PROFILES AMERICAN SPECIAL PRISONERS OF JAPAN

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7TH POW JAPAN TRIP, DECEMBER 5-14, 2015

The following five American veterans, members of the U.S. Army Air Corps and U.S. Navy, travel to Japan on a Japanese government-funded program of remembrance and reconciliation. They will visit the sites of their capture, torture, and rescue as well as several Japanese cultural properties.

These men were “special prisoners” who were afforded no rights or even minimal care. One of the trip’s participants, Fiske Hanley, wrote a book, Accused American War Criminal on the horrors he and other flyers endured. Two of the men, Navy aviators Charles Brown and William Connell, were mentioned at length in James Bradley’s Fly Boys. Connell is believed to be the last American to leave Chichijima alive (others were beheaded and cannibalized).

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They will visit the location of the Kempeitai Tokyo Regional Headquarters where the US Army Air Corps aviators were tortured and held in the infamous horse stalls. The site is now the municipal building for the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo. The Kempeitai HQ for the Empire was located at today’s Palace Hotel. They will also visit the man-made island (by American POWs) that was the Omori POW Camp, where they were all held the final days of the war. It was the first POW camp liberated on the mainland. This site is now a motor boat racing venue and called Heiwajima or Peace Island. They also plan to visit the site of Ofuna, the Imperial Navy’s interrogation center in Kamakura where the two Navy aviators were held as well as Pappy Boyington and Louis Zamperini.

The men will include a visit to the Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage and the memorial to the Raids in Yokomamicho Park. The Foreign Ministry will host a reception for them.

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CHARLES H. BROWN, 91, resides in Kingwood, West Virginia where he was born and raised. Upon graduating high school in the spring of 1942, he enlisted in the V-5 program (Naval Aviation Cadet) of the U.S. Navy. In the period 1942 to 1945, the Navy produced 61,658 pilots - more than 2.5 times the number of pilots as the Imperial Japanese Navy. After a semester at Potomac State College in Keyser, West Virginia, he traveled to Washington, DC to impress upon the Office of Naval Personnel that he was ready to enlist. He entered active duty February 10, 1943 and took Navy pre-flight training at the University of Georgia at Athens. After advanced training in Kansas and Texas, he was commissioned an Ensign on April 1, 1944. After training to fly a Douglas SBD Dauntless (divebomber) at the Naval Air Station in Deland, Florida, he was sent to the Naval Air Station Glenview, Illinois for carrier training and then to the Naval Air Station Astoria, Oregon to learn to fly a SB2C Curtiss Helldiver. He left San Francisco on January 20, 1945, aboard the USS Randolph CV15 assigned to the VB-12 of Carrier Air Group 12 known as “Crommelin’s Thunderbirds” after their legendary Commander Charles Crommelin. They were engaged in the first carrier strikes against Japan. Barely 26 days at sea and on his first mission, Brown was shot down on February 16, 1945 by anti-aircraft fire while bombing a factory. He made a water landing on Lake Kasumigaura, Japan’s second-largest lake, which is about 35 miles northeast of Tokyo. Villagers from Kamiotsu (today’s Tsuchiura in Ibaraki Prefecture) captured him and his gunner. They paraded the men to authorities with their hands tied behind their backs, blindfolded, and subject to local women hitting them with their geta (wooden shores). At the train station, Brown was briefly positioned for what he thought was to be a beheading. Instead, he was jerked to his feet and put on a train to Tokyo and the Kempeitai’s Regional Headquarters. There he was subject to continual, ruthless interrogation and kept in a filthy horse stall with a Japanese civilian, who was possibly an informer, and a Korean civilian, who taught him how to use chopsticks. Brown was not considered a POW; he was a criminal, a “special prisoner” outside any protections of military custom. After two weeks he was then taken from Tokyo to the notorious Ofuna Naval Interrogation Center in the historic seaside town of Kamakura. After a month of solitary confinement in a 6’ x 8’ cell, he was permitted to mix with other prisoners, but not to speak. At Ofuna, there was continual mental and physical torture on top of starvation and minimal sanitation. The Ofuna interpreter told the prisoners that there was a standing order that if the Japanese homeland was invaded, all prisoners were to be executed. While at Ofuna, he witnessed a “delivery” of young comfort women to the guards, which temporarily displaced the prisoners from their cells for the guards’ “recreation.” Sometime near July 1, 1945, the survivors were transferred to the Omori POW Camp Tokyo #1, an island in Tokyo Bay built by POWs. Finally, the prisoners were permitted to talk to each other and have their wounds treated. However, the special prisoners were kept in a separate barracks surrounded by barbwire and not allowed to associate with the other POWs. By late July, physically and mentally fading, he was confronted by another prisoner, flying ace Major Gregory “Pappy” Boyington who cajoled him to “hang in there.” And he did. On August 15th, the Emperor’s address to the nation telling his people to stop fighting was broadcast throughout the camp. Much to Brown’s surprise the ‘kill all order” was not given and, instead, each special prisoner was given an envelope of Japanese currency for their “time” at Ofuna. Suffering from severe malnutrition, Brown barely remembers the next two weeks. On August 28, 1945, weighing 97 pounds, he was taken aboard the U.S. hospital ship Benevolence and soon flown back to the United States to recuperate from the after effects of beriberi, dysentery, avitaminosis, and beatings. After leaving the Navy in January 1946, he returned home and enrolled in West Virginia University where he received his AB and LLB in 1950. Brown became an attorney and practiced real estate and banking law for 50 years. He did not receive help for his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from the Veterans Administration (VA) until 1997, but he credits the VA counseling service with helping rid him of his persistent nightmares. He has been married to Betty for 67 years. They had three children. Some of Mr. Brown’s experiences as a POW are included in James Bradley’s 2004 best-selling history, Fly Boys: A True Story of Courage and Roy W. Bruce’s 1994 Crommelin's Thunderbirds: Air Group 12 Strikes the Heart of Japan. Mr. Brown’s POW memoir and oral history can be found at the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project.

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WILLIAM L. CONNELL, 91, lives in Edina, Minnesota. Born in Bakersfield, California, he grew up in Seattle, Washington. At 17, after graduating high school, he enlisted August 29, 1942 in the U.S. Navy and was sent to Yakima, Washington to join the Civil Air Patrol (CAP) to learn to fly. The Yakima Composite Squadron is one the few remaining original CAP Charter Squadrons. In January 1943, he began his Naval Aviation Cadet training at the University of Iowa, Iowa City. In April, he was sent to flight school at Naval Air Station Olathe, Gardner Kansas where they trained on the N3N Yellow Peril bi-plane for two months. Next was the Pensacola Naval Air Station to learn to fly a variety modern aircraft. He graduated in December 1943 becoming an Ensign and Naval Aviator. He spent the next three months in Douglas SBD Dauntless (divebomber) training at the Deland Naval Air Station in Florida and then six weeks at the Naval Air Station Glenview, Illinois for carrier training on Lake Michigan. Next was training on the new SB2C Curtiss Helldiver at Naval Air Station Barbers Point, Connell was assigned as a replacement pilot to Air Group 2 aboard the USS Hornet (CV-12), which he joined on June 29, 1944 at the Enewetak Atoll in the Marshall Islands. Enewetak, captured in February 1944, was a major forward base for the U.S. Navy during the rest of the war. After the war, the atoll was used for nuclear testing as part of the Pacific Proving Grounds. Forty-three nuclear tests were fired at Enewetak from 1948 to 1958. Connell’s first and last mission was July 4, 1944. After a predawn takeoff, Connell and his gunner, Ben Wolf, approached the small volcanic island of Chichijima in the Bonins, known today as the Ogasawara Islands. Their squadron was to bomb one of the heavily-garrisoned island's two radio bunkers, but as they approached their objective, they spotted two Japanese freighters entering the harbor. They decided to attack them as targets of opportunity. But before Connell had a chance to drop his bombs, an anti-aircraft shell exploded beside his airplane, tearing off the tail section. Although Connell was able to parachute out safely, his gunner did not. He landed in the waters near Chichijima and was captured. His first day was spent strapped to a tree in an excruciatingly painful position that prevented him from sitting. In the week that followed, he was either tied to the tree or being interrogated. While he was on the island, eight American aviators were captured, beheaded, and partially cannibalized for dinners by the General Staff. Five Japanese officers were eventually hanged for these crimes that were chronicled by Chester G. Hearn in his 2003 Sorties into Hell: The Hidden War on Chichi Jima. Connell has the distinction of being the last American to leave the island alive. He was taken to Japan to the Ofuna Naval Interrogation Center in Kamakura, about 30 miles southwest of Tokyo. He spent nearly ten months there enduring isolation, brutal interrogation, and starvation. In April 1945, he was transferred to the Omori POW Camp Tokyo #1, an island in Tokyo Bay built by POWs. Today, the island is Heiwajima, a motorboat racing venue. Considered a “special prisoner” he and other aviators were kept in a separate barracks away from the other POWs on the island. They were considered criminals, not captives. Those who could work were sent out into the firebombed Tokyo to clear the rubble and salvage building materials. Daily, they were threatened with execution if Japan lost the war. Fellow prisoner, the Marine Corps flying ace Major Gregory “Pappy” Boyington organized Connell and other to fight back if the Japanese tried to enact this plan. In the end, this was not necessary and their Japanese captors disappeared soon after the Emperor’s speech ending hostilities on August 15, 1945. After liberation at the end of August, he was flown back to the United States to recuperate at the Naval Air Station, Sandpoint, Seattle Washington hospital. Despite his ordeals, he remained in the Navy and retired in 1964 as a Lieutenant Commander. He spent the next 23 years as a State Farm Insurance agent. After his second retirement, he worked for the next 11 years in various positions at the Minnesota Valley Country Club in Bloomington, Minnesota. Connell has since turned his attention toward educating children about the history of World War II and mentoring them through golf and tennis. In 2012, he took his second parachute jump, but this time under much more controlled circumstances in Minnesota. He has also returned to Chichijima several times--once with President George H.W. Bush, who was also shot down near the island. Twice married, Connell is the father of four children. He is mentioned prominently in James Bradley’s 2004 best-selling history, Fly Boys: A True Story of Courage. His oral history has been recorded by the POW Oral History Project, based at Concordia University, St Paul as well as by the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project.

SCOTT M. DOWNING, JR, 96, resides in Amarillo, Texas. He was working for Boeing Aircraft making B-17s in Seattle, Washington when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in September 1942. He was not called to active duty until February 15, 1943 and he began his basic training at Buckley Field, Denver, Colorado (today’s Buckley AFB). He was then sent to Fort Hays State College in Kansas for Cadet Training and then to Bombardier School at Big Spring, Texas. In June 1944, he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant and sent to Harvard Army Airfield, Nebraska (today’s Harvard State Airport) and the 505th Bombardment Group for B-29 training. In mid-December 1944, he reported to Grand Island Army Airfield, Nebraska (today’s Central Nebraska Regional Airport) to pick up a new B-29 plane and was sent to Tinian to join the 482 BS, 313 Wing, 505 Bombardment Group, 20th Air Force in the Mariana Islands, arriving December 27th. Raids against Japan from Tinian had started November 24, 1944. His crew’s bombing and mining missions began on January 29, 1945. On their 20th mission over Tokyo on May 25/26, 1945, his B-29 was shot down near Musai, about 15 miles northeast of Tokyo in Chiba Prefecture. He bailed out of the burning plane and was captured almost immediately by civilians who turned him over to military personnel. The next day he and three other members of his crew were trucked through bombed-out downtown Tokyo to the Kempeitai Tokyo Regional Headquarters. After initial interrogations and beatings, he was thrown in a cell that was about 8’ x 12’. These were converted horse stalls that often held 19 men per cell including some that were critically burned and injured. For roughly three months, Downing subsisted on a baseball-sized ball of rice each day, and his weight fell from 165 to 120 pounds. These months were marked by a horrible monotony of fear and homesickness, occasionally interrupted by guard-administered beatings and sadistic interrogations. The men were not allowed to talk, wash, shave, or receive medical care. Conditions were so tight that when everyone would lie down to sleep, the only way to turn over was to stand in place, turn, and then lie back down. Throughout the day and night, they listened to fellow POWs–some of whom had been severely burned–scream in pain or insanity and struggle to take one more breath before their breathing stopped altogether. It is estimated that 250 American flyers were brought the Kempeitai Tokyo Regional Headquarters, but only 160 survived. On August 15, 1945, Downing and his fellow prisoners were moved to a barbed wire-surrounded barracks on a five-acre man-made island between Tokyo and Yokohama called Omori POW Camp Tokyo #1. This move was part of an agreement between the United States and Japan in anticipation of the end of the war. It was a tough camp but a relief from the Kempeitai horse stalls. On Omori, the prisoners had more freedom and could talk, bathe and exercise. On August 29, 1945, the over 500 POWs including 155 B-29 flyers on Omori became the first liberated by American forces. After the war he was in and out of Madigan General Hospital (today’s Madigan Army Medical Center) at Fort Lewis, Washington. He remained in the service and was assigned duty in the spring of 1946 at Clinton County Air Base in Ohio. In April 1947, he was ordered to Japan and was sent to the 611th Aircraft Control and Warning Squadron at Shiroi Air Base (today’s Shimofusa Japan Maritime Self Defense Forces Air Base) located northeast of Tokyo. Downing was soon asked to help investigate the atrocities committed by the Tokyo Kempeitai for war crimes prosecution in Yokohama. Working in the Investigation Division of the Legal Section of General Headquarters, Japan, he helped interrogate Japanese defendants and assisted the prosecutor by preparing the witnesses. He also testified concerning conditions and the treatment of the prisoners at the Tokyo regional Kempeitai Headquarters. Discharged from the Air Force while in Japan, he concluded his part of the investigation in early fall of 1948 and returned to the United States and Canyon, Texas. He then entered the construction business with his two brothers. Downing has been married to Bitsy for 64 years and they have one son. He enjoys fishing and watching college sports. His oral history is held by the Veterans History Project of the Library of Congress.

FISKE HANLEY II, 95, lives in Fort Worth, Texas where he grew up. Always fascinated with aviation, he earned an AS in Aero Engineering from North Texas Agricultural College (today’s University of Texas at Arlington) and in 1943 a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Texas Technology College (today’s Texas Tech University). In his junior year, he was accepted into the Army Air Corps Aviation Cadet Program. Immediately after graduation, he was sent to the Boca Raton Army Airfield, Florida for cadet training for engineering, meteorological, and communications. The base was created from appropriated land of Japanese-Americans. In September 1943, he was sent to Yale University for specialized technical training and graduated in February 1944 with a second lieutenant’s commission. With only 20 members of his Yale class, Hanley was sent to B-29 flight engineering school at the Seattle Boeing factory. Graduating in August, he was assigned to the 504th Bombardment Group training as a flight engineer at Fairmont Army Air Field, Nebraska. In January, his air crew commanded by 2nd. Lt. John A Brown made their way to Tinian. They flew 16 missions, seven considered combat, which included the March 10, 1945 bombing of Tokyo. Hanley’s plane was shot down on March 27, 1945 while mining the Strait of Shimonoseki. One of only two crew members who survived the plane’s destruction, he parachuted into a rice paddy near Ueki, southwest of Yawata, near the steel mills of Kokura on Kyushu Island [today the mills have become UNESCO World Industrial Heritage sites]. His first eight days were spent in or near Kokura at a police station and a military facility. He had his wounds treated twice and he believes he was questioned by a high level Combined Fleet Command about his mission to mine Shimonoseki Straits. In early April, Hanley and 12 other B-29 captured crew members were taken north over 600 miles by train to Tokyo. On April 6th, the group arrived in Tokyo. Before reaching the Kempeitai Tokyo Regional Headquarters, the prisoners’ guards took the time to reward themselves by visiting a Comfort Station, or military brothel. The American flyers were taken to filthy, basement 4’11’ x 9’10” dungeons or “pig boxes” [buta bako] and told that they would either die of their wounds in or be executed. They were “special prisoners,” considered criminals who murdered women and children and lower than the vermin that would infest their cells and bodies. Eight men, a mixture of B-29 crewmen and Japanese political prisoners, were crammed into these cells. Except for one light bulb that burned 24 hours a day in the corridor, these cells were continually shrouded in gloom. Eventually he was sent to a cell holding 19 other men in an 8’ x 12’ horse stall in the back of Kempeitai Tokyo Regional headquarters. Many mortally wounded men were thrown into these cells. Hanley still has nightmares of their groans and screams of agony as they slowly succumbed to their injuries. Subject to constant beatings and brutal interrogations, Hanley and the other POWs were quickly fading from starvation, torture, untreated wounds, unsanitary conditions, and misery. One tormentor, the English-speaking Yasuo Kobayashi particularly stands out for his cruelty. He seemed to thrive on the prisoners’ agony and enjoy their suffering. He was directly responsible for the deaths of many prisoners and the continual torment of the rest. Although sentenced postwar to 40 years hard labor, he was released in 1952 and settled into a peaceful and successful life in Hawaii. On August 15th, the surviving POWs were taken to Omori POW Camp Tokyo #1 a prison camp island constructed by American POWs. Still “special prisoners” they were separated from the other POWs, but allowed more freedom, given medical attention, and could talk, bathe and exercise. On August 29, 1945, the over 500 POWs including 155 B-29 flyers on Omori became the first liberated by American forces. Camp Omori also housed Olympian Louis Zamperini, a WWII hero at the center of Unbroken, a film by Angelina Jolie based on the best-selling book by Laura Hillenbrand. Hanley was a “source for Unbroken” and he was invited to the movie’s Hollywood premiere in 2014. After liberation and medical care on the U.S. hospital ship Benevolence, he was flown back to the United States. He was treated at Letterman Army Hospital and then went home to Texas on leave. He was discharged from the Army Air Corps and married to Betty, an American Airlines stewardess, in June 1946. He went to work as an engineer for Consolidated-Vultee Aircraft in Fort Worth, which became Convair, then General Dynamics, and now today’s Lockheed Martin. He worked on developing new bombers and fighters as well as NASA’s Saturn V moon rocket. He retired in 1989 and wrote The History of the 504th Bomb Group in World War II and then his autobiography, Accused American War Criminal: One of Few Survivors of Japanese Kempei Tai Military Police Brutality. Married to Betty for 23 years they had three children.


DONALD E. RYAN, 93, lives in Sebring, Florida. He grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan and enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on November 16, 1942. He did his basic training at the Big Spring Army Air Force Bombardier School in Texas. In January 1943, he was sent to the Gulfport Army Air Field in Mississippi for aircraft training on P-39/P-40s and other older planes. He then trained at Boeing’s B-29 flight engineering school in Renton, Washington. In August 1943, he was assigned to the 794-468th Bombardment Group; 58th Wing, 20th Air Force at the Smoky Hill Army Airfield Salina, Kansas with the first group to train on the B-29 Superfortress. In January 1944, the 468th Bombardment Group shipped out to the Kalaikunda Air Force Station in Kharagpur, West Bengal, India. It was one of four B-29 bases established by the U.S. in India. Ryan flew as a tail gunner in the 16 missions they had in India which included flying gasoline and bombs over the “hump” (the Himalayan Mountains) to China; bombing railyards and docks in Bangkok, Singapore, and Sumatra. The crew also participated in the bombing the steel mills at Yawata on Kyushu (today an UNESCO World Industrial Heritage site). In April 1945, they were reassigned to Tinian in the Mariana Islands. On their second mission, May 25-26, 1945 to bomb Tokyo, his plane was attacked and hit by fighter planes and those that could, bailed out. Ryan landed on a farmer’s fence near today’s Misato in Saitama prefecture close to Tokyo. The local Kempeitai official, who identified himself as having attended the University of Michigan, questioned him while “playing” Russian roulette on him. This intimidation was reinforced by taking Ryan to a saw mill and alternatively trying to stuff him into a casket or pushing him toward the buzz saw. He was soon turned over to military authorities in Tokyo and told he was a “special prisoner,” undeserving of care or POW status. He was taken to the Kempeitai Tokyo Regional Headquarters near the Imperial Palace. He was put in an 8’ x 10’ cell that was once a horse stall with 16 other men. Flies and lice soon turned his and his cellmates’ skin into unending open boils and infections. Continual beatings, starvation, darkness, filth, random cruelty by the guards, and dehydration wore on his humanity and morale. He endured the slow deaths of two badly burned fliers who were added to his cell. On August 15th, the horse stalls were emptied and the prisoners were taken to Tokyo Bay to wash in the surf and then to Omori POW Camp Tokyo #1. Still “special prisoners,” the men were held in barracks separate from the other POWs on this man-made island outside Tokyo. It was a tough camp but the prisoners had more freedom and could talk, bathe and exercise. On August 29, 1945, the over 500 POWs including 155 B-29 flyers on Omori became the first liberated by American forces. Ryan was evacuated to the USS Benevolence and soon flown to Hawaii to take a ship back to the United States. He spent at least six months in the Edward Hines, Jr., Veterans Administration Hospital outside Chicago and was discharged from the Army Air Corps in mid-1946. Ryan returned home to Kalamazoo where he worked with his brother in a truck leasing business and for a number of years owned the Otsego Inn. He has five children from his first marriage. He enjoys dancing and married his fourth wife in 2013.

Sourcing Japanese Denier History

Denying cannibalism by Japanese troops is a popular trope used by Japan's Rightwingers to discredit the book and film Unbroken. The net-uyoku have accused the author of Unbroken of spreading a lie about Japanese having a “custom” of cannibalism. They proudly declare that Japan has no "food culture" of cannibalism, thus it is simply untrue that Imperial Japanese soldiers and sailors consumed POWs out of hunger or triumph. This denial is at the heart of the online petition to ban the movie in Japan. However, neither the book nor the movie depict acts of cannibalism.

Unbroken is a biography of Olympian and former American POW of Japan Louis Zamperini. The author, Laura Hillenbrand, tries to capture in one paragraph (p 315), the litany of abuses heaped upon those captured by the Japanese. One clause in one sentence refers to "eaten alive in ritual acts of cannibalism." Nowhere else is this mentioned.

The book has not been translated into Japanese nor has the film been shown in Japan. Thus, what is the source of this misperception?

It seems that it can be traced to an one-word mistranslation in a book review of Unbroken in Wedge, a conservative magazine published by a subsidiary of JR Central [see below]. The honorary chairman of JR Central is Yoshiyuki Kasai and the then-adviser to the magazine and JR Central was Tomohiko Taniguchi. Kasai is a confidante of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and lead promoter of hi-speed rail in the United States. Taniguchi is now in charge of the Abe government's international public relations. 

Neither man has moved to clear up this misunderstanding. Both are deeply concerned with Japan's global public image. The result is that the campaign  against Unbroken is intensifying and in December a book was published embellishing the false notion that Unbroken is part of a campaign to dishonor Japan. This view is part of a greater ideology that the war crimes trials were based of falsified information and the product of victor's justice.

As many readers of this blog know, JR Central now owns the railcar manufacturer Nippon Sharyo, a company that used American and Allied POWs as slave labor at its factory in Narumi. A founder of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, Sam Moody, was tortured at the camp. JR Central is vying for high speed rail contracts in Texas and the East Coast. Nippon Sharyo will be part of these bids as well as bids by JR East for this year's high speed rail contracts in California.

The reports of cannibalism are true. Officers were prosecuted in war crimes trials and hanged. Imperial Japan's excessive abuse of its military and civilian prisoners is also true.

The following, for scholarly understanding and analysis, is a provisional, annotated translation of the Wedge article that propagated the campaign against Unbroken.

Very Popular Book In U.S.A. Stirs-up Anti-Japan Feelings
-- Japanese Military's Abuse of POWs, Why Bring It Up Now?

Wedge Magazine, February 20, 2011
By Soichiro MORIKAWA -- Journalist who has experience of living in New York during the time of IT Bubble
Link: 反日感情をあおる本が米国で大人気

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COLUMN: What best-seller books are being read in America? Learn about trends/signs of the times. You think you know, but may not really know, the true state of affairs in America -- and this is essential for thinking about Japan.
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"UNBROKEN", by Laura Hillenbrand, published by Random House. $27.00

A non-fiction book which describes the true story, in great detail, how a Japanese soldier abused a U.S. POW during World War II. It is unmistakably a book which will certainly heighten anti-Japanese feelings in America, and is being widely-read in the U.S. It is a special category book listed in the New York Times weekly non-fiction bestseller list, and has ranked in the top-five for thirteen-straight weeks. Most recently it dropped to number two, but for six weeks before that it was at the top of the list.

-- JAPANESE MILITARY'S ABUSE OF POWS

Louis Zamperini, is currently a healthy 93-year-old American man of Italian ancestry. The book follows/describes the misfortunes he experienced during his lifetime -- in particular how he had to deal with inhumane treatment as a POW held by the Imperial Japanese military.

As a young 19-year-old middle-distance runner, he raced in the 1936 Berlin Olympics as part of the U.S.A.'s team. He did not win a medal, but his hard-running style drew the attention of Adolf Hitler, who was watching from the stands -- and there is an anecdote that later on,

Hitler shook Zamperini's hand.

Thereafter, Zamperini continued to train as a runner, hoping to compete in teh 1940 Olympics, which were schedule to be held in Tokyo -- but due to the Japan-China War, those games were postponed, and he joined the U.S. Army Air Force. However, bad luck later struck when his aircraft developed engine trouble and it crashed. He eventually drifted ashore on Kwajalein Island, located in the Marshall Islands, about 3,900 KM southwest of Honolulu, Hawaii.

That was when Zamperini became a POW of the Japanese military, in a place which was called "Execution Island." Zamperini was not executed, once the Japanese military realized he was an Olympic athlete, and he was sent bakc to the mainland Japan.

After that, we had to survive being a POW, who was moved from place-to-place in camps at Ofuna, Omori, and Naoetsu, and eventually returned alive to America in August 1945. The book describes, in a cool/factual style, the numerous cases/examples of maltreatment Zamperini received while in the POW camps -- and, conversely, this really causes the image of the cruel Japanese soldiers to vividly emerge.

In particular, the most involved/powerful descriptions of abuse and cruelty are those which cover the actions of Japanese Corporal Mutsuhiro Watanabe, who came to be called "The Bird." The book calls Watanabe a sadist, who seemed to derive sexual pleasure feelings from punishing/tormenting the POWs. For example, the following is one example of innumerable POW-abuse scenes which
are written in the book:

--"THE BIRD," SADISTIC WATANABE

"The Bird swung the belt backward, with the buckle on the loose end, and then whipped it around himself and forward, as if he were performing a hammer throw. The buckle rammed into Louie’s left temple and ear. Louie felt as if he had been shot in the head. Though he had resolved never to let the Bird knock him down, the power of blow, and the explosive pain that followed, overawed everything in him. His legs seemed to liquefy, and he went down. The room spun." (page 251)

Corporal Watanabe, aka "The Bird", made Zamperini his personal enemy, and almost every day he would beat Zamperini, and would also prevent him from receiving adequate amounts of food. The book also states that Japanese soldiers would seize food from International Red Cross relief packages, and prevent distribution of such food to the POWs.

The book further describes, using statistical information, to show that Japan's treatment of POWs was clearly much worse and cruel than Nazi Germany.

"In its rampage over the east, Japan had brought atrocity and death on a scale that staggers the imagination. In the midst of it were the prisoners of war. Japan held some 132,000 POWs from America, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, Holland, and Australia. Of those, nearly 36,000 died, more than one in every four. Americans fared particularly badly; of the 34,648 Americans held by Japan, 12,935? more than 37 percent?died. By comparison, only 1 percent of Americans held by the Nazis and Italians died." (pages 314-315)

POWs were subjected to especially cruel treatment, supposedly, as described in the following passage...

"Thousands of other POWs were beaten, burned, stabbed, or clubbed to death, shot, beheaded, killed during medical experiments, or eaten alive in ritual acts of cannibalism. And as a result of being fed grossly inadequate and befouled food and water, thousands more died of starvation and easily preventable diseases." (page 315)

** TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: Here Mr. Morikawa (mis)translated the phrase "ritual acts of cannibalism" as hito-kui fushu de-- he used the word fushu for "ritual," but,  fushu's meaning is "customary, or common practice -- which does not really match the nuance of ritual.**

The book then tries to explain why the Japanese military's abuse of POWs occurred so routinely/commonly. As is shown in the following quote, the cause can be seen from one aspect of the Japanese military's unique "culture": "In the Japanese military of that era, corporal punishment was routine practice. “Iron must be beaten while it’s hot; soldiers must be beaten while they’re fresh” was a saying among servicemen. “No strong soldiers,” went another, “are made without beatings.” For all Japanese soldiers, especially low-ranking ones, beating was inescapable, often a daily event." (page 194)

Since Japanese soldiers themselves routinely experienced being beaten, their resentment/anger was thereafter directed at the POWs.

This writer, Morikawa, at the time of reading this section of the book, recalled reading the war novel: "The Human Condition", by Junpei Gomikawa, which described the irrational/unreasonable aspects of the army, and I found myself nodding in agreement with what was written about the reality/true nature of the Japanese military in UNBROKEN.

-- JUSTIFICATION OF THE A-BOMBINGS

However, I cannot accept the logic deployed by the book that: since POWs were abused/treated cruelly, therefore, the large-scale bombings of Tokyo and other cities, and the A-bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were unavoidable.

For example, the book tells of a newly-released POW, right after the end of the war, travelling by train through central Hiroshima after the dropping of the a-bomb, and looking at the scene he said:

“Nothing! It was beautiful.”

The American POW felt it was due to the A-bombings that he was able to meet/reach the end of the war, where he were released from captivity. So this is the deep emotion he had when he saw devastated nothingness of the central explosion area -- and to him it looked beautiful. The book records the ex-POW's comment using the following expression:

“I know it’s not right to say it was beautiful, because it really wasn’t. But I believed the end probably justified the means.” (p320)

-- IS JAPAN'S DIPLOMACY COPING/ABLE TO DEAL WITH THIS BESTSELLER?

The typical thinking/logic of America's conservative class can be seen in the assertion that the A-bombings were unavoidable actions, which were required to end the war. While UNBROKEN goes into great detail explaining the abuse of POWs by Japanese soldiers, it does not mention at all that hundreds of thousands of civilians were killed by the A-bombings. The following passage from the book is written as if to say that, from the start, the Japanese government was really responsible for the victims of the A-bombings:

"That same night, B-29s showered leaflets over thirty-five Japanese cities, warning civilians of coming bombings and urging them to evacuate. The Japanese government ordered civilians to turn the leaflets in to authorities, forbade them from sharing the warnings with others, and arrested anyone with leaflets in their possession. Among the cities listed on the leaflets were Hiroshima and Nagasaki." (page 297)

To be honest, this writer, Morikawa, had no previous knowledge about the issue of how Japan handled/treated POWs during the Second World War. So, I had numerous confused/bewildered thoughts as I read UNBROKEN. I also have no ability to judge/verify the statistical information which was cited in the book.

Furthermore, what I cannot understand is why this book was published at this time -- and, beyond that, that fact of how it has become a top best-seller.

Japanese should take notice/be aware that such a book is selling well in America. I think it would be wise for Japan's MOFA to read and analyze the contents of UNBROKEN, and then develop a countermeasures plan as part of a diplomatic strategy to improve the image of Japan.

Beheaded on New Guinea, Honored in Rhode Island

purchase model

May 27th, which happens to be Memorial Day in both United States and Japan this year (2013), was the 69th anniversary (1944) of the downing of Army Air Corps 2nd Lt. Robert E. Thorpe's P-47D Thunderbolt by Japanese ground fire near Kairiru Island, New Guinea.

Lt. Thorpe, 20, after ditching his damaged plane, swam ashore to Kairiru. There, he had the misfortune to become a POW to some of Imperial Japan's more sadistic Naval officers.

According to a Yokohama War Crimes Trial summary record (Case 329), Thorpe was first beaten and interrogated by Lt. Commander Kaoru Okuma and and Lt. Isamu Amenomoro. When Thorpe continued to refuse to supply any information other than name, rank and serial number, Okuma invited a group of soldiers to join in on the beating.


Whether Thorpe cooperated or not, the Commander of the 27th Japanese Special Naval Base Force Rear Admiral Shiro Sato had already ordered his execution. He explained to his Chief of Staff that on the Mainland all captured American flyers were executed and that "under the present circumstances...the execution of the prisoner of war cannot be helped."

Lt. Yutaka Odazawa, who had been selected to execute the prisoner, warned his fellow officers who wished to use Thorpe as target practice to shoot the prisoner below the waist otherwise it would difficult to behead him. After a number of gunshot wounds, Thorpe dropped to his knees and was held in this position at the edge of freshly dug grave. The trial records note:

Odazawa said to the flyer, "I am going to behead you under orders";  "I am golng to kill you"; "I Odazawa will now proceed to execute you"; "You wilI first go to Paradise, and I will follow you later on"; "Due to the war, it cannot be helped; I will dispose of you." He then poured water on the prisoners neck and on his samurai sword. With one blow of the sword, he struck the prisoner in the back of the neck. The head was not completely severed, but was hanglng by a small bit of flesh. After the blow the prisoner fell into the grave.

In the trial testimony, it was said that a Medical Petty Officer Waichi Ogawa climbed into the grave and cut out an organ from the deceased flyer. It does not say what was removed, but it is likely to have been the liver. As documented in James Bradley's, Flyboys: A True Story of Courage (2003), it was not unusual for Japanese commanding officers to consume the liver of their enemies.

Rear Admiral Shiro Sato killed himself and his entire family at his Yokosuka home in 1946. Petty Officer Waichi Ogawa was Sugamo Prison's first suicide (August 1947) during the Yokohama Class B and C War Crimes Trials. Lt. Commander Kaoru Okuma, was convicted in 1948 for his war crimes and hanged in 1949. Oddly, according to court records, his own father concurred with the death sentence.

Remembered in Rhode Island
On May 14th, Rhode Island State Representative Peter F. Martin (D-Dist. 75, Newport) introduced a Resolution on the House floor – unanimously supported by the Chamber – honoring Rhode Island native Lt. Robert E. Thorpe. “Lt. Thorpe is a hero in every sense of the word,” said Representative Martin. “He probably could have escaped some of the brutality inflicted upon him if he had been willing to cooperate with his captors. Instead, he went to his death bravely and defiantly.”

State House Resolution H 6114 (2013) "requests the Governor to honor 2nd Lt. Robert E. Thorpe posthumously with the Rhode Island star and the Rhode Island cross for his extraordinary heroism in the service of our nation during WWII; and be it further RESOLVED, That this House hereby urges the Graves Record Administration to re-investigate and bring the remains of 2nd Lt. Robert E. Thorpe home."

2nd Lt. Robert E. Thorpe's unmarked grave was never found and a memorial had never been held. Yet, his family and dedicated others have in the past decade stepped up efforts to locate him. During August 2009, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) did excavate a grave site thought to be Thorpe's, but found nothing.

On May 17th, the Rhode Island State House finally honored Lt. Thorpe at a special ceremony [a video worth watching]. Present were Lt. Thorpe’s brother Gill and members of his family as well as Capt. Lewis Lockhart, a WWII fighter pilot who was Lt. Thorpe’s friend. Political leaders present included Governor Lincoln Chaffee and Cranston Mayor Allan Fung, who is the first Asian-American mayor in Rhode Island. Mayor Fung declared May 17th Robert E. Thorpe, Jr. Day in Cranston.

Video of the Ceremony

Unforgotten
A book in the works, Broken Trust by Ken Dooley [to be published August 2015 as Relentless Pursuit], documents Thorpe's life, death, and the quest to bring him home. One journalist who previewed the book said it suggests the question "Were a good many guilty people in Germany and Japan spared the justice they deserved?" He compares the draft with the bestseller Unbroken and observes that they demonstrate "how that spirit of reconciliation has been disturbed in the last decade, as several writers have gone back and combed official records and trial transcripts that paint a Japanese culture far removed from serene gardens, arranged flowers and delicate poetry pondered in the moonlight."

Dooley said at the memorial ‘‘There once lived a man named Robert E. Thorpe, who stood on a lonely beach and who, in the words of one of his tormentors, died magnificently.’’

These memorials, resolutions, books, articles, and videos show that Imperial Japan's victims are not forgotten. A new generation still searches for closure. The Japanese are wrong to believe we will forget.

Visiting Outliers

Lt. Gen. Tachibani surrendering

Iwo Jima and Chichijima are islands on the edges of Japan. Barely 150 miles apart, both have unique histories. Neither was ever fully Japanese nor returned to Japan at the end of the Occupation. Both are remembered for their bloody legacies from the last months of the Pacific War.

Two best-selling books by James Bradley tell the wartime histories of these small islands, Flags of Our Fathers (2000) and Flyboys: A True Story of Courage (2003).

Chichijima is best known for being the site of one of the worst crimes against American POWs, which is the subject of Mr. Bradley's latter book.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to visit both this Sunday, April 14th. It is a trip of reparation.

After declaring that April 28th is Sovereignty Restoration Day commemorating the end of the US Occupation of Japan in 1952, Abe Administration had to backtrack. Neither the Ryukyu (Iwo Jima) nor Ogasawara (Chichijima) island chains were returned at that time. Both used to host U.S. military facilities, the latter had to wait until 1968 and the former until 1972.

Hoping to placate protesters so that they will accept his narrow definition of sovereignty, Abe plans to visit Iwo Jima (now called Iwoto) to honor the Japanese dead from one the bloodiest battles of WWII and then fly to Chichijima, first settled by Westerners in the 1600s, to talk with its residents. On both islands he will be haunted by these islands' complicated war histories.

The Battle of Iwo Jima is well-known and memorialized. What happened on Chichijima is considered best forgotten. Although Chichijima was never invaded, it is the site of infamous war crimes against American POWs for which four Japanese officers were hanged.

During the Battle of Iwo Jima, U.S. United States Navy pilots tried to bomb Chichijima's two strategic radio stations. Nine crewmen survived after being shot down in the raids. One, Lieutenant George H. W. Bush, was rescued by an American submarine. The others were captured by the Japanese and tortured. And as chronicled by Chester G. Hearn in Sorties into Hell: The Hidden War on Chichi Jima, these POWs were then executed and partially eaten by both Imperial Army and Navy officers. Their livers were fried for a dinner party.

Cannibalism toward POWs or even dead fellow soldiers was reportedly not unusual among Japanese troops. The trials and convictions of 30 Japanese soldiers and four officers on Guam, including the commanding General Joshio Taichibana for war crimes was unusual.

Aides to Abe said the visit to Chichijima was intended to show consideration for those areas that were not covered under the San Fransico Peace Treaty's restoration of sovereignty. But will he show consideration to the reasons for the need for the treaty?

As of 2011, the Ogasawara Islands are a World Heritage site.