Robert Pitka

My name is Ralph. After being rescued by the soldiers we gave our names to some soldiers and climbed aboard a boat where they gave us blankets and some food. When we reached the ship, S.S. Sandbar, we got on and some soldiers brought us to the captain's quarters where he asked us how long we had been on the island. We replied we didn't know how long we'd been on the island. Then they brought us to a room where then told us to rest.

The next day the captain requested that we meet him in his quarters. So we walked though long hallways of pipes and hatches. When we reached the captain's quarters he asked us if there were any dead bodies on the island? I told them there were a couple of my friends' bodies there, plus the grave of the co-pilot who was buried in a big clearing.

After sending some men back to the island, they returned with three body bags. All of us boys watched as the men brought the bodies into another room. They came out a couple minutes later and went to the captain where they talked for a little while, then disappeared into another room. I followed them and asked them where they had taken the bodies. They said they had brought them to the ship's morgue.

That afternoon the captain asked us who was responsible for the death of the co-pilot, and Simon, and Piggy. We were quiet for a while, then Sam told the captain that it was Jack's fault because he was going crazy trying to be the leader. He also told the captain that I was the only person who didn't want to join the tribe and that was why they were chasing me with the spears and yelling.

The captain had his men take Jack to a cell where they locked him up until we reached the U.S. We stayed on the ship for a couple of days doing nothing but wait. Then later they put us on a helicopter and flew us to land where we were greeted by our parents and the press and some other people whom I had never seen before. When I saw my mom I started to cry and I ran over to her and hugged her really hard. As we walked to her car, the press started asking me how long I was on the island and if there were any problems on the island. But my mom told me to just ignore them, and we got into the car and drove home. I had not been home for a while, but when I went to my room it looked just the way I had left it, all my clothes just where I'd tossed them.

The next day my mom woke me up and told me that I would have to go to court and testify that Jack and Roger were responsible for the death of the two boys. I watched as each of the other boys went up to the stand and told the judge how Jack and Roger were acting toward everybody. When I went up I told him that Jack wanted me dead because I was the only person who wouldn't join his little tribe.

For the next few days the trial continued as the prosecutors asked the boys and some of the military personnel about how we looked when they found us. That evening the judge reached his decision that Jack should stay in a juvenile prison until he was 18, and when he reached the legal age he was to be transferred to a maximum security prison for 45 years.

After the trial I went back home, and every night I have the same dream that I am back on the island with Piggy, and I see him get killed and I wake up screaming and I have a hard time sleeping every night. Sometimes when I wake up I don't even know where I am, and it takes me a little while to remember where I am, and when I finally remember I lay back down and try to sleep again.