Transcript
When we got to Japan, we were hated by the civilians. The kids going to school used to throw stones and spit, and yell out "Hiyo, hiyo" and put their hands up. Rub it into us. But as the war went on, you could tell the war was changing to our side. They'd tell us where there was stuff to steal, and get some for them. Even the Japanese guards, they'd have us take it out, because they never got searched by customs. Well, they got searched by customs, but we never. We got searched by the army. So they were very cunning. They got us to take it through customs. Soon as they're out of sight of the customs, we'd have to hand it over to them. But then you got back to camp, even though you had stolen stuff on you, you got searched, you got bashed up.
You got, it depended on what you had and the quantities you had. You got bashed up. They wouldn't stick up for you. But some of the Jap guards would, knowing that we'd do the same thing for them another time. So you got to know the Jap guards. They were all nicknamed. Horseface, Yagi, that's the Japanese word for goat. Chinless wonder. Smiler. Gentleman Jim, Maxie, because he looked like Maxie Baer, the boxer. We had nicknames for them all.
