Sat. Jan. 10/42

Just getting nicely settled here in the room when the order came to move out to the gymnasium. It was recently opened, and that will be for us men. The women with children will have this annex. What confusion! We rush over to the gym and look for the softest place on the floor! Except for the basketball court in the center, the floor is concrete. Just as we got settled in one place, the order came that the British and Americans must keep separated. So Ernest and Cecil moved to the other side of the room. There were about seven hundred men in the room, more than five hundred being Americans. There were about five thousand on the grounds. Everyone had to feed himself, as the Japs made no provision at all. The Red Cross tried to help those who had no food and no friends on the outside. There was no eating in the building: so we had to take our few cans; a can opener that I happened to think to put in my pocket; a cup and four saucers that we found in the annex; one spoon, and go out on the grass and eat sparingly. Pedro brought us more cups and spoons, and a few things to eat so that we were faring quite well after four or five days.