Both of us were ordered to surrender on Mother's Day, May 10th, 1942.   Our first camp was Casisang (Sp) near Malaybalay.   In mid-October a group of approximately 300 men were shipped out.   George was with this group.   That was the last I heard of him until we met again on Okinawa, after the war.

On October 23rd, 1942 (The day following my 23rd birthday) the entire group was moved to the Davao Penal Colony (DaPeCol).   Here we raised Rice and vegetables, most of which went to the Japanese Army.   On 6 June 1944 we were loaded on a ship for transport to Japan.   After a change of ship at Cebu we arrived in Manila.   I was held at Bilibid for about a week. On 2 July we again boarded a ship, "The Canadian Adventure", for the final leg of our journey.   We arrived at Moji on 1 Sep 44, and were off loaded the following morning, Labor Day.   All told, the trip lasted 92 days.   To the best of my knowledge this was the longest time of any of the POW's to spend enroute, confined to the hold of the ship.   I was taken to the town of Yokaichi, where I went to work for the Ishara Sangyo Kaisha, Ltd. I worked on the copper smelting part of the plant, loading scrap copper, into small railcars, and pushing them to a conveyor belt, where we dumped them.

In June, shortly after an Earthquake, which damaged the plant, I was shipped to Toyama Camp #11.   Here I was the operator of the controls of an electric smelting plant.   The product was Chrome.

I was liberated on 5 September 1945. We traveled by train to Nagoya, where we boarded the USS Rescue.   Shortly after the boarding we sailed for Yokohama.   I flew to Okinawa, where I found some members of my Squadron, who reported that they had seen George about a year earlier, and that he was O.K. at that time.   George and I, literally, ran into each other one night while on our way to check the list of incoming POW's.   We remained together from then until we got home.

I decided to remain in the Air Force, and attended Officer Candidate School.   Graduating as a 2nd Lit. On 1 Mar 1947.   I remained in the Air Force in various assignments until my retirement as a Major on 31 October 1961.

I have published, at my own expense, a biography.   It is in the form of a Spiral Bound Notebook, written primarily for my Children and Grandchildren.   It describes in detail my experiences as a POW, most of which my Children, and none of Grandchildren, had ever heard.   I have a few copies of the notebook available, if anyone is interested.   The cost is $20.00; this covers just my publishing costs, plus postage.

Ray C. Heimbuch
rayheimbuch@msn.com