[jtminton]

More pictures here (WARNING: Tough to look at)

[Professional Engineer]

Ping

[jtminton]

Burleson ping!

[Red Badger]

Another reason to pay attention in science class. (are you listening f15falcon?)

[taxesareforever]

Terence Sumner Kirk of Burleson, a U.S. Marine in World War II, made the only photographs ever taken inside a Japanese POW camp.

A few years ago I was on vacation to Singapore. While there I visited an old sight of a Japanese prison camp and in a building at this sight they had copies of pictures that were taken by a prisoner at this prison. His also was with a homemade camera and it was a very elaborate system he had of putting the camera together, taking it apart and still being able to photograph the area. I'm not writing this to take anything away from Kirk but I do believe this would be another case and not the only case of photographs of a Japanese prison.

[SAMWolf]

Japan has managed to avoid the stigma attached to it's atrocities committed during WWII. While Nazi Germany is held up as the poster child for atrocities, Japan has gotten a pass.

[steplock]

Very good price!!
Amazon has ONE used copy that they will sell for $46.00!

I recommend this book for everyone's library - especially to be prominently displayed at your local PUBLIC library!

Don't expect them to buy on - buy one yourself and DONATE the book. THAT is the true American way!


The Secret Camera may be purchased for $20 by sending a check or money order payable to Terence S. Kirk, 7926 FM 927, Walnut Springs, TX, 76690, or by calling 254-797-5609.

[No Blue States]

Damn.

[newsgatherer]

bump for 3:pm update.

[Ff--150]

must read

[newsgatherer]

I have excerpted and linked to this on christian-news-in-maine.com Thanks for a great story, makes me proud.

[RaceBannon]

Marine Corps Bump!

[aruanan]

Well, they look quite different from the well-fed, buffed prisoners at Al Graib who were "tortured" by having to wear women's clothes.

[Conservomax]

I read about this in Leatherneck, it would make a good movie.

[vanmorrison]

This fella is a true American hero. And a tribute to American resourcefulness.

The thing to keep in mind here, though, is that Japanese civilians in the hundreds of thousands died of malnutrition and starvation during the war as well, mostly women and children, young and old. Not to mention the millions of Japanese civilians who died during the many incendiary and bombing raids, including, of course, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Many Japanese military officers were executed after the war because of the atrocities they committed themselves or allowed to be committed under their command. Generals Homma and Yamashita were hung, the architects of the invasions of Singapore and the Philippines. To the Japanese, this would be like hanging Patton or Eisenhower.

And these "Secret Camera" pictures were used to secure the convictions. Justice was served.

[Gunrunner2]

Goodness. . .at least those guys didn't have to wear women's underwear on their head as they ate ethic/religious appropriate meals, while waiting to see the doc. . .SARCASM!

I swear. . .

[Agnes Heep]

"Imagine. Freezing rain, very little food, no shelter. Imagine. You are very ill -- you are injured -- there is no medication -- no care. Now imagine. You might be tortured or murdered. This is what the prisoners of war went through every day in a Japanese prison camp."

A far cry from pink panties.

[bruin66]

Since he was educated in the United States...

UCRA, no doubt

[JustPlainJoe]

...But...Gee, I always hear that it was the AMERICANS who were the bad guys...the way they rounded up all the nice, peaceful Japanese people and put them into camps during the war! Now THAT was torture!

I'd LOVE to see this guys' photos!

[lilylangtree]

Fascinating.

[M. Dodge Thomas]

My wife's uncle was captured in China on the 3rd day of the war and spent the entire remainder of the was as a POW in China and Japan.

After mid-1943 conditions in the camps where he was held became increasingly brutal, but prior to that he and the other American prisoners in his group were not seriously mistreated. (This may have been a result of the fact that his group of Marines had been attached to the US Embassy, and for a while their legal status in the eyes of the Japanese was unclear).

Jack was able to preserve an surprising amount to material from this period despite being moved from camp to camp (for example around twenty letters he received during this period), and one of the other things we found in his possessions when he died a few years back was a diary from his time in one of the early camps, along with pictures of the camp which had been commercially developed and returned to him by one of the guards - including an autographed picture of the guard himself (!)

At the time it struck me as remarkable that this material had been preserved, but until now I didn’t realize how really unusual it was.