A quiet day. Rains still in abundance. Rumors are persistent that Davao has been bombed. Also a rumor is circulating that the Nips are going to turn the guarding of this camp to civilians and take the soldiers out of here. Sounds like someones imagination. Burgess was appointed inspector today. This was the result of my recommendation to Lewis last night. The case is an embarassing one for Burgess. He explained it to me. It concerns Col. Beard. It seems that Beard made a deal with an enlisted man to buy a razor for twenty pesos. When the soldier brought the razor around Beard forced the EEM to accept Cebu currency. A day later at the PX the soldier approached Beard and asked him to change the twenty pesos into old PI currency since the natives will not take the Cebu money. Beard took the twenty pesos and got it changed but it cost two pesos so he returned the soldier only eighteen pesos. The soldier felt that he had been gyped on the whole deal and grumbled about it around his barracks. The result was that it finally came to the attention of the officers who took the latter to Chastaine. So now Burgess has to investigate it. I can’t understand what has become of the character of our older officers.
Anonymous American POW
From names mentioned in the entries, it seems the author was an officer, a Catholic, and had the nickname, “Mac”. The names of certain American officers suggests, in turn, the possibility that the diary dates from the period that American P.O.W.s were incarcerated in Camp Casisang in Malaybalay, Bukidnon.
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