WW II Nurses Turned Prisoners of War | The Devil You Know | 3

0:00Audible subscribers can listen to all episodes of Against the Odds ad-free right now. Join Audible today by downloading the Audible app. A listener note. Against the Odds uses dramatizations that are based on true events. Some elements, including dialogue, may be invented, but everything is based on research.

0:26United States Navy nurse Dorothy Still mends a torn mosquito net in her lap. It's July 1942. She's sitting on a rickety bench in a courtyard at Santo Tomas College in Manila, Philippines. The school has been converted into a prisoner of war camp by the occupying Japanese army. A drop of Dorothy's sweat rolls down her neck. Even though the bench sits in the shade of a tree, it's searing hot. Other prisoners huddle nearby. Most live in a cluster of shanties 100 yards away. There aren't enough classrooms at Santo Tomas to house all the prisoners, so hundreds of captives have had to build these shelters using scraps of wood and tin.

1:13Suddenly, a commotion makes Dorothy look up from her sewing. She sees a barefoot Filipino man sprinting toward the camp's gate. Five Japanese soldiers are close on his tail. They tackle him right as he reaches the gate. The man thrashes and kicks at the dirt, but he can't free himself. A moment later, Dorothy sees the camp's commandant, Sadaki Kanishi, strut up. It's not even noon, but he's already sipping from a bottle of sake. Kanishi screams in Japanese and points at the tree Dorothy is sitting under. The guards pick up the man and drag him toward her. As they approach, Dorothy recognizes the man as a vendor, who enters the camp every day to sell mangoes.

2:03Dorothy grabs her sewing and stands to leave the courtyard. She wants no part of whatever's coming. She's barely taken a step when Kenishi screams again. Two guards rush up to her, blocking her path. One speaks a little English. You will stay and watch this man's punishment. What did he do? The guard shrubs as he herds Dorothy a few yards away to join the other prisoners. Dorothy's heart races as she watches as two other guards tie the venter to the tree. The man looks around wild-eyed. Kenishi utters a command, and the guards start punching the man. They work their way up his torso, inch by inch.

2:51Kanishi stalks around them, barking orders. By the time they get to the vendor's face, Dorothy can't watch anymore. She turns away, but a guard standing behind her grabs her. He grunts and points, insisting she watch. She winces as the guards continue to pummel the vendor relentlessly. After what feels like an eternity, they finally stop. The Filipino man is slumped, his body limp against the tree. His face is a mask of blood, but he's still breathing. Dorothy shifts her weight on her feet, waiting for the guards to leave so she can try to help him. But Kenishi yells to his guards, thrusting his hands, pantomiming a stabbing motion.

3:41The guards near the vendor hesitate, which only enrages Kenishi more. He drops his bottle of sake into the dirt, grabs the guard's rifle, and stabs the man in the gut with the bayonet. The vendor bellows in pain. Dorothy flinches at the sound. Kanishi strides off, bottle in hand. The guards untie the man from the tree and haul him away. Dorothy feels dizzy and nauseous. She still doesn't know why this man has been punished so severely. But she realizes that's the point. Kanishi wants them to know that anyone can be beaten at any time. For any reason at all.

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6:12In the early days of World War II, a group of American Navy nurses serving in Manila learned that Japan had taken control of the Philippines. They were jailed in a Japanese POW camp called Santo Tomas and had no idea when or if they'd be rescued by American forces. By 1943, a year into their imprisonment, the conditions at Santo Tomas had grown more and more difficult. The camp was overcrowded and rations were cut, and the commandant subjected the prisoners to increasingly harsh punishments. Desperate to get out, the nurses made a risky gamble, but they soon realized that they may have made a grave error.

6:57This is Episode 3, The Devil You Know.

7:06Nurse Mary Rose Harrington flips through a book while picking at her lunch. It's the same lunch as it is every day in Santo Tomas prison camp, a bowl of rice gruel. It's September 1942. Harrington sits with her fellow nurse, Edwina Todd, in a shanty behind the machine shop that's been turned into the infirmary. Like all of the shanties, this one is small and dingy, with a dirt floor and no windows. Harrington takes another bite of the gruel, but her teeth chomp down on something hard. She yelps and spits the food onto the floor. Amidst the gruel, she sees a dark object. That's a rock! Todd shoots her a sympathetic look.

7:53You're lucky you didn't crack your tooth. Harrington pushes her bowl away. The gruel tastes terrible anyway, like wallpaper paste. She tries concentrating on the book instead, but she's already read it twice. She finally gives up and stares out the open door. Between the rows of shanties, vendors sell mangoes and bananas. Most of them stayed away from Santo Tomas for a few months, after one of them was beaten and stabbed by the guards. But they're back now. They have to make a living too. Harrington sighs. What I wouldn't give for some fresh fruit. We need to figure out a way to make some money.

8:35The Japanese don't provide the prisoners of Santa Tomas with necessities like bedding, toilet paper, or soap. Instead, they give each prisoner a small stipend to use to purchase items from a commissary. However, many of the other prisoners at Santa Tomas lived in Manila for years before the war started. They have local friends and neighbors who weren't taken prisoner. These associates slip them money and care packages through the gates. The nurses don't have these same connections, and after paying for their basics, they never have any money left over from their stipend to buy anything extra, like fruit.

9:16Harrington nudges Todd with her elbow. You got any get-rich-quick schemes? Harrington's joking, but to her surprise, Todd nods. She picks up Harrington's book. Actually, I do. What if we rented these out? She explains her idea. In addition to the poor food and the cruelty of the guards, one of the biggest struggles at the camp is boredom. People have nothing to do all day. But among them, the nurses have dozens of books. They could pool them together and rent them out for a few cents a week. Harrington laughs and agrees to help organize it. She hopes it works. If she doesn't find a way to get better food soon, she's worried she'll start showing signs of malnutrition.

10:06Mary Rose Harrington slaps her leg and frowns to see a smear of red there. Another mosquito got her. Her legs are already covered in welts from other bites. The mosquito nets they've been using are so torn, they're practically useless. It's December 1942. Harrington stands in a crowd of a few hundred prisoners in the courtyard at Santo Tomas. Ten yards away, a dozen Japanese guards stand watch over cardboard boxes stamped Red Cross. Inside are relief packages, and the captives are desperate to get their hands on them. But the guards show no sign of turning them over. Harrington and the other prisoners have been waiting for an hour now.

10:52She finally pipes up at the guards. Hey, when do we get our packages? Come on. An interpreter snaps his head to look at her. When the commandant is here. The crowd around her murmurs in frustration. Harrington stares at the boxes. Her stomach grumbles just thinking about what might be inside. She's heard there's candy and crackers and tinned meat. It all sounds delicious. Harrington is all the hungrier because somehow the food in the camp has gotten worse. A month ago, the commandant cut their meals to two per day. And this morning, Harrington's porridge had dead worms in it. The nurse's lending library has brought in some money, but not enough to buy a whole meal's worth of additional food.

11:41At last, Commandant Sadaki Kanishi opens the door of the administrative building and ascends the steps. The guards near the boxes snap to attention. Kenishi approaches the boxes and takes out a knife that's fastened to his belt. He slices into one box, tears open a package inside, and paws through it. He holds up tins of food. Harrington's mouth waters as she reads the labels. There's corned beef, bacon, condensed milk, even chocolate cake. She tells herself she can't eat it all in one sitting. Kenishi beckons toward the guards and shouts an order in Japanese. The guards bend over and pick up the unopened boxes.

12:28But instead of distributing the packages to the prisoners, they turn and haul the boxes inside the admin building. The prisoners yell in protest. Harrington calls out, What's going on? When do we get our packages? The interpreter casts a glance over his shoulder. And the commandant says you can. When will that be? The interpreter repeats the question to Kenishi. He grins as he answers. Harrington doesn't need the interpreter to translate. They'll get the packages whenever Kenishi decides they'll get them. That could be tomorrow, it could be in months, or it could be never. Harrington's anger dissolves into despair.

13:10She's hungrier than ever. but her real anguish is the feeling of helplessness. Harrington realizes there's no limit to Kenishi's cruelty. She would do anything to get away from him, but for now, she's trapped. Dorothy still hurries to the Navy nurse's shanty and squeezes herself in. There's barely room to stand. The shanty's tiny, half the size of her kitchen back home. The other 11 nurses are crammed inside. Dorothy puts a hand on the shanty's tin wall to steady herself. Between the lack of food and her workload, she feels as if she might pass out. Her scalp is itching as well. She caught lice from a patient.

13:59Edwina Todd smiles at Dorothy. And the 12 anchors here. The nurses have started calling themselves the 12 anchors after their Navy roots. We can get this meeting started. It's May 11th, 1943, and Chief Nurse Laura Cobb has summoned all the nurses here for an important meeting. But Dorothy has no idea what it's about. Cobb clears her throat. I suppose you've all heard the rumor about Dr. Leach. Well, it's true. He's leaving us for the new camp. Dorothy hangs her head. A week ago, Commandant Sadaki Kanishi declared that Santo Tomas was getting too crowded. There are 4 ,200 prisoners now. The Japanese are converting another college 40 miles southwest into a camp.

14:50It will be called Los Baños. In the announcement, Kanishi asked for 800 volunteers to transfer there. Specifically, he requested male volunteers who can help build barracks. To entice them, he called Los Baños a jungle paradise, even a health resort. But no one believed him, and only 200 men put their names forward. So, Kanishi is now forcibly transferring prisoners, including Dr. Charles Leach, the camp's best doctor. Dorothy is about to ask how they're going to manage all the patients with one fewer doctor when Cobb continues. But this might not be goodbye to Dr. Leach. I have an idea. I think we should volunteer to go with him.

15:36Oh my God. I don't know. Should we go with him? She concedes the risks. Conditions at Los Baños could be worse. There could be less food, and they don't know what kind of infrastructure the new camp will have. But the advantages of moving are real. They can keep working with Dr. Leach. There will be fewer patients. And even if Los Baños isn't paradise, it is in the countryside. It'll be far cooler this coming summer than hot, humid Manila. Best of all, transferring to Los Baños will put them beyond the reach of Commandant Canishi, whose behavior has grown even more cruel. He now forces sick patients to join work groups and haul 50-pound bags of food and cement around, even on broken legs.

16:23Cobb ends with an appeal. Given that we're in a civilian camp, military protocol no longer holds, so each woman here can decide for herself if she wants to transfer. I'll go around the room. She begins with Mary Rose Harrington, who says yes immediately. So does Edwina Todd. As Cobb proceeds, and one by one the nurses answer yes, Dorothy doesn't know what to choose. Cobb is right. Life at Santo Tomas is hard, but it's familiar. Dorothy has no idea what Los Baños will be like. She's not so sure she could handle anything worse. Dorothy is the last one called on. Every other nurse has voted yes. Cobb looks her directly in the eyes.

17:11Dorothy, how do you vote? Yes or no? Dorothy sees the other nurses staring at her, waiting for her answer. If she votes no, their little group will be broken up, perhaps forever. Dorothy's eyes drop. Yes. I'll go. The other nurses clap. The 12 anchors will remain united. Dorothy ekes out a small grin. Even if she bickers with Cobb and the other nurses sometimes, she simply couldn't face life alone here.

17:49Dorothy still stands at the cracked open door of a boxcar, fanning herself with her hands. She's red-faced and sweating. So is fellow nurse Helen Gorzolonski beside her. It's at least 100 degrees in the metal cars, maybe hotter. They're all eager for the train to start moving again. Dorothy checks her watch and calls out to the 100 men packed into the car behind her. Ten more minutes until we rotate again. She scowls as another train full of Japanese troops passes them on a parallel track. Apparently, military trains get higher priority. How long will she and the other prisoners be left here to cook in these metal cars?

18:36It's May 14th, the day the nurses transfer to Los Baños. But what should have been a two-hour journey has already taken five, and Dorothy has no idea how much longer there is to go. Their trouble started at the train station that morning. Instead of a passenger train with proper seats, the Japanese brought container cars for shipping goods with no air slits or ventilation. Then, after the Japanese packed the first car full of prisoners, they padlocked it shut. Upon seeing this, Dr. Leach and Chief Nurse Laura Cobb marched up to the guards and yelled that the men inside would suffocate. Dorothy watched this exchange in fear.

19:20Cobb was wearing a flowery lei necklace. She was once again concealing records beneath her shirt, but she'd gotten right in the guards' faces anyway. Dorothy had to admire her bravery. Cobb and Leach finally got the guards to agree to open the boxcar doors a little, but on one condition. The Japanese insisted on putting two Navy nurses in each car and promised to shoot the nurses if anyone escaped. As Dorothy waits for the train to start up again, the stench of sweat is overpowering. The men are losing water fast. She's been having them rotate every 20 minutes, so no one is stuck in the back too long without fresh air.

20:04But she worries it's not enough. Dorothy checks her watch again. Just six more minutes! What's wrong with him? A commotion in the back of the car interrupts her. Dorothy can't see what's happening, but she hears someone vomit and collapse. Dorothy calls out. Is he okay? Can you bring him to us? But there's no room. Everyone's crammed in too tightly. So Dorothy makes a decision. Let's rotate early to get that man to the front. No way, no. He can wait. The men near the front yell in protest. They don't want to be cheated of any fresh air. Dorothy pleads with them to help their fellow captive, but no one moves.

20:55There's little Dorothy can do except keep checking the time, counting down the final minutes. Meanwhile, yet another train of Japanese troops rumbles by, and the interminable wait continues. as she listens to the men whimper in the heat and gasp for air behind her. It feels like the guards don't care if all the prisoners make it to Los Baños alive. A nagging fear grows in the pit of her stomach. Maybe they aren't on their way to a prison, but rather a death camp.

21:41Chief nurse Laura Cobb sits on a bench near a wooden building at the Los Baños prison camp. She inhales deeply, taking in the scent of flowers and fresh bananas. Los Baños smells better than Santo Tomas did, at least. It's 7.55 a.m. on May 16, 1943. Cobb's second day at Los Baños. It's been a rough transition to her new home. After a seven-hour train ride in overpacked boxcars, the prisoners finally arrived at the camp. But instead of being shown to a building, everyone was forced to sleep outdoors. Mosquitoes nearly ate them alive. In the morning, Cobb and a few others confronted the camp commandant.

22:28They informed him that failure to provide shelter violated their rights under international law. And unlike Sadaki Kanishi back at Santa Tomas, this commandant heeded their concerns. The nurses were given a dorm, while the men were told to sleep in the gymnasium until the barracks were built. This left Cobb optimistic that she and the nurses made the right choice in transferring here. Plus, the campus has a real infirmary, the building behind her. At 8 a.m., Cobb gives a friendly wave to Dr. Charles Leach, who's drawing near. Good morning, doctor. You're right on time. In the military, we call that five minutes late.

23:11Huh. You can't expect us civilians to keep up. You look a bit flushed. How are you feeling? Cobb stiffens. The truth is, her heartbeat's been erratic these past few weeks. She's put it down to stress and poor nutrition. but a part of her is worried it might be something more serious. Still, she doesn't want Leach to suspect that there's anything wrong with her. Oh, it's nothing. I didn't sleep all last night. You and me both. But I'm excited to see this infirmary. It will be a nice change after that machine shop at Santa Tomas. Yes, it feels luxurious. Shall we? Leach holds the door open and they head inside.

23:54But Cobb's optimism plummets upon entering the clinic. It's completely bare. Even the cabinets have been torn off the walls. All that remains is a surgical table bolted to the floor and an iron oven to sterilize instruments with steam. When Cobb opens the oven, she groans. There's crusted rice all over the inside. It appears someone tried to steam rice in there and broke it. She turns to Leach. Well, we have no medicine, no bandages, not even glasses to give patients a drink of water. Leach looks crestfallen, which is exactly how Cobb feels. If anyone falls ill or injures themselves, Cobb doesn't know how he'll treat them.

24:46Nurse Basilia Torres-Steward smooths her skirt and takes a deep breath to calm her nerves. Her fellow nurses are all standing around the infirmary, waiting for her to begin. Steward worries they can see her legs trembling. She hates public speaking. Unlike her husband, Jerry, he's a natural with crowds. But chief nurse Laura Cobb gives her an encouraging smile. Stewart grabs the first item on the surgical table in front of her, an onion, and begins. This is a local remedy for coughs. It involves mixing onions and sugar. It's May 20th, the nurse's sixth day at Los Baños. To everyone's surprise, the infirmary is actually taking shape, thanks to volunteers from among the prison population.

25:37An electrician fixed the steam oven to sterilize equipment. A few woodworkers have started making chairs from lumber scraps around campus. A former shop teacher fashioned water glasses from old beer bottles and silverware from corrugated tin. But the men can't make everything. The ward still needs medicine. That's where Stewart comes in. She grew up in the Philippines, so she knows a variety of local remedies. And today, she's teaching the other nurses. She peels the onion and slices it. Then she drops some into a beer bottle glass and pounds the slices with a blunt dowel to free the juice. Once she has an inch in the bottom, she drops in a sugar cube and crushes it.

26:24She holds up the cloudy solution. Have patients with coughs gargle this. I know it sounds strange, but it works. After this, Stuart holds up the leaves from one of the guava trees around campus. Do you see the ridges? That's how you know it's guava. Brew them into tea. It's very good for dysentery. She shares other tricks. Sap from rubber trees can keep bandages in place. Stringy fibers from banana leaves can be woven into mosquito nets and pillowcases. To fill the pillows, they can use fluff from the seed pods of kapok trees. By the time she wraps up, Stewart realizes she's been speaking for an hour.

27:08The other nurses applaud. Stewart blushes. She wishes her husband Jerry could see her. She's never been certain where she stands with the Navy nurses, being a civilian and the only Filipina among all these Americans. But today, she feels proud.

27:29Chief Nurse Laura Cobb hears a knock on the infirmary door, embraces herself. She's fearful of the confrontation she expects to occur. She's worried things could even get violent. She opens the door to find the medical officer for the local garrison of Japanese troops, who are stationed a few miles from Los Baños. He sent word he wanted to see Cobb today. She doesn't hold the officer, whose name is Shigeru, in high regard. He freely admits he knows nothing about medicine. He comes from a rich family and simply wanted an easy job in the army. So every few days, he stops by to see Cobb with a list of ailments his soldiers are suffering from.