The War Below

by James Scott

  “The waiting seems”: Ernest Norquist diary, May 13, 1945, in Ernest O. Norquist, “Three Years in Paradise: A GI’s Prisoner-of-War Diary, 1942–1945,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, Autumn 1979, p. 26.

  Boeing’s aeronautical monster: Background on the B-29 comes from the following sources: Foster Hailey, “Superfortress Is Largest and Swiftest Bomber in the World,” New York Times, June 16, 1944, p. 4; Hanson W. Baldwin, “The Tokyo Raids—1,” New York Times, Nov. 27, 1944, p. 12; “B-29 Device Ends Oxygen Mask Use,” New York Times, June 22, 1944, p. 11; “The Mighty B-29,” New York Times, Aug. 5, 1945, p. 67; “Five New U.S. Planes Get into the Fight,” Popular Science, August 1944, p. 57.

  “magnificent instrument”: “B-29 Anniversary,” editorial, New York Times, June 10, 1945, p. E8.

  “against the heart”: Sidney Shalett, “B-29s Make Debut,” New York Times, June 16, 1944, p. 1.

  The horror that: Details of the B-29 raid come from the following sources: Bruce Rae, “Record Air Attack,” New York Times, March 10, 1945, p. 1; Martin Sheridan, “Giant Tokyo Fires Blackened B-29’s,” New York Times, March 11. 1945, p. 14; Warren Moscow, “City’s Heart Gone,” New York Times, March 11, 1945, p. 1; “Tokyo in Flames,” editorial, New York Times, March 12, 1945, p. 18; USSBS, Summary Report (Pacific War), pp. 16–17; Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate, eds., The Army Air Forces in World War II, vol. 5, The Pacific: Matterhorn to Nagasaki, June 1944 to August 1945 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1983), pp. 614–17.

  “I have never seen”: Martin Sheridan, “Giant Tokyo Fires Blackened B-29’s,” New York Times, March 11, 1945, p. 14. Sheridan was a Globe journalist whose story appeared in the Times as part of the Combined American Press.

  “Almost instantly”: Frank Fujita, Foo: A Japanese-American Prisoner of the Rising Sun (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1993), p. 264.

  “We saw such a sight”: Ernest Norquist diary, March 10, 1945, in Norquist, Our Paradise, p. 301.

  Bombers returned: USSBS, Summary Report (Pacific War), pp. 16–17.

  The size: Foster Hailey, “Superfortress Is Largest and Swiftest Bomber in the World,” New York Times, June 16, 1944, p. 4; “Tokyo Laid Waste by B-29’s, Royal Palaces Devastated; Fighters Smash at Kyushu,” New York Times, May 27, 1945, p. 1.

  The same military that could: Emmett O’Donnell, Jr., Air Force Bio, undated.

  On a mission: Bruce Rae, “Peak Japan Blow,” New York Times, May 24, 1945, p. 1.

  Reconnaissance photos: Warren Moscow, “51 Square Miles Burned Out in Six B-29 Attacks on Tokyo,” New York Times, May 30, 1945, p. 1.

  “music”: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, pp. 326–27.

  “We went to a top”: J. J. Woodward, “Report of Service from December 1941 to September 1945 of Capt. J. J. Woodward IMS/IAMC,” 1946, PR83/032, Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australia.

  one attack even destroyed: Deposition of William Laughlin Connell, Oct. 29, 1948, Box 743, RG 153, Records of the Office of the Judge Advocate General (Army), War Crimes Branch, Case Files, 1944–1949, NARA.

  “Shrapnel from incendiaries”: Ernest Norquist diary, May 30, 1945, in Ernest O. Norquist, “Three Years in Paradise: A GI’s Prisoner-of-War Diary,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 63, no. 1, Autumn 1979, p. 26.

  “The ground would shake”: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 330.

  “We would walk”: Clay Decker undated video oral history interview with Clark M. Brandt.

  “When you’re starving”: Jesse B. DaSilva, “Survivor of the Mighty Tang,” American Submariner, July–September 2001, p. 18.

  The men labored: William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009.

  The fighter ace scavenged: Clay Decker video oral history interview with Dan Clayton, March 2002.

  The six-foot-tall DaSilva: Jesse DaSilva oral history interview with Douglas E. Clanin, Sept. 4, 1992; Jesse B. DaSilva, “Survivor of the Mighty Tang,” American Submariner, July–September 2001, pp. 16–18.

  Machinist’s mate Decker’s weight: Clay Decker undated video oral history interview with Clark M. Brandt.

  Leibold suffered hepatitis: William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009; O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 466.

  “I’m so weak”: Norquist diary, June 12, 1945, in Ernest O. Norquist, “Three Years in Paradise: A GI’s Prisoner-of-War Diary,” Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 63, no. 1, Autumn 1979, p. 28.

  The wait for the war’s end: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 324; William Leibold e-mail to author, Aug. 12, 2010; Arthur Gill, Certificate of Death, July 6, 1945, Box 1305, RG 331, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, Legal Section, Administrative Division, Misc. File, 1945–1948, NARA; Deposition of Gregory Boyington, in Martindale, The 13th Mission, p. 207.

  “If we are to be free”: Fujita diary, Aug. 11, 1945, in Fujita, Foo, pp. 301–2.

  “I dream”: Norquist diary, July 14, 1943, in Norquist, Our Paradise, pp. 133–34.

  Colonel Paul Tibbets, Jr.: Details on the mission of the Enola Gay, unless otherwise noted, are drawn from the following sources: Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., Return of the Enola Gay (Columbus, Ohio: Mid Coast Marketing, 1998), pp. 196–244; W. H. Lawrence, “5 Plants Vanish,” New York Times, Aug. 8, 1945, p. 1; Paul W. Tibbets, Jr., Air Force Bio, May 1964.

  America’s relentless pounding: W. H. Lawrence, “Air Might Clinched Battle of Japan,” New York Times, Aug. 15, 1945, p. 11.

  Experts estimated: Notes of the Interim Committee Meeting, May 31, 1945, Misc. Historical Documents Collection, Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, Independence, Missouri; Statement by the President of the United States, Aug. 6, 1945, Subject File, Ayers Papers, ibid.; Translation of leaflet dropped on the Japanese (AB-11), Aug. 6, 1945, Miscellaneous Historical Documents Collection, ibid.

  A 7 a.m. air raid: The United States Strategic Bomb Survey, Medical Division, The Effects of the Atomic Bombs on Health and Medical Services in Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1947), p. 3.

  “My God”: “Hiroshima: A Diary,” Time, 1973, p. 14.

  American investigators after the war: Precise casualties from the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are difficult to estimate; figures even vary within reports prepared by the United States Strategic Bombing Survey. The figures used here come from the following sources: USSBS, The Effects of the Atomic Bombs on Health and Medical Services in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, p. 57; USSBS, The Effects of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946), p. 15.

  The blast leveled: USSBS, The Effects of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, pp. 3–10, 25; USSBS, Summary Report (Pacific War), pp. 22–25; Tibbets, Return of the Enola Gay, p. 231.

  “rain of ruin”: Statement by the President of the United States, Aug. 6, 1945, Subject File, Ayers Papers, Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, Independence, Missouri.

  “We are in possession”: Translation of leaflet dropped on the Japanese (AB-11), Aug. 6, 1945, Miscellaneous Historical Documents Collection, ibid.; “Leaflets and Radio Tell Japanese Bad News, Urge They Seek Peace,” New York Times, Aug. 10, 1945, p. 1.

  The pressure intensified: “Red Army Strikes,” New York Times, Aug. 9, 1945, p. 1; “New 93-Mile Gain Made by Russians,” New York Times, Aug. 15, 1945, p. 8; “The War,” Time, Aug. 20, 1945, p. 26.

  On the Thursday: Tibbets, Return of the Enola Gay, pp. 421–24; USSBS, The Effects of the Atomic Bombs on Health and Medical Services in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, p. 57; USSBS, The Effects of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, pp. 3–5.

  A radio announcer: The Pacific War Research Society, Japan’s Longest Day (Tokyo: Kodansha International, 2002), pp. 308–9.

  Only hours earlier: Ibid., pp. 209–12.

  Even Hirohito: Ibid., pp. 321, 327–28.

  Captives watched: J. J. Woodward, “Report of Service from December 1941 to September 1945 of Capt. J. J. Woodward IMS/IAMC,” 1946.

&n
bsp; O’Kane and other prisoners: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 466.

  The announcer asked: The Pacific War Research Society, Japan’s Longest Day, pp. 326–28.

  “To our good and loyal subjects”: Ibid., pp. 209–11.

  Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz: Potter, Nimitz, pp. 471–72.

  “The long awaited day”: COMSUBPAC msg. Aug. 15, 1945, Box 18, Charles Lockwood Papers, LOC.

  guards ordered O’Kane: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 466.

  Other work parties: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 337.

  Some of the Japanese: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 466.

  “The war is over”: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 337.

  “Hey, fellows”: Ibid.

  The guards burned: Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.

  Boyington, O’Kane: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 338–40; William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009.

  Medics began sick call: Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.

  “It seems as if”: Ernest Norquist diary, Aug. 16, 1945, in Norquist, Our Paradise, p. 345.

  “We all stood out”: Harry Berry diary, August 25, 1945, in Harry Berry, My Darling Wife: The True Wartime Letters of Harry Berry to Gwen, 1940–1945 (Hertford, England: Authors OnLine, 2004), p. 328.

  “Hang on!”: Fujita, Foo, pp. 310–11.

  The B-29s that had for months: Headquarters Twentieth Air Force, APO 234, Report of Prisoners of War Supply Missions from 27 August to 20 September 1945.

  Prisoners climbed atop: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 342; “Captives to Take Charge of Prisons,” New York Times, Sept. 5, 1945, p. 3.

  Supplies soon rained down: Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946; Fujita, Foo, pp. 311–12; Harry Berry diary, August 26, 1945, in Berry, My Darling Wife, p. 328.

  “This is better”: Harry Berry diary, Aug. 27, 1945, in Berry, My Darling Wife, pp. 328–29.

  Some of the drums: Ibid.

  “Everyone ran for cover”: Fujita, Foo, pp. 311–12.

  “Why don’t you stay”: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 341.

  Chapter 22. Tang

  “I have been dead”: Carl Quarterman letter to family, September 15, 1945.

  Commodore Joel Boone: Joel T. Boone undated report, “Initial Release of Prisoners of War in Japan,” NBMS.

  A former physician: Joel T. Boone Navy Bio, April 1, 1966, ibid.

  American forces: Report of Surrender and Occupation of Japan, Feb. 11, 1946.

  Supreme Commander: Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, pp. 277–78.

  He fired off: COM3RDFLT to SCAP info CINCPAC ADVANCE msg. 281101(GCT), August 1945, in “Nimitz Gray Book,” vol. 7.

  Most of Halsey’s Third Fleet: Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, pp. 277–78; Joel T. Boone undated report, “Initial Release of Prisoners of War in Japan.”

  The colorful admiral: “Reno Makes Fine Saddle for Halsey’s Tokyo Ride,” New York Times, June 23, 1945, p. 3.

  the cruiser San Juan: Report of Surrender and Occupation of Japan, Feb. 11, 1946.

  “Go ahead”: Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, p. 278.

  The landing craft: Joel T. Boone undated report, “Initial Release of Prisoners of War in Japan”; Julius Ochs Adler, “Horrors in Japanese Prisons like Those of Nazi Camps,” New York Times, Aug. 31, 1945, p. 1.

  The reduced rations: Jesse DaSilva oral history interview with Douglas E. Clanin, Sept. 4, 1992; William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009; William Leibold e-mails to author, July 22, 2011; Clay Decker undated video oral history interview with Clark M. Brandt; O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 466; Charles Lockwood undated Navy Day Speech in Cleveland, Ohio, Box 17, RG 38, Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, World War II Oral Histories, 1942–1946, NARA.

  “What’s that?”: Harry Berry diary, Aug. 30, 1945, in Berry, My Darling Wife, p. 331.

  “Nobody doubted”: Ibid.

  “All these months”: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 342.

  “I had ended”: Fujita, Foo, pp. 312–15.

  A few feet: Gerald Landrum interview with author, Aug. 18, 2010.

  “The excitement”: Joel T. Boone undated report, “Initial Release of Prisoners of War in Japan.”

  “I have no authority”: Halsey, Admiral Halsey’s Story, p. 278.

  Rescuers pushed: Joel T. Boone undated report, “Initial Release of Prisoners of War in Japan.”

  a total of eighteen: Report of Surrender and Occupation of Japan, Feb. 11, 1946.

  The 15,400-ton ship: Details on Benevolence are drawn from the following sources: Emory A. Massman, Hospital Ships of World War II: An Illustrated Reference to 39 United States Military Vessels (Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 1999), pp. 411–14, 424–40; Madge Crouch Gibson oral history interview with Jan K. Herman, Nov. 22, 1995, NBMS; Alice Bruning oral history interview with Patricia A. Connor, Oct. 16, 1998, ibid.; V. J. Johnston oral history interview with Patricia A. Connor, Dec. 11, 1998, ibid.

  “It was just”: Alice Bruning oral history interview with Patricia A. Connor, Oct. 16, 1998, NBMS.

  Clerks interviewed: Joel T. Boone undated report, “Initial Release of Prisoners of War in Japan.”

  “All were to a fair degree”: Ibid.

  “These men were”: Madge Crouch Gibson oral history interview with Jan K. Herman, Nov. 22, 1995, NBMS.

  Much to the frustration: Ibid.

  “mechanical cow”: V. J. Johnston oral history interview with Patricia A. Connor, Dec. 11, 1998; Massman, Hospital Ships of World War II, p. 429.

  “Boy, what a meal”: Harry Berry diary, Aug. 30, 1945, in Berry, My Darling Wife, p. 331.

  “I personally accounted”: Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.

  “My God”: Boyington, Baa Baa Black Sheep, p. 344.

  “I got some food”: William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009.

  “The men would go through stages”: Madge Crouch Gibson oral history interview with Jan K. Herman, Nov. 22, 1995, NBMS.

  “We were the first women”: Ibid.

  “I was in no condition”: Jesse B. DaSilva, “Survivor of the Mighty Tang,” American Submariner, July–September 2001, p. 18.

  Tang skipper Dick O’Kane: O’Kane, Clear the Bridge!, p. 466; William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009.

  seventeen submarine officers: Stephen L. Moore, Presumed Lost: The Incredible Ordeal of America’s Submarine POWs During the Pacific War (Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 2009), p. 290.

  “He was just skin and bones”: Lockwood, Sink ’Em All, p. 364.

  “His eyes were yellow”: Charles Lockwood undated Navy Day Speech in Cleveland, Ohio, Box 17, RG 38, Records of the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, World War II Oral Histories, 1942–1946, NARA.

  The Navy had learned: Murray Frazee, Jr., “We Never Looked Back,” Naval History, July–August 1994, pp. 47–51.

  “The saga of the submarine Tang”: Julius Ochs Adler, “Survivors’ Battle Adds to Tang’s Epic,” New York Times, Sept. 1, 1945, p. 4.

  “Words are inadequate”: Ernestine O’Kane letter to Tang families, Sept. 2, 1945.

  One of the corpsman: William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009.

  Savadkin in a trip: Lawrence Savadkin oral history interview with the Navy, Jan. 30, 1946.

  Jesse DaSilva took a different: Jesse B. DaSilva, “Survivor of the Mighty Tang,” American Submariner, July–September 2001, pp. 16–18.

  “What about the old man here?”: William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009.

  Epilogue

  “Please take care”: Ira Dye letter to Evelyn Dye, Jan. 15, 1943.

  Dick O’Kane stood: Harry S. Truman Appointment Calendar, March 27, 1946, Harry S. Truman Library and Museum, Independence, Missouri.

  O’Kane had earned: “Richard O’Kane, 83, U.S. Submarine Hero,” New
York Times, Feb. 23, 1994, p. A16.

  Bill Leibold had come home: William Leibold interview with author, July 13, 2009.

  Clay Decker had returned: Clay Decker video oral history interview with Dan Clayton, March 2002.

  Fearful that his gaunt frame: Lockwood, Sink ’Em All, p. 364.

  a grief so strong: James O’Kane interview with author, Jan. 22, 2010; Ernestine O’Kane letter to Douglas Morton, March 23, 1994, Dudley Morton Family Papers, BSMP.

  He would return: Richard O’Kane Navy Bio, March 15, 1967, NDL; William Leibold interview with author, July 8, 2009.

  The tribunal: 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.

  “It was the opinion”: Ibid.

  The tribunal sentenced: Ibid.; Petitions of Koto Kitamura, Masanobu Kitamura, Tsuruko Arakawa, Takako Kitamura, and Kiyoji Kitamura, ibid.

  Kitamura’s file: Petitions of Kazue Kitamura, Koto Kitamura, Tamekichi Tojo, Yoko Ota, Yoshihiro Ota, Masanobu Kitamura, Hisaichi Arakawa, Tsuruko Arakawa, Takako Kitamura, Kiyoji Kitamura, Taki Ota, and Manjiro Hatakenaka, ibid.; Koto Kitamura letter to Mrs. Douglas MacArthur, July 24, 1948, ibid.

  Sixteen months after: Action of Douglas MacArthur, July, 3, 1949, ibid.

  Commutations and clemencies: Gavan Daws, Prisoners of the Japanese: POWs of World War II in the Pacific (New York: William Morrow, 1994), p. 373; E. Bartlett Kerr, Surrender and Survival: The Experience of American POWs in the Pacific, 1941–1945 (New York: William Morrow, 1985), p. 296.

  Postwar records: JANAC, p. 49 of the appendix; Blair, Silent Victory, p. 984.

  Only the submarine Tautog: Blair, Silent Victory, p. 989; JANAC, pp. 49–50 of the appendix; History of USS Tautog (SS 199), October 1950, Office of Naval Records and History, Ships’ Histories Section, Navy Department.

  Silversides sank: JANAC, p. 43 of the appendix; Blair, Silent Victory, p. 989.

  Drum destroyed: JANAC, p. 12 of the appendix.

  would count 182 on duty: Facts and Figures for the Admiral, Size and Growth of Submarine Force, Oct. 20, 1945, Box 18, Charles Lockwood Papers, LOC.