Another common deadly disease suffered by POWs that affected their attitude was dysentery. Dysentery was as hard on the morale as it was on the body. [1] A POW with dysentery had a hard time keeping a positive attitude towards survival. He could think of little else accept his bowels. POW Major Gillies, while working in the Changi POW hospital, complained of his patients “wounded I like dealing with because they were all cheery and ready to help themselves but these miserable bastards [the dysentery patients] can’t get their minds above their navels all day”[2]  There were two types of dysentery; bacillary and amoebic.[3] Bacillary dysentery came on suddenly and killed just as quick.[4] Amoebic dysentery was a chronic disease that if not treated correctly, the patient carried the rest of their life.[5] Symptoms of both types of dysentery included gut wrenching cramps, severe diarrhea with blood and mucus in the stools[6] and an inability to control the bowels.[7] Both types severely weakened those afflicted with it because any food eaten did not get absorbed.[8] Ex-POW, John Michel attested, “I averaged about one of these attacks (dysentery) a month. During the attack I would lend out about half of my ration for a week so that I could get it back when I felt better and could benefit from the food.”[9] POWs who had dysentery grew depressed by their humiliating condition[10] and the nauseating odor of their surroundings. Ex-POW Houston Wright, who was confined to the POW camp hospital death ward in Burma, confessed lying about his condition, “I told him (POW doctor) I was better … I thought I might have a fighting chance if I could get out of that place.” [11]

Although there was little medicine available to treat dysentery, POW doctors’ attitudes remained optimistic towards its treatment. The standard treatment in 1943 for dysentery was isolation, bed rest, diet, fluid, sulfa drugs and opium. [12] Since dysentery was highly contagious, standard medical practice in treating the disease was to maintain a sterile environment.[13]  POW doctors did their best to treat dysentery with what they had available to them. Colonel William M. Donovan M.D., interned at Bilibid Prison in the Philippines was fortunate to have a little of the drug sulfadiazine, which he exclaimed “It [sulfadiazine] stopped my dysentery right in it tracks” [14] Yet Dr. Hekking, a POW doctor in Burma did not have readily access to sulfa drugs, instead he used ground charcoal and clay as a remedy.[15] Usually, the kitchen sent the burnt scrapings of the rice pot to the hospital for the dysentery ward to use as an additional remedy.[16]  It was virtually impossible to set up a sterile environment, but POW doctors were able to isolate patients from the rest of the wards. [17]

Epidemics of dysentery affected the attitude of the entire POW camp. Ex-POW Mark Herbst, M.D. explained how the stench of dysentery affected the morale of the camp, “Dysentery had the most fetid odor … It was a matter of morale. The men would see their buddy who couldn’t do anything but sit and vile the place up. This just made it bad for the rest of the men who were trying to stay alive.”[18] An epidemic of dysentery resulted from poor sanitation. Dysentery was spread by flies, insects and rodents who transferred fecal matter to food. [19]  Therefore, the first steps to prevention of dysentery would be to build proper latrines [20] and eliminate the fly problem. [21] In POW camps, the latrine was often next to the kitchen galley and/or too close to living quarters.  Ex-POW Irvin Alexander confirmed the latrines at Cabanatuan to be about twenty five yards from the barracks. [22]Another ex-POW, John Michel attested the latrines at the POW camp in Nagasaki, Japan, “The benjo (latrine) was a hastily erected shed with two rows of stalls; below each row was a trench in the ground. In keeping with Japanese ideas of sanitation, the benjo was located less than fifty feet from the galley (kitchen).”[23] It appeared to be a universal problem, as other POWs from Burma, Borneo, Japan and the Philippines reported the same issues with the latrines. At some camps the Japanese allowed the POWs to build proper latrines. For example, in Cabanatuan an American officer received permission from the Japanese to build a septic tank along side of the box latrine. It worked so well that the Japanese allowed septic tanks to be built beside the remaining latrines. Soon, afterwards, the fly problem diminished. [24]  

Improving the latrines and therefore the POWs living conditions, greatly improved the POWs’ attitudes. With the open and often overflowing latrines, flies became a big problem in POW camps.[25]  Mario Machi, a former POW, observed “Green blowflies swarmed by the hundreds on the fecal matter in our latrines and over the bodies of our dead ... We fought them (flies) constantly as they attacked our open wounds and our food. … It was difficult to avoid getting flies into our mouths when we ate.”[26] To get rid of the fly problem, the POW doctors and/or Japanese started fly catching contests which rewarded the POW with cigarettes or extra food rations for catching a set quota of dead flies. The following notice was posted by the British POW doctors in Changi prison for all to read. “Do you like dysentery? No! Does diarrhoea delight you? No! Then make yourselves a swatter and earn ten cigs. (real) for each 500 flies!”[27]  Ex-POW Dr. George A. Graham, interned in Burma, attested that “everyone in the camp, including the sick, had to produce 200 dead flies for his (Japanese medical officer) inspection ... This nonsense went on for two or three weeks. Not surprisingly it had no result.”[28] Other POW camps throughout Japanese occupied Asia had similar fly catching orders or contests. The extra food awarded for the dead flies improved the attitudes of the POWs towards survival. Ex-POW Tony Bilek, interned at Cabanatuan, reported:

“Fly bounties attracted a number of enterprising individuals. I encountered one of them on my next visit to the eightholer (latrine). He was walking around the outside, beating on the sides of the crapper with a stick. All but one of the coverlids was down. Over the open one he had placed the frame of a wooden box covered with undershirt material. I could see and hear a dense swarm of angry flies against the inside of the cloth trap. For the final step, he slid a piece of cardboard over the hole and under the box.”[29]

POWs who became adept in killing and collecting dead flies exhibited positive attitudes with a sense of self worth, purpose and hope.