Another Death of a Fellow Soldier
Early in the morning, we had to depart for work. When I tried to wake up by holding his shoulder my fellow soldier who I thought was soundly asleep, there was not any response. As I shouted at him to wake him up and began to raise his body, I was astonished to find out it was already a cold, solid mass. The night before, as we were falling asleep, he spoke to me in a weak voice, ”I am very tired. I don’t think I can participate in the morning labor tomorrow.” I responded, “Stay strong! We will all help your portion of work, so you don't need to worry!!”
When I looked into his dead face, there were traces of tears-—he must have thought about his family back in Japan. He talked about his mother often. She must have been a loving person.
His death saddened me. It must have been about ten minutes before that he had his last breath. I could tell because the lice that stayed with him began to creep out one after another as if they had nothing to do with a dead body any more. It was such an awful sight.
January to March, 1946