N.Z. AIRMAN’S ORDEALS

Greymouth Evening Star, 12 September 1945, Page 6

N.Z. AIRMAN’S ORDEALS

IMPRISONED m" SMALL (.'AVI-: (It.N.Z.A.r. OFFICIAL XFWS SI'IKVICE.) BOUGAINvEIE, Sept. 10. Imprisonment in a small, black cave lor two months with no one to talk to and no medical attention was the lot of the only prisoner of war to come out of Rabaul. He was Warrant Officer Ronald Charles Warren, R.N.Z.A.F., of Christchurch, a fighter pilot who crashed on operations on June 31 and was subsequently classified as missing, believed killed in ac~. tion. It is a miracle that Warren survived the inhuman treatment _to which the Japanese subjected him, especially since he had a broken leg, which he had to splint himself with the help of two natives whom the Japanese had instructed to guard him. Oniy when the Japanese wanted to interrogate him was Warren dragged through the small ironbarred door. At times he was left alone for 10 days at a stretch. When he was dragged through the door oi his cave—-the door was only 24 inches high and 18 inches wide—his leg baused him excruciating agony. Sometimes during these interrogations, bombers came over, _ whereupon the Japanese would dive into the cave, leaving him outside. Warren did not know one day from another or the day of the month. Fie tried to keep a calendar, but had to give it up as hopeless. He did not even know the day on which he had crashed. His Corsair dived between two palm trees, throwing him unconscious from the cockpit. Fie remembered no more until he woke in Japanese hands.

MADDENING LONELINESS Warren, interviewed at Bougainville, to-day, said that the loneliness of the terrible, black cave nearly drove him mad. The two natives guarding him spoke pidgin English, but had been ordered not to talk so did nothing to bring him relief in his loneliness. He had half a pint of water daily and rice thrice daily brought by the natives in a hollow piece of bamboo. Although he consistently refused to answer questions, the Japanese at R-ebaul did not strike him but in a barge bringing him from the Duke of York Islands, where he had crashed, he was slapped fiercely on the face by two Japanese privates for no apparent reason. He was slapped while tied helpless on a stretcher. He was threatened with death if he failed to give information about aircraft and guns, but despite his refusal nothing happened. At one time his captors told him that there were 5,000 New Zealand prisoners “up on the hill” but later they said he was the only white prisoner in the area. After peace was declared the Japanese took him to a house where he met six Americans and one Australian, all prisoners of Avar. Two of the Americans, particularly, were pitiful sights. One had weighed 220 pounds but then weighed 105 pounds. He was a tall man, six feet two inches high, and his condition was absolutely appalling. The happiness of Warren’s reunions with fellow pilots this afternoon in an R.N.Z.A.F. hospital was almost pathetic. Later, he was visited by Air Commodore G. N. Roberts. Despite his ordeal, Warren looked well and smiled cheerfully when the medical officer granted his request for one or two glasses of beer. Since his broken leg did not set properly, Warren is receiving special medical attention, and will probably leave for New Zealand by air on Friday. His mother is Mrs. I, Warren, Christchurch.