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Show Logan Soldier Escapes From Japanese Prison Word has been received in Logan that Private First Class Joseph Richard Jenson, 22, son of Professor and Mrs. Joseph R. Jenson, 45 West Second North, one ' of the first Logan servicemen to be reported missing in the present war, is safe in Australia after having escaped from a Japanese prison camp on Negros island in the Philippines. v The story of his escape was revealtd by army public relations rela-tions officers at the William Beaumont General hospital in El Paso, Texas, Sunday. A member -of the party interviewed interview-ed at the hospital said that 10 of the enlisted men who escaped es-caped from the Philippines were safe in allied territory. The men had been held prisoners pris-oners for more than a year on Negros island, which is east of Mindano in the Philippines. Their opportunity for escape came in the summer of 1943 when the prisoners were stationed station-ed in a igarage in Bacolob, a town with a population of about 20,000. They made their break on a day when most of the Japanese guards had left the garrison, and left. They concealed rifles and 76 rounds of ammunition in a truck and were able to escape into the hills where they lived for 10 months with guerilla forces. Coach and Mrs. Jenson re-' ceived their first hint that their son might be alive two month ago when they received a letter from the war department that said, "there is a possibility that your son is all right. He has left the Philippines." Next came letters from Private Pri-vate Jenson himself and 'with them warnings from military authorities that his escape and presence in Australia must be kept secret. He wrote six letters, let-ters, but none told how or from where he had escaped. He did assure his parents that he was uninjured and recuperating recuper-ating in an Australian hospital. hos-pital. He was reported missing 31 months ago following the battle bat-tle of Battan. He enlisted in the service December, 1940 and trained at Fort MacArthur, near San Pedro, Calif., and at Letterman General hospital, San Francisco, Calif. He went overseas over-seas in October, 1941 and was serving with a medical unit. He fought through the Philippine Phil-ippine campaign and his last letter to his folks read, "we are ducking Japanese bullets now, but don't worry. I'll be all right." His father is professor of physical education at Utah State Agricultural college. |