Extra Protein

Heroes Remember

Extra Protein

Transcript

I think Toyama is when we had our, got our locusts and the doctor told us to eat them, like they were dishing them out ten per man. There was just one barrel brought in. And these were pickled locusts and they were dishing them out ten per man. Of course, a lot of guys wouldn’t eat them. I ate mine, I ate anything. And the doctor came down, he said, “You guys are not eating your, a lot of you guys are not eating your grasshoppers. I’m putting them in the rice.” So he put them in the rice and there was about that much oil sitting on top of the rice. And he said, “That’s what you guys need!” He said, “You eat pigs, which eats slop and everything else. You eat chicken which eats worms and all this sort of stuff off the ground but grasshoppers, all they eat is greens and grass, greens and grain, it’s all they eat so...” But anyways, it was put in the rice and at one time, while we were in town we got some beans. And the doctor, for some of the ones that were real sick, he squeezed all the beans and got the milk out of them and gave them to the sick people. It helped them quite a bit. But as far as the beans, they put into the rest of the beans, they put into the rice, it just went through us because we had no digestive organs to do anything with. Like I mean, you’d eat this stuff in the rice and you’d go out to the biffy and it was all gone.

Description

Mr. Harrison describes being given pickled locusts as a protein supplement, much to the distaste of many prisoners.

George Harrison

George Harrison was born on April 4, 1920 in Winnipeg, Manitoba and was youngest of three children. His father died shortly after his birth, forcing his mother to place him and his siblings in an orphanage, where he was at times badly beaten. Learning this, his mother took her children back home. After completing grade 9, Mr. Harrison went to work to help support his family. Eventually, he gained employment with CPR Telegraph. On September 13, 1939, Mr. Harrison enlisted with Winnipeg Grenadiers, becoming a specialist on the Vickers machine gun. During the battle of Hong Kong, Mr. Harrison was made a sergeant, and was involved in deadly fighting. Along with the general misery and persecution suffered by all of the POWs, Mr. Harrison faced down both blindness and potential amputation of his toes.

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