The War Below
Page 50
Men lulled themselves to sleep: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 297.
“Eating soup with worms”: Carl Quarterman diary, undated entry titled “New Experiences as P.O.W.”; Carl Quarterman letter to family, Sept. 15, 1945.
“moronic farm kids”: Zamperini, Devil at My Heels, p. 140.
Trivial offenses: Affidavits of Arthur Maher, Nov. 28, 1945, and Oct. 17, 1946, Box 1, Papers of Rear Admiral Arthur L. Maher, 1926–1984, NHHC: Affidavit of John Fitzgerald, July 11, 1946; John Fitzgerald diary, Nov. 6, 1944; O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 463; William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009.
The prisoners nicknamed one guard: Affidavit of George F. Rumrill, Oct. 19, 1945, Box 590, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, NARA.
Other guards masturbated: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 279.
Prisoners recalled with horror: Zamperini, Devil at My Heels, p. 140.
“We lived in eternal”: Affidavit of Richard M. Smith, Oct. 24, 1945, Box 590, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, NARA.
The worst of the guards: Background on Sueharu Kitamura is drawn from the following sources: Kitamura undated handwritten biographical sketch, Box 1227, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Administrative Division, Misc. Subject File, 1945–50, NARA; Deposition of John Ross Benge, April 11, 1946, Box 2, RG 125, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Navy), War Crimes Branch, Records Re. Pacific Area War Crimes Cases, 1944–1949, NARA; Petitions of Taki Ota (June 22, 1948) and Kato Kitamura (June 22, 1948), Box 1644, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA; Kato Kitamura letter to Douglas MacArthur, April 13, 1949, ibid.; Depositions of Charles Miller Bransfield (Jan. 29, 1946), Charles Valentine August (Sept. 20, 1945), William Adelbert Dixon (Jan. 7, 1946), and Gordon Francis Bennett (Oct. 10, 1945), ibid.
“He was very heavily built”: Deposition of Grant Leslie Butcher, Sept. 12, 1945, Box 1644, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA.
feminine high-pitched laugh: Deposition of Charles Miller Bransfield, Jan. 29, 1946.
“the Quack”: Review of the Staff Judge Advocate in the case of The United States of America vs. Sueharu Kitamura, Headquarters Eighth Army, United States Army, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, Yokohama, Japan, Feb. 4, 1949, Box 1644, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA.
He carried: Deposition of William Adelbert Dixon, Jan. 7, 1946.
Other times Kitamura: Review of the Staff Judge Advocate in the case of The United States of America vs. Sueharu Kitamura.
“Ofuna Crouch”: Ibid.
Kitamura other days: Ibid.
When the passageways iced over: Ibid.; Deposition of Richard O’Kane, Aug. 15, 1946, Box 1644, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA.
No one was safe: R. T. Brunckhorst to Alva C. Carpenter, Aug. 13, 1948, Box 1644, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA.
“a barometer to us”: Deposition of Arthur J. Walker, Nov. 18, 1946, Box 1644, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA.
“Kitamura called Bullard”: Affidavit of John Fitzgerald, July 11, 1946.
For the nine survivors: William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009; Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946; O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, pp. 462–63; Cindy Adams, “Tang Survivors Recall World War II Ordeal,” Patrol, Sept. 5, 1980, pp. 4–6.
Tang had departed: Tang Report of Fifth War Patrol, Sept. 10, 1945.
Tang’s orders: Operational Order No. 326-44, Sept. 24, 1944, Box 299, RG 38, Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, Plans, Orders and Related Documents, NARA.
“It is with the deepest regret”: C. A. Lockwood, Jr., to Commander in Chief, United States Fleet, Nov. 27, 1944, Box 744, RG 38, Records of the Chief of Naval Operations, World War II Action and Operational Reports, NARA.
“The Navy Department”: Randall Jacobs telegram to Grace Clara Leibold, Nov. 27, 1944.
“The words ‘missing in action’ ”: C. A. Lockwood, Jr., letter to Mrs. Dudley Morton, Dec. 1, 1943, Dudley Morton Family Papers, BSMP.
American submarine losses: Naval History Division, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, United States Submarine Losses, pp. 8, 112–15.
“The undersea craft”: “Overdue,” editorial, New York Times, Feb. 16, 1945, p. 22.
“We were all warned”: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 275.
“There would be no”: Zamperini, Devil at My Heels, p. 131.
“We pulled you”: Arthur L. Maher undated speech outline, Box 1, Papers of Rear Admiral Arthur L. Maher, 1926–1984, NHHC.
The Tang men witnessed: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 463; William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009; Affidavit of John Fitzgerald, July 11, 1946; John Fitzgerald diary, Nov. 6, 1944; John Fitzgerald Navy Bio, June 2, 1958, NDL.
O’Kane watched: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 463.
“Every blow”: Deposition of R. H. O’Kane, Oct. 29, 1947, Box 1287, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Administrative Division, Tokyo Case File, 1945–48, NARA.
Kitamura had before: Deposition of Hayes O. Trukke, Aug. 1, 1946, Box 1644, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA.
Caverly, a former professional boxer: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 463.
Leibold watched: Deposition of William Leibold, Oct. 21, 1947, Box 1644, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA.
None of the Japanese officials: Deposition of R. H. O’Kane, Oct. 29, 1947.
“As a result”: Affidavit of John Fitzgerald, July 11, 1946.
The hard-charging fighter ace: Background on Gregory “Pappy” Boyington is drawn from: “Boyington Bag at 24; Nears Plane Record,” New York Times, Dec. 27, 1943, p. 3; “Highest Award for Boyington,” New York Times, April 13, 1944, p. 5; “Boyington Holiday Due When He Fell,” New York Times, Jan. 9, 1944, p. 37; “Boyington Missing; Downed 26 Planes,” New York Times, Jan. 7, 1944, p. 1; “ ‘Pappy’ Boyington Credited with His Twenty-sixth Plane,” Spokane Daily-Chronicle, Jan. 6, 1944, p. 1; Richard Goldstein, “Joe Foss, Ace, Dies at 87,” New York Times, Jan. 2, 2003, p. B8; “Hoover Pins Medal on Rickenbacker,” New York Times, Nov. 7, 1930, p. 16; Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 321; Bruce Gamble, Black Sheep One: The Life of Gregory “Pappy” Boyington (Novato: Presidio, 2000), pp. 39–46, 266–68, 289–309.
“Major Boyington”: Gamble, Black Sheep One, p. 266.
The major claimed: “Boyington Bag at 24; Nears Plane Record,” New York Times, Dec. 27, 1943, p. 3; Gamble, Black Sheep One, pp. 289–93.
He blasted: “Marine Ace,” New York Times, Jan. 5, 1944, p. 4; Gamble, Black Sheep One, pp. 295–97.
On the morning: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, pp. 229–31; Gamble, Black Sheep One, pp. 303–9.
“I could feel”: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 231.
Far outnumbered: Ibid., pp. 231–77; Gamble, Black Sheep One, pp. 305–9.
The shrapnel in the major’s thigh: Zamperini, Devil at My Heels, p. 139.
“The pharmacist’s mate cut”: Deposition of Grant Leslie Butcher, Sept. 12, 1945.
Boyington fit the profile: Deposition of Max L. Parnell, Aug. 23, 1946, B
ox 1644, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA.
The camp’s roster: Roster of Allied POWs Transferred from Ofuna (Navy) to Army POW Camps, as of 15 Aug. 1945, Box 1305, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Administrative Division, Misc. File, 1945–48, NARA.
Interrogation of the Tang crew: Jesse B. DaSilva, “Survivor of the Mighty Tang,” American Submariner, July–September 2001, pp. 16–18.
like James Sasaki: Zamperini, Devil at My Heels, pp. 131–34.
Ofuna’s chief interrogator: Hugh S. Taylor to Bertram W. Tremayne, Jr., Feb. 7, 1946, Box 2, RG 125, Records of the Judge Advocate General (Navy), War Crimes Branch, Records Re. Pacific Area War Crimes Cases, 1944–1949, NARA; Depositions of George Estabrook Brown, Jr. (July 10, 1946), and George Clough Bullard (Jan. 23, 1946), Box 2, RG 125, Records of the Judge Advocate General (Navy), War Crimes Branch, Records Re. Pacific Area War Crimes Cases, 1944–1949, NARA.
One even claimed: Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.
Interrogators dressed: Ibid.
The Japanese pressed: John Fitzgerald introduction to diary; Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.
“If I had told”: Clay Decker undated video oral history interview with Clark M. Brandt.
“We became terrific liars”: John Fitzgerald introduction to diary.
“I kept telling the interrogators”: “Saga of POWs,” All Hands, June 1946, p. 18.
“honey dipper”: Clay Decker undated video oral history interview with Clark M. Brandt.
“Conversation was prohibited”: John Fitzgerald introduction to diary.
Ofuna’s crafty captives: Ibid.
Guards set out to teach: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, pp. 462–63; Clay Decker undated video oral history interview with Clark M. Brandt; “Saga of POWs,” All Hands, June 1946, pp. 18–19; William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009.
“We had to greet them”: Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.
“Most of the day”: “Saga of POWs,” All Hands, June 1946, pp. 18–19.
Guards over time: Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.
“The rest of our time”: Ibid.
“The usual concoctions of desserts”: Fitzgerald diary, Nov. 23, 1944.
December 4 brought: Fitzgerald diary, Dec. 4, 1944, and Dec. 7–8, 1944.
“If it be thy will”: Christian Program, Ofuna, Japan, 1944, included as appendix 2 to Fitzgerald’s diary.
Snow blanketed: Fitzgerald diary, Jan. 6, 1945.
The Tang men convinced: Jesse B. DaSilva, “Survivor of the Mighty Tang,” American Submariner, July–September 2001, pp. 16–18.
Pete Narowanski dwelled: Cindy Adams, “Tang Survivors Recall World War II Ordeal,” Patrol, Sept. 5, 1980, pp. 4–6.
“Still in our tattered whites”: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 464; Review of the Staff Judge Advocate in the case of The United States of America vs. Tatsumi Hata, Headquarters Eighth Army, United States Army, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, Yokohama, Japan, Dec. 21, 1948.
The men watched with elation: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 465.
A former winner: Background on Hunt is drawn from: Richard L. Hunt, Jr., Bio and the Gold Star Mother’s Legion scrapbook (SC68), pp. 54–55, both on file at the Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Missouri; The Paseon, vol. 12 (Kansas City, Mo.: Paseo High School, 1938), pp. 23, 48, 121; “Richard L. Hunt Missing,” Kansas City Star, Feb. 1, 1945, p. 4; “Dies in a Jap Prison,” Kansas City Star, Sept. 18, 1945, p. 7.
On a mission over Hong Kong: Report on Death of Prisoner of War, Feb. 28, 1945, Box 1305, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Administrative Division, Misc. File, 1945–48, NARA. Some records state that Hunt arrived at Ofuna on or about January 26.
Tang’s boatswain’s mate worked: Deposition of William Leibold, Oct. 21, 1947.
Rather than remove: Review of the Staff Judge Advocate in the case of The United States of America vs. Sueharu Kitamura, Headquarters Eighth Army, United States Army, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, Yokohama, Japan, Feb. 4, 1949.
“He would run a swab”: Deposition of Grant Leslie Butcher, Sept. 12, 1945.
In between cleaning: Deposition of William Leibold, Oct. 21, 1947.
“A man being treated”: Deposition of John Ross Benge, April 11, 1946, Box 2, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Navy), War Crimes Bnrach, Records Re. Pacific Area War Crimes Cases, 1944–1949, NARA.
The only time: Kitamura in his deposition after the war surprisingly admitted using fresh gauze to clean his sword, though he denied using bandages.
The pale and exhausted Hunt: Commanding Officer, Yokosuka Naval Garrison Unit, to Commanding Officer, Yokosuka Naval Base, Report on Death of Prisoner of War, Feb. 28, 1945, Box 1305, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Administrative Division, Misc. File, 1945–48, NARA; Deposition of Sueharu Kitamura, undated, Box 1281, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Administrative Division, Investigation and Interrogation Reports, 1945–48, NARA; Review of the Staff Judge Advocate in the case of The United States of America vs. Kakuzo Iida et al., Case No. 291, Headquarters Eighth Army, United States Army, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, Yokohama, Japan, May 19, 1949.
“He staggered”: Deposition of William Leibold, Oct. 21, 1947.
Leibold witnessed: Ibid.
The prisoners knew: Deposition of Arthur J. Walker, Nov. 18, 1946.
“worked him over”: Deposition of William Leibold, Oct. 21, 1947.
“A guard stood”: Deposition of Hayes O. Trukke, Aug. 1, 1946.
Kitamura’s refusal: Deposition of R. H. O’Kane, Oct. 29, 1947.
Snow blew: Review of the Staff Judge Advocate in the case of The United States of America vs. Kakuzo Iida, Case No. 291, Headquarters Eighth Army, United States Army, Office of the Staff Judge Advocate, Yokohama, Japan, May 19, 1949.
“Some of the other prisoners”: Deposition of William Leibold, Oct. 21, 1947.
The only time guards: Deposition of Frederick Dewitt Turnbull, Sept. 19, 1947, Box 1644, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA.
“When I tried to wash”: Deposition of William Leibold, Oct. 21, 1947; William Leibold e-mails to author, Aug. 5, 2010.
The prisoner in the cell: Deposition of William R. Eustis, Nov. 14, 1946, Box 1644, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA; Commanding Officer, Yokosuka Naval Garrison Unit, to Commanding Officer, Yokosuka Naval Base, Report on Death of Prisoner of War, Feb. 28, 1945, Box 1305, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Administrative Division, Misc. File, 1945–48, NARA.
“Kitamura and Commander Sanematsu”: Deposition of William Leibold, Oct. 21, 1947.
Interrogators pressured guards: Review of the Staff Judge Advocate in the case of The United States of America vs. Sueharu Kitamura; Deposition of Anthony Warren Dawson-Grove, Oct. 4, 1947, Box 1644, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA; Deposition of R. H. O’Kane, Oct. 29, 1947.
Guards liked to force: Deposition of Gordon Grant Johnson, Aug. 14, 1946.
“After five full swings”: Deposition of R. H. O’Kane, Oct. 29, 1947.
“Freight Train Blues”: Deposition of Louis Temple Vance, April 2, 1947, Box 1744, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Prosecution Division, USA Versus Japanese War Criminals, Case File, 1945–49, NARA.
“One of the more pathetic”: Deposition of Charles
Valentine August, Jan. 28, 1948, Box 700, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, Case Files, 1944–1949, NARA.
“Naval intelligence”: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 465.
the Japanese decided to transfer: Deposition of William Leibold, Oct. 26, 1945, Box 583, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, Case Files, 1944–1949, NARA.
“I looked back”: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 2.
Chapter 21. Tang
“Recurrently I am homesick”: Ernest Norquist diary entry, July 14, 1943, in Ernest O. Norquist, “Three Years in Paradise: A GI’s Prisoner-of-War Diary, 1942–1945,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, Autumn 1979, pp. 12–13.
Boyington, the six enlisted: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 322.
Omori served: Lt. Robert H. Dolder to HQ.XI Corps, Report on Omori POW camp, Sept. 25, 1945.
Unlike Ofuna: Robert R. Martindale, The 13th Mission: The Saga of a POW at Camp Omori, Tokyo (Austin, Texas: Eakin Press, 1998), pp. 79–83; William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009.
Many prisoners worked: Alfred A. Weinstein, Barbed-Wire Surgeon (New York: Macmillan, 1956), pp. 235–36; Zamperini, Devil at My Heels, pp. 153–54.
Stolen sugar served: Weinstein, Barbed-Wire Surgeon, p. 236.
Men scooped feces: Ibid., pp. 237–39; Martindale, The 13th Mission, pp. 83, 97.
Most prisoners labored: Ernest Norquist diary, Oct. 9, 1943, Oct. 11, 1943, Oct. 30, 1943, in Ernest Norquist, Our Paradise: A GI’s War Diary (Hancock, Wisc.: Pearl-Win Publishing, 1989), pp. 284, 286.
“Disappointed with”: Ernest Norquist diary, Oct. 13, 1943, in ibid., p. 285.
British prisoners: Weinstein, Barbed-Wire Surgeon, p. 246.
Captives even produced: Ernest Norquist diary, Jan. 1, 1945, in Norquist, Our Paradise, pp. 294–95.
“The change to Omori”: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 465.