Life at the Camp
Cabanatuan POW Camp
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Once Ernest has reached Cabanatuan POW camp, he has faced brutal conditions, including diseases, malnourishment, and torture. Nicknamed the “Zero Ward” because there is a zero probability of getting out of the camp alive. The hospital that holds the sick prisoners usually die from dysentery, malaria, and other form of diseases. The prisoners only received two meals a day of steamed rice, usually accompanied with fruit, soup, or meat. However, the given food was not enough to feed the prisoners. So, these prisoners had to smuggle food and supplies: usually by stealing, bribing guards, planting gardens, and killing animals that entered the camp. For entertainment, radio parts were stolen and then reassembled to listen to newscasts on radio stations in the United States. Ernest soon, however, has died in January 2, 1943 from malaria and beriberi.
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