* Overall description of the Japanese Prison Camp system - # of camps, different types, unusual locations.
Hundreds, perhaps over 500, Japanese POW camps and civilian internment camps stretched from Rangoon (Burma-Myanmar) down through Malaya, Singapore, Sumatra, across Indonesia (NEI) as far east as Rabaul in the Solomon Islands.. Hundreds of camps stretched north through the Celebes, Borneo, the Philippines, Hainan Island, Taiwan and Korea.

In Japan alone, over 160 POW slave labor camps existed at the time of surrender. Camps were located in many areas of mainland China including notorious camps in the Hong Kong and Shanghai areas. Prisoners were used mainly for mining coal, ore, ship building, airfield construction and military defense bunkers. The most notorious were a camp in Palawan (massacre of 150 Yanks), Sandakan - 2200 died in a forced march- (Borneo) and a series of camps along the Burma-Thailand Death Railway where and estimated 15,000 Allied POWS perished along with almost 180,000 civilians impressed into slavery.

During the Japanese occupation of the NEI, two large groups of people were deprived of their freedom: prisoners-of-war and detained civilians. These groups ended up in different camps. Both groupes consisted of considerable numbers of
people, many more than the Japanese had expected and the allies had expected
at the liberation. It has been calculated that 42,233 European servicemen in
the Indies had become prisoners-of-war: 3,847 servicemen of the Royal Dutch
Navy, 36,869 of the Royal Netherlands East Indies Army (KNIL) and 3,847
servicemen of the KNIL auxiliary corps.

8200 of them lost their lives, about one out of every five. Besides many native servicemen of the KNIL fell into the hands of the Japanese army, of course. The Javanese and Sundanese were soon set free; but most of the Menadoese, Amboinese and Timorese, the christian natives were held. Except on Borneo most prisoners-of-war did not stay on the islands where they were captured, but were transported elsewhere, especially to be put to work.

The number of civilians interned by the Japanese is estimated to have been
125,000. The largest group concerned civilians from the Netherlands East
Indies. According to dr. D. van Velden (from whose book "The Japanese camps
for civilians" a lot of information has been taken) 96,300 civilians ended
up in Japanese camps; 13,120 (13.6%) succumbed. During the war the Japanese reported to the Red Cross that there were 98,000 detainees, of whom 16,800
died (17%). Though the precise figures are not known, we may assume that
about 100,000 civilians from the Indies were in Japanese camps, of whom one
in six died.

Special- The Burma-Thailand Death Railway
Lost lives 3098 Dutch ( 19 % of the pow's )
" " 6904 English ( 29 % " " " )
" " 2646 Australians ( 31 % " " " )
" " 131 American ( 23 % " " " )
" " 180000 Asiatic ( 90 % " " " )
Source: Dutch National War Memorial Museum

* Overall description of the POWs - # of Americans, other nationals:
Americans: 36,260 Military of whom 13,381 died as POWS (38.2%) plus 13,996 civilians of whom 1536 died (11%) [American Ex POW Assn]
Australians: 21,000+ Military of whom 8031 died as POWS (39%) [AWM)
British:50,000+ Military of who 12,433 died as POWS (25%) plus over 25,000 Indian troops (death rate unknown) [IWM]
Dutch: 100,000+ Military of whom an estimated 25% perished
Civilians: Estimated 250,000 Dutch civilians and other westerners in the Netherlands East Indies. Civilian death rate estimated at 15%.
Thirteen ships were sunk while transporting 15,712 POWs from Southeast Asia to Japan. Some of the ships sunk had no survivors. An estimated 10,720 prisoners died on these unmarked Hell Ships on the way to Japan.

* Description of living conditions inside the camps:
In general, the accommodations were of two distinct structures: In the tropic areas, barracks were made of bamboo with Atap leaves for roofing material. Barracks generally held 100 men and were 20 feet wide and 100 feet long with double platforms running down both sides of the interior. Each man slept lived in his assigned 2 foot wide space. In the northern climes, e.g., Japan, they barracks were typical for the Japanese army and had similar interior arrangements. The exteriors were simply clapboard or stucco with tile roofs. Insulation was unknown. Rarely was heat allowed inside the POW barracks.

First, blankets made from shredded wood, rarely provided the protection needed against the winter chill. Lice and voracious bed bugs were extant in almost every camp, augmented by swarms of blue-bottle flies and mosquitoes in the summers. Most barracks had dirt floors that become muddy and fouled as a result of severe dysentery.

* Historical characters in Japanese govt. that were responsible for prison camps.
First and foremost was General Hideki Tojo who made the decision to use the prisoners as expendable slaves and was responsible for the policy to "Kill All the Prisoners" upon invasion of the homelands or imminent danger. Each POW considered their immediate camp commandant as the most notorious however, a few stand out as horrific. Second, in the pantheon of evil would be Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma who deliberately chose to ignore the plight of the POWS captured in the Philippines. At the Nichols Field (Pasay) POW Camp was the Japanese Camp commander, Naval Lieutenant Sato, a thug called "The White Angel". This brutal and sadistic officer always appeared in a spotless white uniform and delighted in abusing, torturing and often executing American POWS whenever he had the whim. In Osaka was Colonel Murata who delighted in humiliating prisoners in front of civilians and authorized the theft of prisoner's Red Cross packages. Third was Ishii Shiro, the commander of the Unit 731 Medical Experimental Operations in China. He personally directed the mass murder of civilians to test poisonous chemicals, plagues and vivisection upon living patients. He was never tried for his crimes.

* Elements of Japanese military culture that was reflected in the running of the camps:
As a hierarchal society, all owing fealty to the Emperor, each person believed that anyone "above them in rank" could give them orders "in the name of the Emperor". Mythical powers of the Samurai were inculcated into the military, to wit, surrender was the ultimate disgrace. Ergo, every POW was the lowest and vilest person in existence.

* Unit 731 - character and significance of this unit:
Unit 731, headquartered in Harbin China, was created to develop chemical and biological weaponry. Experiments included replacing blood with anti-freeze, developing flea borne plagues, surgery practice for future combat medic by use of live, conscious prisoners deliberately shot for these training exercises. Anesthesia was rarely used. These medical experiments were also practiced in other camps in the Osaka, Kobe and Tokyo area camps.

* Story of Terence Kirk and his secret camera:
Simply stated, Kirk colluded with a Christian Japanese guard to obtain glass photographic plates, created a pin-hole camera, and took pictures of his fellow starving prisoners in the Fukuoka #3 (Yawata) POW camp. Believing all POWs in this camp would die, he hoped that these plates would be found to prove the horrific treatment of the POWS.

* Background of the 'gag order' surrounding the telling of POW histories:
The origin in clouded but the requests stem from the prior decision of FDR to keep from the public, the suffering of the POWS under the Japanese. Escaped prisoners (Dyess from Cabantuan) had revealed the horrific treatments in early 1943. FDR wanted nothing to divert the public's attention from the forthcoming campaigns in Europe. Many- not all- rescued POWS were instructed to sign a sheets promising not to talk about what happened to them. In some rare instances, some men were contacted by FBI agents when they arrived home and told "not to talk" or they would face a life time at Leavenworth Prison. No satisfactory explanation has been found for this policy during the post war years except to prevent early revelation of evidence used in the War Crimes Trials.

* Acquisition and use of evidence (affidavits, other) of the POWs at the Tokyo war crimes trials:
Each prisoner, upon rescue, was required to complete a 5" x 7" identification card and an affidavit in response to a series of written questions. The latter became the basis to determine - in general- where war crimes were committed. Certain men were selected to expand their affidavits and to describe in detail their "witness" to a war crime. These became the basic elements of the charges levied against thousand of Japanese criminals. (We have numerous examples)