The Death March

Four Thousand Jews marched for two or three months. It was the beginning of spring, when snow melts and flowers begin to bloom. We are again at Table 5 of the Encinitas Senior Center. Lady Barbara did not show up, so I needed more information about his forced march out of Camp Buna. .
    For newcomers to table five, we meet each day and speak about the past. That is all we have to hold onto besides are barbecued chicken and sweet potatoes today. Lady Barbara is not with us today. Her back has been giving her fits. The table seems sad today. Barbara is the energy that feeds the rest of us. Her birthday is coming up in April.
    "George I want to tell you something. I am smarter than the rest. I am a descendant the Cohan's and a Jewish High Priest. Never are we allowed to be in a room with a dead person."
    You told  me that you had stayed in Camp Buna. What does it mean?
    "Buna means artificial rubber. In our camp the Germans made the rubber for their tanks and trucks."
     Why did the German soldiers take you on a Death March? 
     "They did not wish to go to the front. As long as they marched us, they stayed alive and hoped to be captured by American troops and not the Russians."
    How many of the four thousand survived the Death March?
   "Out of one hundred, fifty survived the death march. Most of them ate too much food and later died."
  How did you survive the cold and what did you eat to stay alive?
   "We were inside Hungary and secretly, went to the farms. We stole the dog food to survive. We stayed inside the barn for warmth."
   When  the Russians came, the Germans had fled. Their soldiers slaughtered cows from the many farms inside Hungary. est of the cow. In no time I had beefed up.from my sixty pounds. The story of Horst Cahn will continue as long as there is life in my fingers. (not finished.)
 
To my right sits Bob. His Dad, Francisco Carriedo was a gorilla fighter during the occupation by the Japanese.  It was called the Bataan Death March. Since the Philappines were a territory, Bob came to America with his two sisters.