The American public does not, in general, tend to know very much about World War II, a conflict that concluded just over seven decades ago. A new exhibit relating to a long-forgotten Japanese-run POW camp that was operational from 1942 until the end of the war may be useful, then, in jogging the collective memory.
Japan is said to have operated upwards of 200 POW camps during the
war, with most of them now lost or forgotten. One of the best-preserved has been turned into a museum.
The Shenyang POW Camp, as it is called, is at a site known for holding some 2,000 prisoners from six allied countries, namely the US, the UK, Canada, France, Australia and the Netherlands. At its peak, it held more than 1,200 Americans. Material from the Shenyang museum is currently on show for the first time in the US, at an exhibition in San Francisco.
High-ranking officers held at the camp included the men in command of US operations in the Philippines: Lt. Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, Major Gen. Edward King and Major Gen. George Moore. To avoid total annihilation, they had to surrender to the Japanese at the beginning of the Pacific War. In Japanese hands, American prisoners were subjected to a brutal forced march without water, food or protection from the tropical sun. More than 30% died along the way in what became known as the Bataan death march.
Of the Americans who survived the march, around 2,000 were placed in the hold of a vessel, the Totori Maru, and shipped to Mukden, the old name for Shenyang. Nearly 800 died en route due to extreme heat in the hold, disease, malnutrition, live bacteria injections and attacks by Allied planes.
The brutal treatment continued at Mukden. Prisoners were routinely beaten, kept malnourished and forced to work as slaves at nearby Japanese machine tool factories. They were also subjected to bacteriological and biological experiments, such as being injected with germs so that doctors could observe the effects, which very often included death. In collaboration with scientists from the notorious Unit 731, doctors performed dissections while patients were still alive.
As one American prisoner observed, no matter how ill a GI felt, he had no desire to go to the prison hospital for treatment because such a visit would, invariably, be fatal.
Thanks to some talented artists among the American POWs, the brutal conditions were documented in a series of cartoons. One drawing portrays the overcrowding of the barracks, with half a dozen prisoners depicted sharing the same bunk. Another shows a dog roasting on a spit – a feast for the camp after the prisoners managed to capture a stray. Yet another shows prisoners losing their teeth due to eating food loaded with coal cinders. Prisoners in another drawing soak their feet in buckets of icy cold water in an attempt to relieve the pain of beriberi.
The drawings memorialize the brutality taking place. The sarcasm, irony, wit and humor they reveal also reflects an indomitable American spirit in the face of adversity.
Another section of the exhibition is devoted to acts of kindness and friendship by Chinese workers toward American prisoners at the Japanese-run factories. The Chinese shared precious morsels of food and helped the POWs turn stolen parts from the factory into cash.
One photo display, from 2003, shows David Kornbluth, the then-Consul General at America’s Shenyang Consulate, presenting Li Lishui with a certificate of appreciation for his bravery and generosity toward American POWs during the war.
Other displays show former POWs returning to see the restored camp. Some came back with their wives and families and some brought with them photos of Chinese friends they had not forgotten, the bonds of friendship proving to be indelible.
The exhibition concludes with the statement: “Let us commemorate together and draw lessons from the past, appreciate the sacrifices made for us; not take our peaceful lives for granted, but rather be grateful.
“Let us also hope that humankind will never again choose to go down the road to war and that peace, friendship and progress will become the very foundation of human society.”
After the end of WWII, Germany took full responsibility for the Holocaust against the Jews and openly apologized, without reservation. Japan has taken a different approach
As I walked around, a series of questions crossed my mind. Why is it, I wondered, in light of their atrocities and crimes against humanity, that our political leaders and policy makers so quickly embrace Japan as our ally and China an adversary?
One of the first sections of the exhibition is devoted to the Bataan death march. There is a photo of a blindfolded American GI, hands bound behind his back and on his knees. A Japanese soldier stands beside him with his sword raised high, ready to decapitate him. The photo reminded me of the photo of a Japanese officer ready to strike down a Chinese prisoner during the Rape of Nanjing.
After the end of WWII, Germany took full responsibility for the Holocaust against the Jews and openly apologized, without reservation. Japan has taken a different approach. It denies that atrocities ever took place, and where total denial is not possible, maintains that they were not as serious as reported by the victims.
If they express any remorse, it is for the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In other words, only in the context of where the Japanese were victims of war and not aggressors.
The current government of Shinzo Abe would like nothing more than to unabashedly renounce any guilt for some of the most heinous crimes ever committed against humanity. Abe has been moving away from Japan’s constitution of peace and nonaggression and preparing for the day when Japan can openly develop weapons of destruction. Ironically, Washington is encouraging Japan to become a military power again. How easily Americans forget.
The exhibition Forgotten Camp: Allied POWs of Shenyang runs at the WWII Pacific War Memorial Hall, 809 Sacramento Street, San Francisco, until December 5. It is sponsored by the US edition of China Daily and the Chinese Consulate of San Francisco. This is the first time the exhibition has been shown in the US.
The author is trying hard to revive the enmity which has withered long ago between Japan n US, and embrace china to be an ally, which has fought against US in Korean war and Vietnam war ,where Chinese have tortured the Americans who surrendered. how can anyone expect to be ally with Chinese which claims the vast sea as thier’s
Why did America "so quickly" embrace Japan and view China as an adversary?
Could it be because Japan played ball after the war while China went Communist?
Great column, George
General Douglas Macarthur deserted his troops in the midst of battle, if an enlisted man did that, he would have been shot, but Macarthur was made a hero.
His leaderless troops suffered greatly at the hands of their Japanese captors.
Esby Toh Most of Americas warplanes that were designed in the 1950’s and 60’s were designed by those Nazi scientists. Even the B2 bomber is a German design.
Today, Americans and other foreigners is rounded up in detention centers in the Philippines. Living under horrible conditions with rats and roaches everywhere. Deprived of medicines and sufficent food. One of the most horrible detention centers is the BID, Bagong Diwa, Bicutan, Taguig City. The detainees are abandon by their governments that instead is showering the Philippines with aid. Some detainees can pay their way out by paying hefty bribes to the BI.
The exhibit is well organized, but the WWII Pacific War Memorial Häll in Chinatown is not well publicized and is unknown to the public-events-and-activities publications and web sites. The only critique of the exhibit is that the photo captions are in red and hard to read on many of the photos.
That is Indians wet dream.: want neighbors poor and fight each other, so it can oppress them as it doing in South Asia.
The clear and present danger now and in the future would be China in terms of US and the West’s hegomony over the rest of the world. Thats why the US is encouraging Japan to rearm. It is instigating both Vietnam and India to join in containing China. However, when it comes to the crunch these Asian countries better be aware that the West will abandon them when their own survival are at stake. They will just be cannon fodder to weaken China in a conflict. As for Japan being still unrependent and in deliberate denials of the rapes, killings, plunders and other hideous atrocities against the people of the countries they invaded, karma will surely manifest (not now but surely in the future) a suffering worst than the destruction of their homeland at the end of the WW2. As a Buddhist saying goes, "if one repents and atone, even the most immutable karma can be lessened" but the Japs just refused to face the facts of history. If they acquire nuclear weapons, the island nation which is considered small will be totally annihilated and cannot survived in a nuclear exchange. The Japanese as a people and Japan as an country will be history.
Allan Jeffreys Don’t forget the Space Shuttle.
WTF? Are you all idiots?
It’ll be the ultimate irony if North Korea, one of the first colonies, ends up vaporizing Tokyo and Osaka