KAWASAKI
NEWSLETTER
W.Va.
Decem ber 2000
.............. ,.... Editor
"LEST WE FORGET"
DR. A. P . URTIN BORN APRIL 20, 1914 DIED OVEMBER 7, 1993
Tho e of us who have survived and enjoyed life for many year after uffering tarvation and mistreatment at the hand of the Japane e military need
to remind our elve of the compas ion howed us by Dr Curtin while we were prisoners of war Although beaten many time by the Japane e
authoritie • he continually tood up to them for better treatment ofu The photo on the left depicts our quarter at Tokyo Area POW amp # 2 as
mo t of u knew it while interned there. The photo on the right is the area where our building stood until July 25, 1945 when it was completely
de troyed by B-29 bomber Twenty two of our fellow pri ner of war were lcilled during that bombing raid . The photo of the area where our camp
had been located wa taken by the brother of William Thomas while on occupation duty in Japan soon after the tennination of World War II The
photo wa taken from the area between our camp quarter and the Mit ui office building looking toward the railroad behind our quarter and the howa
Denko chemical factory
EXC RPT 0 EV NT AT TOKYO AREA POW CAMP #2
FROM RECORD MAIN AIN D BY DR. CURTIN FROM EPTEMBER 5 1944
TIL AUGU T 29,1945 (COURTE Y JACK CHWARTZ U N RET)
eptember 5, 194 Watanabe now in charge ofMed Dept gt Anasawa
having left Cpl P B Moore ucce fully recovered from pneumonia
from which he nearly died Inspection of camp supplies by a General.. Col
akabe and four other officers ew American Red X clothes were is ued
to in ide labor-6/9/44 helton ick with evere blood poi oning-right
hand.-9/ 14/44 Manuel returned from ho pital-leg now healed
satisfactorily-PM a man dog ru hed into camp-rabie ? It was lcilled and
kinned immediately-- 9120/44 aito left camp for good- I 0/25/44 Ramey
returned from hinagowa-amazing recovery, but main pinal nerve tracts
till a bit wobbly - I 1/6/44 Air raid alarm and e. ercises on three
ucce ive day 11 /1/44 Out on Mit ui field at volley ball-saw the first
B29 come over about 1 pm-- A bright i1ver peck in the ky-much
commotion around--all worlcing parties returned to camp-Mu t have been
first Allied aircraft over Tokyo ince 1942- AA tire did not touch it- it
cruised around at will, then went awa - 1/25/44 Day air raid began now
on regular routine round period noon- 3pm---ll/29/44 Fir t night raid
occurred Ipm to 3am Weather wet and cold--- 12117/44Fir t hri tian
religiou ervice in camp given b vi iting Jap padre, formerly of Y city
sect "Church Of hri t" - he worked at howa Denko, name Rev eiba.
- 12/20/44 Red Cros boxe one per man arrive for Xmas Barracks
decorated for Christmas--I2I25/44 Day off-I conducted an R.C. ervicegt. Hough a Protestant one. - I/1 /4 Inspection and addre by Lt
Wa himi on Mit ui field to work hard in ew Year - 1/ 13/45 Operated
on Ralph Houston for abscess of neck- managed to keep uzzo in while
he wa sick- 1I27/45 Air raid resumed 10:30PM- 12 midnight and
2 30am Bombing and gunfire heard in di tance-managed to get 10 can
of milk and 10 carton of Red Cro sugar from Kondo for ick
men-DaCosta very ill with pneumonia, nearly died - 1/29/45 hiozowa
left camp for good- a relea e-and sent to IShin Flour Mill camp which
opened about Dec 15th-44 Of cour e he rai ed hell there-personnel were
from Kawasalci camp and compri ed e
ankin Australian engineer and
ex Guam machini t mate and Capt. Cant- many beating there. -2/2145
ome more Red ross packages is ued-about 50 mi sing from original
consignment from HQ to camp.
2/9/45
ew work clothes given out for
inspection. Raids quite frequent now over this
island- some Red Cross overcoats
issued. -2116/45 Continuous air raids all day,
small planes dive bombers, etc. AA fire distant
explosions. Weather still cold with bouts of
snow. -3/ 1/45 Dr. Kaufman arrives from HQ
camp-3/3/45 Our Watanabe (porky the Pig) left
her for 0. 2 Military hospital-replaced by a star
oldier, Inamoto-very dumb.----3/7/45 Visit of
Red X rep Dr. Billinger. Lt. Carney pointed out
the necessity of building air raid shelters for the
men. -3/9/45 Heavy air raid on Tokyo PM, a
wonderful sight-thou ands of incendiaries
dropped- watched from windows. Big fire over
entire city.---3-10/45 Operated on R. Houston
for abscess of hand. ew medical orderly CpJ
Kato-the self blaster----3/4/45 Another raid on
Tokyo from 1 to 4am-big fires windowsofcamp
broken by AA guns concussion-<:eiling plaster
feU down.----4/6/45 Lt. Hayashi returned as
campcomrnandant-4/ 13/45Heavynightraidon
Tokyo again-several hours-----4/15/45 Heavy
night raid- Kawasaki city completely burnt
out-evacuated camp to dock area (first
occasion of camp evacuation) B-29's came in
low over the camp-8000 feet-fires close to our
quarters.----41l6/45 WholeofKawasakiarealike
a graveyard-state oflocal emergency-no factories
worlcing-4/ 18/45 Much trouble over then of
rice from MBK by gardening details-strafingmen made to stand to attention from 12 noon
until midnight-no food for three meals.----4/ 19/45 100 men return to work at Denko and
KYK----4/26/45 Another heavy raid on
Toky0-4/26/45 Concert and speech to men by
Mr. Kondo who is leaving camp for civilian
Iife.-4128/45 Introduction of new interpreter
Yamasiki-not a trouble maker by i----5/23/45
Another heavy night raid in area 2-4am camp
evacuated-many incendiaries dropped- many fell
in camp-camp on fire but fires put out by fire
parties under direction of Carney- Lt. Hayashi
fortunately away that night- nearly every night he
used to run home somewhere in Yokahoma for
fear of the raids-this was a good thing for us.---5/24/45 Day offfor men to repair damage done
to comp, areas at back of camp and some
wooden warehouse at Mitsui burnt out, power
hou es and Mitsubishi refinery not affected by
incendiaries.----5/25/45 Another heavy raid on
Tokyo 12-2am-many fires
een and
explosion.- 5/2 7/45 Heavy raid by carrier planes
in daylight near here. We saw them whistling
round chimney tacks at Kokan at high peed.
Pm visit by Co. Sakaba and Lt. Washimi to
inspect damage and repair done to camp-Many
men employed these days on garden cultivation
on MBK waterfront over area where balloon
encasement was situated.----5/29/45 8:30am
Heavy raid on Yokahoma by about 450 B29s
with 150 P51s passing directly over camp in
waves after unloading-sky blackened with
smoke-it turned day into night and lasted until
1l:30am----5/30/45 RecoMaissance B29s now
patrol regularly every day about noon over this
area and sometime drop leaflets.-6/ 1I45 Lt.
Hayashi left camp obviously scared and got job
as Commandant in northern area Lt. Arnor of
Kawasaki camp now temporarily in chargeMizuno finalJy gave permission to employ details
to constmct slit trenches covered over by earth
on Mitsui waterfront and also out ide back
gate-newly constructed since fire ofcamp-Photo
Joe surveyed our area almost daily- the men
begin to look ill from anxiety and lack of sleep
almost daily.-rumored that ippon Steel camp
evacuated to northern area.-6/6/45 MBK
(Mitsui) was the main work detail at this
time.-6110/45 Heavy morning raid on sector of
Tokyo-camp evacuated 8-11am- 7/2/45 6]
Americans and 39 Dutch including Dr. Kaufman
and Cpl Kato left camp for Nigata- PM arrival of
50 men, 45 Italians and 5 orwegian Merchant
marine from hanghai internment camp. Sgt .
Mizuno left camp, worried by raids, and was
replaced bay Sgt. Sumi from Suzuki Food
Factory.-he was a bastard-beat men with a
leather strap-big drive for men out for
work- 7/ 13/45 Big fire raid- isshin Flour Mill
completelybombed out. ---7/25/45 ow follows
the big tragedy which I fully expected and but tor
our evacuation to shelters from camp we would
have all been killed. We had to fight for this
freedom of action and it was largely due to
Carney' s efforts on this account that many of us
are alive today. The peculiar thing is that the
Japs knew, I am Sllre, quite often which areas
were going to be attacked and so on. This night
we moved out to shelters on the first siren-we
usually had to wait for the econd siren before
moving out of camp before this on previous
raids- The lap were too stupid and to ob tinate
to appreciate the danger. Sgt. Sumi and
ofMlandant following the same idea as Hayashi
in isting that 30 men remain in camp to fight fires
and carry out rice etc. if necessary during the
raids.-- Well the raid started around 10:45 PM
with high explosives and incendiaries-cleared out
the whole area- MBK warehouses, the two
power houses, oil refinery, Denko, KYK, part of
ippon Steel, all dock cranes and barges were
completely de troyed-benjo, cookhouse, our
quarters, simply could not be found--this is no
exaggeration. Bomb craters were only a few feet
apart- I was in an earth shelter at the waterfront
with Wylsey and others, it partly caved in and
water flowed in up to our waists-one heavy
bomb explode about 20 feet away- 22 men
kiUed- 12 bodies ere found- I2 missing- raid
lasted until 1 am. About 10 men were injured
including elson who had a broken leg and
fractured base of the skull.-Al lap camp staffand
12Japgl.lardswerekilled Some of the fire party
in the camp must have been blown to bits trying
to make the waterfront during lulls in the air
raid, although Scotty, Murdoch and Clayton
made it-Gods knows how.---7/26/45 For the
next two days we worked all day and at night
slept out in the open in a smashed up warehouse
at Mitsui, recovering missing bodies and clearing
up debris of camp. Chow was brought from
another camp nearby.-----7/28/45 We moved to
old Nisshin Camp, the barracks which e caped
catching fire the night of the raid--Continued
salvage work at Mitsui camp-Bodies found were
those ofW. Wilkes, Archie Sheldon (head blown
otl), Carey, Cracca, & Federoff. Missing were
S. Paluch and a few others.-Well to add to our
troubles before we left Mitsui, Col akaba and
a supply Capt.-big fellow we called the "rice
bag", came down and looked a the mess and
then made a speech saying that if we worked
hard enough, some comforts which we had lost
would be restored. He brought with him three
bastards, two Sgts. And an interpreter Kuriama
by name-well known for his maltreatment of
prisoners in the old days at Shinagowa. They
replaced the old Jap staff and were not long
establishing a reign of terror over us to the tune
ofa litany of "work and punishment" given out
continually by Kuriama till the men were really
getting into a state of desperation by the time the
war ended, thank God. ) endeavored to check
this and in a row with Kuriama was beaten up
and taken to the Commandant where both stated
they had nothing to fear from the Allies re
maltreatment of prisoners, as at the worst, we
would all self blast together and what with the
conditions as they were then re bombing I fully
expected the end of all of us to not too far
distant.----811 /45 On this night the B29's
returned to plaster Mitsui area again and
complete the job on ippon Steel; and whole
area. We went into the grain silos for helter and
had two direct bomb hits over us while
there. -8/2145 Men were employed daily in
clearing debris, filling bomb craters, carting
water and putting out fires. We were continually
bombed until August 15, 1945.----8/ 15/45 Zero
hour 12am. All details return from work. Camp
Commandant bums all office papers.----8/16/45
An address by Camp commandant to Lt. Sheny,
Cant and myself, that temporary truce had been
arranged with Allies pm. Sneaked in paper from
job with confirmation about Potsdam
declaration.- 8117/45 Went down to Jap office
and told Commandant we were taking over
control of camp, no more roll calls, Japs have
same chow as us etc. Red X stuff left handed
over. avy bombers found us and dropped food .
Hurrah, the end of the war at last!--8/29/45
Commander Stassen arrived with rescue party.
Taken to Hospital Ship USS Benevolence in
Tokyo Bay for brief exam- others then taken
to Atsugi Air Base and flown to the Philippines.