The next day many B.29's flew over and we managed to attract their attention with the aid of mirrors. After circling around the camp, they opened the bomb-bays and dropped large cannisters containing food, clothing, medical supplies, cigarettes, books, and newspapers. Although these cannisters were fastened to parachutes, the planes were so low that many of the packages were damaged, and others fell into the canals; but what did land safely was more than enough for our immediate needs.
From then onwards, supplies were dropped daily. P.51's and P.38's also came over with small gift parcels, contributed by the different messes on the aircraft carriers. After dropping these gifts, they circled and did victory rolls over the camp. We obtained an Aldis lamp and were able to communicate with the planes and give locations of the camps. Before many days passed, the area for hundreds of yards around the camp was covered with parachutes of all colours. We forced the Japanese guards, who had dominated us for so long, to gather in the packages which were dropped.
In the afternoons and evenings, we would fill a bag of sugar or other valuable commodities and would go into the town and enjoy ourselves. We would go into shops and hotels, and if we required an article, give in exchange a handful of sugar, etc. Geisha houses in the Yoshiwara district soon became favourite haunts for those seeking wine, women, and song. Others spent their time visiting the historic and beautiful temples at Kyoto which, incidentally, being noted for its temples and shrines, had never been bombed.
It was interesting to know that, although our fellows were going everywhere, mostly in ones or twos, there was not one case of them ever meeting trouble from the Japanese. The latter were docile and, I think, afraid of us. They had never before, in all their history, suffered the humiliation of being a conquered nation, and they were afraid that our troops when they arrived, would behave in the same way, that their own troops had done in captured towns and cities in China and the Pacific.