Today’s Strict Yet Truly Morbid Fact!
On January 10, 1942, one month after the Japanese had taken Guam, Navyman Hugh Meyers and over four hundred other Americans loaded on a Japanese passenger-freighter, the Argentina Maru. Aboard, Meyers found himself in the hold of the ship, a bare room but with adequate space for him and his companions. Twice a day a guard at the top of the ladder leading down to the hold would lower buckets of fish and wormy rice to the men below. He also filled and lowered a water bucket, as needed. The men were allowed to climb the ladder and use a toilet nearby. Initially some men complained that the distribution of food from the buckets was unequal. Then three of the Navy chief boatswain’s mates took charge of rationing and this problem ceased. For Meyers and the other the days in the hold were monotonous but bearable. What concerned them most was where they were headed.
Six days later they had their answer when the ship anchored in the Inland Sea, off the northern coast of the island of Shikoku, the smallest of the Japanese main islands. After spending a very uncomfortable day in the hold—the Japanese had turned off the heat that morning—in the evening they finally were taken on barges to the shore, the first American POWs to reach the Japanese home islands.
After a short ride by streetcar, they arrived at Zentsuji, a large military installation which had been used in 1904-1905 to house Russian prisoners. Here, in a compound surrounded by high board walls topped by barbed wire, they were counted off, divided into groups, and assigned forty to a room in two-story barracks. Chilled and tired, Meyers entered the room assigned to his group and found rice straw neatly strewn on the floor and forty pillows filled with rice hulls (very hard), blankets (few and thin), an aluminum dish, and a spoon, all of the items aligned with military precision.
The Japanese sergeant in charge of the group spoke and understood English quite well and seemed to enjoy the opportunity to use this ability. After all of the men had been assigned to their places, he called for a detail which returned shortly thereafter with hot cabbage soup, enough for a fair-size portion for each man. The weary Americans were much impressed by the sergeant’s considerate act.
The Japanese in charge of moving the Wake Island captives were a much different sort. On the day before they were to leave the following notice was posted.
COMMANDER OF THE PRISONER ESCORT
Navy of the Great Japanese Empire
REGULATIONS FOR PRISONERS
- The prisoners disobeying the following orders will be punished with immediate death:
(a) Those disobeying orders and instructions.
(b) Those showing a motion of antagonism and raising a sign of opposition.
(c) Those disordering the regulations by individualism, egoism, thinking only about yourself, rushing for your own goods.
(d) Those talking without permission and raising loud voices.
(e) Those walking and moving without order.
(f) Those carrying unnecessary baggage in embarking.
(g) Those resisting mutually.
(h) Those touching the boat’s materials, wires, electric lights, tools, switches, etc.
(i) Those climbing ladder without order.
(j) Those showing action of running away from the room or boat.
(k) Those trying to take more meal than given to them.
(l) Those using more than two blankets.
Following this list of major crimes were more detailed instructions on prisoner conduct aboard the ship.
Despite the outlandish nature of these regulations, Cunningham and other officers reading them had to take them seriously. The one that bothered them the most referred to “unnecessary baggage.” “What does this mean?” they asked. The prisoners then decided among themselves that to be on the safe side they would restrict themselves to one bag.
On the morning of January 12 the Americans began their trip to Japan aboard the Nitta Maru, a liner which had been converted into a prison ship. They left behind 400 civilian construction workers along with the seriously wounded. Over 300 of these civilians and the surviving wounded were later shipped to Japan. About 100 civilians remained on a work detail for the Japanese.
Aboard the Nitta Maru, the officers were confined in a crowded compartment directly over the engine room. The enlisted men and civilians were held in cargo spaces in the forward part of the ship. Generally the physical conditions for the prisoners on board the Nitta Maru were similar to those of their predecessors on the Argentina Maru.
Each evening Capt. Toshio Saito, the guard commander, required the officers to seat themselves in rows for inspection by one of the Japanese guards. Any delay in carrying out an order meant a resounding slap on the face, and since orders were not always understood, there was much slapping. The Japanese kept the lights burning all the time and a guard stood at the door to see that no one talked, even whispered, to anyone else. Once one officer was accused of whispering and a guard entered and beat him severely with a stick. None of the other officers interfered since they feared it might lead to some form of extreme punishment, possibly execution.
Six days later the Nitta Maru arrived in the harbor of Yokohama, Japan. Here a group of officers, including Cunningham and Devereux, were ordered to clean up and report to an upper deck room, which they found swarming with Japanese newspaperman and cameramen. Their captors seemed anxious to have the outside world believe that they treated their prisoners well. The pictures taken that day of the officers smiling turned up later in English-language magazines published in the world press. Possibly as compensation for the picture-taking, Cunningham and several others were allowed to send radiograms to their next of kin. After two days in port, the Nitta Maru sailed for Shanghai, China.
Smiling for the Japanese propaganda cameras some of the Wake island defenders, now POWs aboard the transport ship Nitta Maru. Commander Winfield Scott Cunningham, seated in the dark uniform would be awarded the Navy Cross for his leadership. (National Archives)
It was on this leg of the journey that Captain Saito carried out the threat of death expressed in the regulations for prisoners. Soon after leaving Yokohama, five Americans were taken from the hold under guard. When they returned, they told one of their companions that they had been accused of lying in answer to questions about their naval experience and had been warned that they would be punished. Later the guards returned and took the five men from the hold, blindfolded with their hands tied behind their backs. On the upper deck members of the guard detail and the ship’s company were gathered in a semicircle around Captain Saito, who was standing on a box. When the five men were lined up in front of Saito, he drew his sword and read an order of execution in Japanese. Then one of the Americans was forced to kneel on a small mat in ritual fashion and a guard stepped forward and beheaded him with his sword. Other guards previously designated by Saito then stepped forward and in turn executed the remaining four Americans. After the ceremony was completed, the spectators dispersed and the bodies were thrown overboard. The POWs were not told of the executions, and though the victims were later recorded as missing, their comrades did not learn their fate until after the war.
After arrival at Shanghai the ship moved to the nearby port of Woosung. Here the Navy turned the POWs over to an army guard detail and they marched five miles to a former cavalry camp—seven old wooden, unheated barracks, now surrounded by two electrically charged fences. Settling into their bleak surroundings, within a week they were joined by the Marines from Peking and Tientsin. The total number of Americans at Woosung stood at about fourteen hundred.
Culled from: Surrender and Survival
Accident Du Jour!
Thanks to Strange Company I am now aware of the existence of a children’s book entitled “The Book of Accidents or Warnings to the Heedless” (1836). This delightful creation is an example of 19th century small booklets that were often mass produced and sold on the streets. These “chapbooks” as they are called, were produced and sold cheap so as to make them more accessible to children of all socioeconomic statuses. Because of this, the quality of the paper is usually poor with nothing but thread holding the sheets together. Ultimately the chapbooks of the 19th century evolved into the timeless and still popular comics of the early 20th century. Also, look how tiny it is!
I found The Book of Accidents online and thought I’d share an accident a day. You can see where Edward Gorey got his inspiration for The Gashlycrumb Tinies! I didn’t realize how short it is – this is actually the third and final accident today.
MANGLED BY A DOG.
Thomas Brown and Samuel Hope were nearly of the same age, and had been play-fellows from their infancy. They both went to the same school, and shared all their little sports together. One pleasant Saturday afternoon, as they were taking a walk, they wandered into a field belonging to a gentleman who kept a large and ferocious dog chained to a kennel.
Though not generally disposed to be mischievous, yet as the little fellows went near the kennel and saw the dog was fastened by a chain, they began to tease him, both of them laughing to see him growl and snap at them. This they thought fine sport; but poor Tom incautiously ventured too near, when the dog sprang upon him, threw him down, and began biting and tearing his flesh most dreadfully.
Sam was terribly frightened, but he could not bear to see his friend killed, without making an effort to save him. So he took up a stick, and giving the dog some severe blows with it, beat him off till he could get Tom out of his reach. Poor fellow! he was shockingly mangled, and it was many weeks before he was able to walk out again.
Andersonville Prisoner Diary Entry Du Jour!
This is the continuation of the 1864 diary of Andersonville prisoner Private George A. Hitchcock (see the archived version for all entries up until now).
Here’s today’s entry:
July 9th. Very hot, with a shower in the afternoon. Another man of our squad died to-day. A large number of prisoners from Hunter’s West Virginia Army came in: they report a lot of prisoners from the 2d Corps on their way to this place. Washed shirt in creek.
Culled from: Andersonville: Giving Up the Ghost