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September 15, 1944

I could hear Mr. Tomibe’s military bellow voice from here at 7:30 as he made his farewell speech to roll call assembly. He said we had become friends under difficult conditions of war and  he hoped that after peace we could be friends again under better conditions. He was now transferred to Manila to another position and must say good-bye. The entire group of Americans spontaneously clapped his speech.

Five pounds of bulk tea has been set aside for the garden crew. Tea will be served them every working day at 10 o’clock.

Skerl was interested to hear about what the yeast did for me. He thinks that several vitamins do their proper work only in a yeast medium.

Health rating for the 10% cross-section, chosen to represent all ages and conditions, shows 6.5% excellent, 56.5% good, 26% fair, 8.7% poor and
2.2% very poor. Noted are  “the great preponderance of deficiency diseases among all classes of internees.”

The dentist wants any spare false teeth. He is experimenting on replacing a few single missing ones.

Mont is surrounded by a sheet wall, with orderly and nurse in surgical gowns taking all precautions, They don’t know what it is. What they fear, they don’t say, but it is evidently typhoid. He is a sick man and everything is turned upside down over it.

Without me, the family almost never use the dugout. There is no focal point and Bedie is running wild. June and Jerry scatter in the evening. Jerry is lonely and won’t go to the dugout alone. He doesn’t even keep up the Scott [bridge] date. He never liked the dugout as much as I did and without me there is no reason to go there. I wish I could go up and gather them all together.