the sides and the bottom; a topping of earth and ore was then applied. Cars "filled" in this way appeared to be well laden. It gave us a feeling of self-satisfaction when the supervising engineer came along at the end of the day and passed the work with a grunted "O.K.! O.K.!"About May the engineers began to offer some inducement for increased output. Several rice balls were handed out each day to prisoners if the supervisors reported good work. On one occasion after a car-filling feat I received honourable mention and qualified for the rice-ball bonus. I accepted the gift greedily. I certainly had not earned it. Working alone, I had filled 10 cars, but at least half of them were underweight; I had shored them up with old wood. But it was good to get an award of merit for outwitting "the masters".

It was a blow when Jock became ill. He had become a great friend of mine and was an excellent comrade. I visited him in the hospital block each evening on returning from the mine, but without any real medical facilities he began to get worse. Within a week pneumonia was added to his other complaints and he died. Jock had set a fine example of Scots endurance and had done much for our morale. His death was deeply regretted by all. We took his body by sledge to a crematorium some distance from camp. The sun was shining from a clear blue sky on an expanse of glistening snow as the American chaplain from the camp performed the last rites.

With Jock gone, there was nobody in the British party, except Capt. Dean, with any rank. The rest of us were privates. Capt. Dean detailed me to take over Jock's duties. One day he told me it was his intention to parade me the following day and confer field promotion upon me. I was surprised, but gratified. It seemed strange to hear of field promotion in a prisoner of war camp. I received the following citation: "Subject: Commendation (copy sent to War Office). 10553864 Harry Franz Pte., R.A.O.C. has been under my direction whilst a P.O.W. in Japanese hands since 25th January 1945. He was detailed by me to perform the duties of Sergeant w.e.f. 8th February 1945 of a British party of 64 privates. He carried out his work very conscientiously. His conduct, honesty and loyalty have been of the highest order, which we have needed to exist as P.O.W.s. I consider his example was a credit to his country. I highly recommend this man for advanced promotion and any compensation which the War Office thinks fit. I have ordered this man to wear the badges of rank and assume the privileges of that rank w.e.f. 8th February 1945. When he reaches England and until he receives specific orders from his branch of service or higher command to act otherwise. (Signed) Peter S.W. Dean, Capt., 2nd Bn The Cambs. Reg. These statements of fact were concurred in No. 38 Sendai Area P.O.W. (Signed) Robert C. Gaskill, Lt. Col. M.C., U.S.A. Japan." I was thus placed in charge of my companions.