[LIFE Magazine 1945, "Santo Tomás Is Delivered" by Carl Mydans, p 25–29]

(Caption - left photo)

In the main patio the internees go on with the quiet
routine of their prison lives while the Japanese are
still holding out in the Education Building next door.
Below is the university gym, where 400 sick old men live.
Many of the men are too weak to leave their beds. Sometimes,
there were as many as 600 of them in this one big room.

(Caption - Top Right)

A sad-eyed mother sits on a step with her children outside
one of the university buildings. Many children were born
during the internment.
________

(Caption in middle of page)
"After the first shock of happiness, the Americas in Santo
Tomas found that one day of freedom could not repair the
damage of 37 months of imprisonment. Their bodies were
still wasted by hunger. The youths, were pale and gangling
and the old people were shrunk to the bone. Hundreds of
the internees were feeble and sick with diseases of malnutrition.
The children, who were fed the best, were the healthiest.

Imprisonment had left other marks. There were some people who
walked staring straight ahead, without looking to the right or
left. When correspondents spoke with them, they shuffled with
a strange restlessness. Everyone walked with the deliberate
tread of people whose movements are limited by walls. There was
also a tired politeness, something gentle and hopeless about
their manner.

Very few of the Americans interned in Santo Tomas plan to come
back to the United States. Their home is Manila. Said one old
man, "We know our boys are doing their darnedest to clear the
Japs out of there, but we can't help wishing they'd hurry."
_________

(Caption -Photo Bottom right)

"An emaciated father feeds his son out of a tin can. Note that
the children, given the best food in camp, look better than
the men or women. "

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LIFE_Santo _Tomas_Delivered_1945-03-04.jpg

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