What happened to Jan during the struggle at the field kitchen?

They proceed down the line. Jan gets bread and soup, but accidentally trips. He drops his soup and Jimpy. Everything had been calm before then, but now the spell is broken. The starving children descend on the food. It is madness; the soldiers and workers can do nothing to stop the wild scrum.

Finally, order prevails, but Jimpy is dead. Jan is too shocked to register what happened. Bronia, thankfully, was not in the rush of children. As for Ruth, she was caught in the middle and pulled up by a hand. She looked to see whose hand it was, and saw that it was Edek’s.