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Baxter 13
quickly fell to pieces in the snow and ice. Other factors contributing to the prisoners' high death rate were a diet of very poor nutritional value (which lowered their resistance to disease) and of course the terrible housing conditions. In an attempt to exempt as many of the sickest men from work as possible, Dr. Stewart set up an evening sick call in the corridor outside his small hospital.
Although only about 30 per cent of the men were well enough to engage in any physical labor at all, the Japanese attitude was that the prisoners would work or die. Of the original 300 Canadian prisoners 112 perished of a multitude of diseases and accidents during their two-year stay at Camp 5B, and many more returned home after liberation infirm for the rest of their lives. The P.O.W. mortality rate at Camp 5B was extremely high (40 per cent), a death rate reputed in fact to be the highest for any camp in Japan or Manchurua, although no statistical evidence is available to substantiate that claim.
FOOD
"Give us this day our daily bread." Within a short period of time food, or the continual shortage of it, became an all-important fact of life. For the men engaged in hard physical labor the starvation-level diet led to immediate malnutrition and quick weight loss. The average weight of the prisoners dropped to 65 to 80 pounds. My own weight when I was liberated was 75 pounds. The subsequent lowering of resistance caused a variety of diseases. Vitamin C and proteins were especially lacking in the food. The most frequent cause of death among the prisoners was pneumonia; however, such diseases as amoebic dysentery, yellow jaundice, beriberi, and scurvy were prevalent. The basic menu, similar to that in other Japanese camps, consisted of rice, millet, sorqhum, a purple cereal called korian, an occasional potato, and the ever-present daikon (a giant radish with no vitamin value). On rare occasions a small amount of poor-