The next day we were just starting to work when a squad of Marines showed up; stopped briefly and then marched out of our area into the jungle. It was time to clear the Barrigada area-again!
The Japanese who were loose in the jungle of Guam just seemed to gravitate to this area. I saw Fred Midcap, my buddy from Boulder and he was sad looking - his brother Don, about sixteen had been returning to the farm at night, with a buddy, and failed to see the train that was already going across the road; their car hit the train; and miraculously everyone seemed to survive, but Don died the next day, very suddenly. It was a shock. I had traveled that road before and you could actually see car lights coming towards you, under the train because the road was elevated. I asked Fred what was going on with all the Japanese in Barrigada and he said that when the Marines landed they swept through so rapidly the Japanese never seemed to get set to create a defense; as a result many Japanese hid and were by-passed! But so many, I asked, and Buddy said they had 50 prisoners right now and took me to them. Sure enough, there they were; and while we were watching two Marines were ordering them to a different area. One was so short, even though he wore a small uniform it was way too big and he had trouble keeping up. Even so, he moved a lot faster when a Marine guard kicked him in the rear end to move faster! I was surprised, but Fred wasn't.
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