Source: RG 407, Box 109, File 3151-35 Item: Letter to International Red Cross Representative upon liberation from Japanese POW camp, 30 August 1945, Hirohata Sub-camp, Osaka POW Division ******* DETACHMENT OF ALLIED FORCES HELD AS PRISONERS OF WAR Osaka Prisoner of War Camp Hirohata Sub-Camp Hirohata, Japan August 30, 1945 From: Marine Gunner Earl B. Ercanbrack, U.S. Marine Corps, Commanding. To: International Red Cross Representative Subject: Report of Treatment while held as Prisoner of War Part I - General Conditions - Treatment 1. I have been held as a Prisoner of War since December 19, 1941 [Sic]. I was imprisoned in Guam from December 10, 1941 - January 10, 1942. I was held in Zentsuji from January 15, 1942 - June 8, 1942. I was held in Osaka from June 8, 1942 - October 19, 1942. I have been in this camp since October 19, 1942 and have served as Commanding Officer of "Camp Leader" of this camp since October 6, 1943. 2. From the date of my capture until about October 5, 1942, I was treated as a Prisoner of War, I was treated fairly, and wish to express my appreciation for the fair and just treatment accorded to us. During much of this time I was engaged in heavy manual labor, both in Zentsuji and at Osaka, but nevertheless, I, and the other men, did not feel that the work was unfair or the treatment other than just and honorable. 3. On or about October 5, 1942, we were transferred to the Central Army District. Since that time, neither I nor the men under me have been treated as Prisoners of War. We have been treated as criminals, subjected to ridicule and humiliation, and have suffered cruel and unjust punishment without the opportunity to offer protest or seek justice. 4. On the date we were transferred to this Central Army District, Colonel Murata made a speech to us. He said, in effect, the - - "we were cowards, else we would have killed ourselves as brave Japanese soldiers would have done, that we could not forget our comrades in arms were killing Japanese brothers and husbands, that we chose the disgrace of a cowardly surrender and that we must suffer." When we were taken to the railroad station on October 19, 1941, to transfer to Hirohata, Colonel Murata staged a public exhibition designed to humiliate us. There were 80 prisoners in the group. He had the guards signal to the civilians to come and watch the exhibition and with a crowd of at least two or three thousand civilians watching, he caused us to bow, to be drilled as Japanese recruits, etc. For over an hour he caused the men to run forward, salute to him, run to the rear of the line and repeat the performance time and time again. One of his own officers, either a Lieutenant or Captain, who spoke English, apologized to us on the train for the humiliation we suffered. 5. For a short while here at Hirohata we were treated with fairness under the Army. The we were turned over to civilian guards and the civilian work supervisors ("Hanchos") [sic]were given authority to punish us. From that time on, we were treated to every form of ridicule, cruel and unjust punishments, and unfair treatment. 6. The Camp Superintendent, Takamaka San, was seldom at the camp. Apparently having other duties. Consequently, this camp was administered by the enlisted soldiers of the Army, most without the knowledge or ability to administer justice. 7. It was ordered that any "Hancho" with a red arm band had full authority over prisoners. At the working place, often they would take ignorant, untrained, coolies and put an arm band on them and place them in charge of the prisoners. Manu of these, for personal reasons, had nothing but intense personal hatred for Americans and all thing American. For the slightest excuse, they would beat the men unmercifully. They would constantly make statements that American prisoners were the same as their Korean or Chinese slaves. Some of the so called "Hanchos" were simple-minded, practically all were thieves, constantly looting ships that were in port, and never was there any semblance of order or organization. 8. Only as recent as one month ago, it was pointed out to the present Camp Superintendent that one of the "Hanchos" was so erratic in mind that he was practically crazy, another stole cigarettes from the prisoners and from other Japanese and blamed it on the prisoners, etc. Yet these ignorant coolies had full power of life and death over us. All of them carried clubs and used them freely. They would cause men to hold a shovel or bar of pig iron over their heads until they dropped from exhaustion, they beat one man during the winter until he was insensible and then threw him into the ice covered lake. They would buy goods on the "Black Market" and force the men to smuggle their illegal purchases through the Seitetsu gate. And if their slightest whim was not gratified, every man on the job would be punished. 9. All of the civilian guards in the camp were themselves dealing in "Black Market", trading cigarettes or rice to the prisoners for clothing, etc., yet these civilian guards were given the same status as Japanese soldiers. One of the guards on duty was a pervert (homosexual), another would cause men to shine his shoes, [and] all of them stole at every opportunity. Yet if a prisoner failed to salute them properly, picked up a cigarette but, or committed some similar minor offense he was beaten unmercifully. 10. Men have been driven out to work with fever as high as 39.5 C, [103.1 F]with diarrhea [a known side effect of beri-beri] and hardly able to stand, because we were not under the Army, but under Seitetsu and they wanted as many men as possible every day. Yet there have been many cases where men too weak to work any longer asked for a brief rest and were beaten; where men suffering from diarrhea or dysentery have been beaten for asking twice in one morning for permission to go to the toilet; and with beri-beri affecting men's kidneys, they have been beaten for urinating at the side of the road when returning from work. Yet none of the Camp Staff of civilians guards hesitate to answer the calls of nature wherever they happen to be. 11. By reporting a man as a "bad worker", any "Hancho" could cause a man to be cruelly beaten without question or right of defense, no matter what the circumstances or how sick or weak the man might be. And never has punishment been administrated as military justice. In every case, whenever one of the Camp Staff started to beat a man, the others would come running with sticks and clubs and all have a part in the beating. I have seen as many as twenty Japanese, including every civilian guard on duty, gathered around 2 or 3 men, each taking his turn and indulging his own sadistic pleasure in these public beatings. And during the winter, a beating was always followed by throwing the man into one of the fire tubs, often covered with ice and with temperature below freezing, leaving the man in this icy water for long periods. 12. We had no interpreter from October 19, 1942, to October 6, 1943. At that time two interpreters were assigned to this camp, but neither possessed even a fair knowledge of the English language. Yet orders were spoken rapidly in Japanese and failure to promptly comply meant punishment. Time and time again men have been punished because they did not understand what was being said to them in Japanese. 13. Although there were 480 men in the camp, the Camp Superintendent, Takanaka San, would visit the camp for about 1 hour each week. In his absence, the administration was left to the Camp Staff, who lacked the rank, knowledge, or ability to administrate properly. Later, under other Camp Superintendents who were in camp, the camp staff would take men behind the kitchen and beat them or beat them during the night after the Superintendent went home, always threatening punishment to the entire camp if the incidents were reported. One of the favorite modes of punishment, often practiced by Private Tsijino , was to pretend that there had been a mistake in the night count and during freezing weather cause the men to arise and stand muster two or three times during one night. 14. I have no complaints to make about our treatment while actually under the Japanese Army, but I deeply feel the humiliation and injustice of having been placed in the hands of civilians and the lack of military justice we have met in this camp. PART II - WINTER OF 1943 - 1944 1. Prior to October 6, 1943, each man was receiving extra rice daily at the working place. With the arrival here of 408 men, they stated that there were too many men and they could no longer furnish extra food. With the stoppage of this extra rice at noon, we suffered the loss of 25% of our daily rice. The Seitetsu firm was furnishing food at this time, and probably were stating the truth when they said they could not get more food. For five months we received no beans, oil, meat or fish, daily receiving only a meager amount of rice and a few radishes (daikons) for the day. The men were staring and despite every plea we made for more food, they were allowed to continue to starve. 2. Work increased about one third, all the civilian supervisors ('Hanchos") were armed with clubs and as the men got weaker the treatment became daily mor severe. The men were told that they would be treated well if they worked hard and they literally "worked their hearts out", working until they dropped in the hope that someone would recognize their brave attempt and give us a little more food before we all died. 3. When the 408 men arrived from the Philippines, they were all strong and in good health. Three months later, 293 men were on the sick list, unable to work, with over 60 bed patients. And this, despite the fact that all sick men were punished daily and every man able to walk was being sent to work. 4. During the severe winter, the men were forced to muster at 6:00 a.m. outdoors. When men suffered from beri-beri, they sent brushes and forced the men to strip to the waist and massage with the brushes. This was supposed to be good for beri-beri. On rest days, the entire morning was devoted to drills and exercises. Men who should have been getting a little rest were forced to run, often for two miles to "help cure their beri-beri". No soap was issued for several months and lice became so plentiful it was almost impossible to sleep. The only remedy offered was the comment that Americans were like Chinese Coolies else they would not have lice, and on cold winter days they take all the men to the river, make them remove their clothes and pick off lice - in freezing weather. 5. At every muster and every formation men were fainting from sheer starvation. The result was that any man who fainted was summarily beaten to insure he was not malingering. When the working party came in, always there would be at least a half-dozen who had to be carried in. These men would be beaten and kicked to make sure they were unconscious and not pretending and the men who carried them were also beaten for helping them back to camp. 6. After the sick list rose above 300, the authorities finally decided to again return us to the Army for rations and the food was increased. But it was then expected that the men should immediately go back to work and work harder than ever before because they were getting better food, when hundreds of them were almost too weak to walk. Some men have never recovered from the effects of that period of hardship and starvation and still are weak, have weakened hearts, etc., from which they may never recover. 7. The Doctors who would visit this camp from Headquarters would issue orders for a man to rest or receive medicine, and as soon as he left his orders would be countermanded and men driven to work with clubs by the local member of the Camp Staff acting as Medical Corpsman. He was a private soldier, possessed of no medical knowledge whatsoever, yet he would pretend to examine with stethoscope, etc., and order every man back to work. 8. The observations of the Japanese Doctors from Seitetsu hospital, Doctors from Osaka Headquarters and of our own American Doctor, A Captain in the Medical Corps of the United States Army, [Capt. Sidney Elias Seid, U.S. Army MC], were all set aside by a private soldier who was given full authority. 9. Our own Medical Corpsmen were required to work at the mill (in violation fo International Law) and spent many of their all-too-few hours in the camp voluntarily engaged in nursing the sick. 10. Under constant pressure from the Seitetsu authorities for more men to be sent to work, the local Camp Staff utilized every method they cold devise to harass, punish, and inconvenience the sick men hoping to make their time in camp so miserable they would voluntarily go to work. Never has our treatment been more severe, never have we been required to spend so much time in drill and exercise, and never have we met with so many impossible orders as we did during that severe winter. Part 3 - Cruel and Unjust Treatment (Specific Case) 1. No. 217 - Chamberlain. [Chamberlain, Rogert F., Corp, US Army] Civilian guards were on watch in the barracks each night, in addition to two prisoners also on watch. Always, these civilian guards would sleep while on watch. Men were required to check out to the toilet during the night by giving their number in Japanese. Chamberlain gave his number properly, the guard was half-asleep and did not write his number down. When he returned and started to check in, the guard accused him of not checking out and punished him by causing him to stand at attention for 1 hour, clad in underclothing although it was during very cold weather. Two days later, Chamberlain died. [04 Feb 1945] Diagnosis: Influenza. This is the same guard, still on duty herein, who would waken men during the night and demand they get up and shine his shoes. His name is Imai San 2. No. 189 - Melody. [Melody, Thomas Harlan A., Tech Sgt, US Army] A former member of the Camp Staff, ISHIDA San, went behind the kitchen to punish a man whose offense was trading from one working party to another without permission. Two men were sitting down, and both got up to salute him. He accused Melody of not saluting him properly. I believe at the time this soldier, Ishida San, had been drinking for he was in a dangerous mood. For the offense of not saluting, he started beating Melody. First with his fist, them with a club. Then he continued beating him and the other man and forced another prisoners to turn a hose into their mouths and noses giving then the "water-cure". He continued this punishment for about an hour behind the kitchen. Then when the Camp Superintendent went home, he took Melody to the court yard in front of the guard house and beat him for another hour or so, turning a hose in his mouth until he became insensible and pouring water over him. Shortly thereafter he entered the barracks and, claiming that the men did not salute him quickly enough, struck every man within reach, altogether striking about 30 or 40 men with clubs, etc. I reported this cruel treatment to the Camp Superintendent and Ishida explained that the man had a bad attitude and not only was nothing done about it, but he and all others of the Jap Camp Staff punished Melody again on every possible occasion. I learned at this time that to report a cruel punishment meant more trouble than if I said nothing. No. 261 - Johnson, K.C. On May 28, 1945, 134 men were ordered to be transferred. They were told to bring their clothing to the courtyard for inspection. Johnson, by mistake, had an entire extra pair of Army drawers that belonged to the man who slept next to him. He laid out his clothing for inspection. Anyone with common sense would know that if he were trying to steal the extra drawers he would not have laid them out with his clothing. However, one of the Camp Staff, MOTOYASKIKI San, who was inspecting started to punish him as soon as he saw the extra drawers and without a chance for the man to explain. He took him behind the kitchen and beat him. Ishida joined him and helped beat the man until he was unconscious. He could be heard screaming all over the camp. Captain Seid was in the library and came out. Johnson was at that time unconscious. Ishida ordered Captain Seid to throw water to revive him so they could beat him some more. Being a Doctor and a humanitarian, Captain Seid begged them to stop the beating. Ishida immediately said this was insolence and started beating Captain Seid also. The club used for these beatings is about 4 feet long, of heavy oak, and very heavy. After Johnson was again beat until unconscious and apparently dead, Ishida left. Shortly after he returned, [he] called for the Captain and again beat him with the club for what he termed insolence. When Johnson was transferred that night, he had to be carried to the train as he was still out of his mind and unable to stand, although this was several hours later. 4. No.7 - ALLEN, W.R.. [ALLEN, Kenneth Alonzo, PFC, US Army] About August 7, 1945, Allen was working at "CHIYOKUE". Only about a week before the incident, it was reported to the present Camp Superintendent that the work supervisor ('Hancho") at this working place was erratic, in fact, he was half-crazy, even the Japanese recognizing the fact that he had s simple and foolish mind. Because Allen went to the toilet without asking he started to beat him. When he finished, Allen started back to work. He again started to attack Allen with an iron bar. Allen put up his shovel to keep from getting killed so this Work Supervisor reported to the Camp that Allen had tried to strike him. The Camp Staff called him into the courtyard as soon as returned from work and started to beat him. About eight or ten Japanese from the office all armed with clubs and all started beating him at once, giving him no chance to explain or defend himself. There was no pretense of giving him a hearing. As the result of this beating, his spine was injured to the extent that he was a bed patient for about ten days. This beating occurred about a month ago and the man is just now recovering to the extent where he can walk without pain. 5. MASS PUNISHMENT. About June 16, 1945 "Okaue" reported five men for being "bad workers" and 2 men for being "good workers". These numbers were reported to Ishida who was duty N.C.O. that day. As son as the men returned from work he started to beat them. He did not ask any of them where they worked or ask the Prisoner Work Supervisor about the circumstances of work. He, together with all the Camp Staff took turns beating these men. The he invited the Civilian Guards to join in and about ten of these civilians joined in the beating. Each took clubs and sticks and indulged in any type of punishment he delighted in. It was only that night it was possible to call to hius attention the fact that 2 men had been reported for being "good workers". When the beating took place, neither the men nor myself knew why they were being beaten. Luckily, in the middle of this exhibition of cruelty, the Camp Superintendent walked in and did not beat these men any more. SUMMARY 1. The Japanese Army accepted our surrender and made themselves responsible for us. However, they turned us over to civilian institutions for rationing which resulted in starvation and disease. They gave any and every Japanese civilian with whom we came into contact the right to punish us, ridicule us and mistreat us as they saw fit. 2. Because higher Japanese Military Authorities failed to properly supervise the activities of their subordinates, we have been deprived of certain comforts and conveniences intended for us. I have been caused to sign receipts for articles I have never received. On occasions that I have made any request to the local authorities, whether for some small privilege or a just hearing for some offender, I have met with the rebuff that we are prisoners, that we must not request or speak for anything and must never complain. 3. I have administered discipline with this camp firmly and enforced regulations to the best of my ability. I have done this because I felt that we must maintain our discipline and soldierly dignity if we were to survive, and not because I felt that we were being treated fairly. 4. In my opinion, since being held in Hirohata sub-camp, we could not have been treated worse if we were hardened criminals or slaves. The bitter, personal enmity displayed toward us has resulted in such mutual hate and bitterness that I honestly believe that it has only been the result of the efforts of a few leading non-commissioned officers who assisted me in administering firm discipline and control that there have not been incidents which would have had serious results. 5. Under responsible Japanese Army Officers, we were treated justly and as we could expect as Prisoners of War. Under the jurisdiction of civilians and under the administration of incompetent enlisted men we have been treated as criminals, subjected to ridicule and cruel and unusual punishments and never given a chance for a fair hearing or military justice. 6. I repeat, I have no complaint about the treatment while actually under the Japanese Army. As a military man with nearly sixteen years service, I believe that I know the purpose of discipline and recognize how military discipline is engendered and enforced. But as a Military man, I deeply feel the humiliation and having been placed in the hands of civilians and the lack of military justice which has been our lot. 7. I deny that we have been treated fairly or in accordance with International Law, and charge the Authorities responsible for our treatment with neglect and failure to supervise their appointed representatives. /Signed/ EARL B. ERCANBRACK Marine Gunner, U.S. Marine Corps Commanding.