FG WW II Airman Tells His Story

[Captain Japan]

Airman endured abuses as war prisoner in Japan
the Star-Telegram

On March 27, 1945, 2nd Lt. Fiske Hanley of Fort Worth and his fellow B-29 crewmen found themselves in an unwanted spotlight over Japan.

After many Japanese cities were turned into crematoria by devastating night raids by B-29 bombers, the Japanese military set up powerful arc lights near anti-aircraft artillery, lights that shone as high as 20,000 feet, to illuminate the bombers.

Hanley was flight engineer on a B-29 named the Stork Club after the favorite nightspot of its previous captain, a native of Manhattan, N.Y. The name was painted on the bomber's nose, and Hanley's crew inherited the nickname The Stork Club Boys.

The Stork Club had been on several bombing raids, but this time its assignment was to drop mines in the Shimoseki Straits, a main route for Japanese supply ships carrying goods to the Japanese people.

To drop the mines accurately, the bomber had to fly at a low and dangerous altitude.

Hanley saw the Stork Club's lead B-29 become caught in a concentration of spotlights. The anti-aircraft guns concentrated their fire on that plane, blowing it out of the sky.
...snip...
The Americans were moved to Omori prison on Tokyo Bay, where, on their first day, they were told that they could bathe in the ocean. It was the most pleasurable experience they had had since being captured.

Although one Japanese officer had decreed that the Americans would be machine-gunned, his guards refused to carry out the order. Shortly afterward, Hanley heard excited shouting. Through a barred window, he saw five Higgins boats, full of U.S. Marines, landing on the beach.

I had no idea that there was a military prison in Omori. I wonder what's there now.
Here's something... http://www.warsailors.com/POWs/powcamps.html

OMORI was located half way between Tokyo and Yokohama. The full name of this camp was Tokyo POW Camp Omori-ku Iriarai Kila. It was set up on an artificial island in Tokyo bay, connected to the Tokyo-Yokohama road by a 200 meter long wooden bridge, sourrounded by the sea on all sides. The oval shaped island was about 75 meters long and 65 meters wide. Around the island was a tall bamboo fence with barbed wire attached to it. The prisoners' barracks were in the middle of the island, between the administration buildings and the soldiers' quarters (north) and the anti aircraft guns (south). Again, see my page "Life in Imprisonment" which provides some details on daily life at this camp as well as Camp Ofuna.

[Taro Toporific]

I had no idea that there was a military prison in Omori. I wonder what's there now.]

It's across the street from the vile motorboat racing course in one of the cheapest (and noisiest) apartment rental locations in Tokyo...therefore a place offered to me as a gaijin rental.

[dimwit]

I had no idea that there was a military prison in Omori. I wonder what's there now.]

It's across the street from the vile motorboat racing course in one of the cheapest (and noisiest) apartment rental locations in Tokyo...therefore a place offered to me as a gaijin rental.

Maybe they just thought that you might want to reminisce.

[Captain Japan]

I had no idea that there was a military prison in Omori. I wonder what's there now.]

It's across the street from the vile motorboat racing course in one of the cheapest (and noisiest) apartment rental locations in Tokyo...therefore a place offered to me as a gaijin rental.

When you are in the grandstands at Omori you get a great view of laundry hanging off balconies. That would be just above the top of this photo.

[dimwit]

When you are in the grandstands at Omori you get a great view of laundry hanging off balconies. That would be just above the top of this photo.

I don't imagine we are losing that much by having the photo cut off.

[Mulboyne]

MDN: POW list sheds light on deaths of Allied soldiers in Japan
Working to provide details on the deaths of prisoners of war who were brought to Japan during World War II and subjected to backbreaking labor, a Japanese organization has compiled a list stating the places and cause of death of 3,526 Allied soldiers. The group, POW Research Network Japan, has begun releasing the data, which took two years to compile, on its Web site. It is the first time a comprehensive list of the deaths of Allied POWs in Japan has been released publicly

POW Research Network Japan English Site

Do you know that there were about 130 POW camps in Japan during World War II?... The lives of the prisoners were wretched, and by the end of the war over three thousand of them had died of malnutrition, lack of medical care, and ill-treatment. Among those who did survive and return home, many still live with the unhealed scars of these harsh experiences, even though it's been nearly 60 years since the war ended...The POW Research Network Japan was set up in March 2002 to dig out these buried histories as regards POW camps. The group's activities include researching the camps and War Crimes Trials regarding camps, as well as associating with former POWs and their families.

[Mulboyne]

BBC: Ex-war prisoner returns to Japan
David Russell, 84, will travel to a mine in Ikuno in March, where he hopes to be reunited with a Japanese miner who cared for him when he was injured...He was captured in Java and sent to Japan where he worked in horrendous conditions in a copper mine for three and a half years. He said: "I was captured while trying to get to Australia in a lifeboat with seven other men. We capsized near the coast of Bali and were handed over to the Japanese. All the time they promised to kill us - it was a pretty horrible experience. Physical punishment was the order of the day. The worst thing was the hunger - we were all starving and looked like scarecrows. But our camp was the most civilised society I have ever lived in because all rank and class had disappeared. "
...Mr Russell is returning to Japan with his daughter and granddaughter and hopes to be re-united with one man - a miner who helped him when he lost the end of his finger. "This miner, who was my boss, was the only one to show me kindness. He sent me back to camp and did my work until I was better. At the end of the war the Americans dropped parcels of food and clothing in the camp. I made up a box for the man and his family because they were starving and took it to his shack before I left on the train. He wasn't there so I left it with his wife and children. But as the train pulled away he came running up the platform with tears streaming down his face shouting 'thank you'. That was the last time I saw him."