A bump and a drip!(Very sad ending)
I cannot seem to get the syntaz for Pinz right for love nor money and there's no way to search for anything similar. Anybody know?
US Pardoned Unit 731 Members in Exchange of Experiment DataAccording to published data, U.S. intelligence knew about the work of Unit 731 long before the end of the war. However, at the end of the war, Ishii Shiro and all his subordinates were pensioned off by the U.S. Government in return for the data related to human experiments. Because of this "plea bargain", the criminal acts of the notorious Unit 731 have disappeared from history with the end of the war. Up to this day, the Japanese government still will not confess these criminal offenses.
In 1949, some members of Unit 731 were captured by the Russian army in Manchuria. When the Russians tried them in a military tribunal, some of the information on Unit 731 leaked out. One of the members of Unit 731 in the bacteria production department, under interrogation by Russian personnel, confessed that Unit 731 practiced experiments with live human subjects. Russia immediately sent a request through the International Bureau of Investigation to prosecute Ishii Shiro and all related personnel, but the request was rejected by the U.S. Government. Unit 731 has not received its deserved prosecution and trial, just as the Japanese emperor has never been tried as a war criminal. This was all influenced by the decision of the U.S. Government.
Lots more info here: http://www.sjwar.org/htm/731-15.html
In the PacificAfter the Allied victory over Japan, U.S. Army and intelligence agents also moved swiftly to capture Japan's Unit 731 anthrax-bomb technology and other research. The initial job fell to Col. Murray Sanders, a Camp Detrick (its name during the war) bacteriologist. Earlier, Sanders had been part of Camp Detrick's investigation team into the Japanese balloon incidents. Sanders had sounded the first alarm about the mysterious balloons flying over the U.S. possibly being armed with anthrax.
Decades later, in an interview, Sanders said, "Anthrax is a tough bug. It's sturdy. It's cheap to produce, and [the Japanese had] used it in China." In a 1985 interview with the Miami Herald, Sanders revealed that he was "duped" by the Japanese during his nine-week investigation of Unit 731 and that had he known about torturous experiments on innocent human beings conducted by bacteriologist Dr. Shiro Ishii, "I would have been very happy to be part of the firing squad."
Unable to interview Ishii because the scientist was in hiding in Japan's mountains, Sanders spent two weeks in Japan questioning Dr. Ryoichi Naito, a high-ranking Unit 731 bacteriologist who oversaw many of Ishii's horrific anthrax experiments. At the time, Sanders was unaware that in 1939, Naito had visited New York's Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research in an attempt to obtain samples of lethal viruses. Refused, Naito unsuccessfully attempted to bribe employees of the Institute only to be again turned away.
When Sanders arrived back at Camp Detrick he discovered that he had contracted a severe case of tuberculosis, and he was bedridden for months. He told his replacement on the investigation, Lt. Col. Arvo T. Thompson, executive assistant to Dr. Ira Baldwin and George Merck, that he "strongly suspected" that the Japanese had conducted extensive human experiments but had been unable to obtain any definitive evidence.
Thompson, along with friends and colleagues, Olson and John Schwab, had been among the very first recruits to Camp Detrick. All three men had been initially headquartered at Maryland's Edgewood Arsenal while assisting Baldwin, Camp Detrick's first research director, in finding a suitable location for the nation's first biological warfare center. During the war, all three dealt extensively with the development of anthrax weapons. Schwab helped oversee the development of the Vigo anthrax plant in Indiana. Thompson directed anthrax experiments at Horn Island Testing Station in Pascagoula, Miss. Olson, during 1943 and 1944, oversaw aerobiology research concentrating intensively on anthrax.
Thompson, called "Tommy" by his friends, was given orders to aggressively follow up Sanders' work with the central objective of keeping all that he learned away from the Russians.
In Japan, Thompson interviewed Ishii, who had been captured by the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps. He found Ishii to be "often evasive" but still managed to glean a great deal of information from the scientist. Thompson was ordered not to discuss his sessions with Ishii with anyone.
A top-secret U.S. Army Far East Command report on Thompson's findings reads: "The value to the U.S. of Japanese biological weapons data is of such importance to national security as to far outweigh the value accruing from war-crimes prosecution." A 1956 FBI memorandum reveals that by the mid-1950s the U.S. knew everything about Ishii's human experiments but agreed not to prosecute in exchange for Japan's scientific data on germ warfare.
In May 1951, scientists at Fort Detrick were shocked to learn that Thompson had "committed suicide" while on another special assignment in Tokyo. The circumstances surrounding Thompson's death have never been publicly revealed. Two years later, Olson would also "commit suicide" under circumstances so unusual that eventually he became an icon of American mysteries. Not long before Thompson's death, according to Sanders and other former Fort Detrick researchers, Ishii was secreted into the United States to lecture at Camp Detrick. Sanders, in an interview before his death in 1988, also claimed that Ryoichi Naito was brought to Camp Detrick to lecture American researchers on Unit 731's human experiments.
Pertinent to note is that in 1996, Naito was caught up in a huge scandal in Japan that involved the shipment of HIV-infected blood to the United States. The same HIV-infected blood was sold to Japanese hemophiliacs. The company responsible for the shipments and sales of the tainted blood was Green Cross, a private blood bank founded in 1950 by Naito and two other Unit 731 researchers. Naito died in 1982 shortly after the Japanese media began referring to Green Cross as the "Vampire Blood Bank."
Hard to believe I missed this one somehow. If Budge doesn't have it, definitely a "keeper" for the Trail's cache: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=25406 (Feds' involvement in anthrax experiments 11/21/01)
Surprisingly, the United States General, Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in the Far East, as a result of popular opposition in Japan to war crimes trials of Japanese, took the initiative in mid-1947 to urge Allied governments not to hold further war crimes trials.(104) In response to MacArthur's request, the United Kingdom took the lead to stop further trials. On 12 April 1948, the Overseas Reconstruction Committee of the British Cabinet decided that ''no further trials of war criminals should be started after 31 August, 1948''.(105).
Three months later, the British Commonwealth Relations Office sent a secret telegram to Australia, Canada, Ceylon, India, New Zealand, Pakistan and South Africa suggesting that no new trials should be started after 31 August 1948, partly on political grounds:
''In our view, punishment of war criminals is more a matter of discouraging future generations than of meting out retribution to every guilty individual. Moreover, in view of future political developments in Germany envisaged by recent tripartite talks, we are convinced that it is now necessary to dispose of the past as soon as possible.(106)
Canada sent a secret cable in response on 22 July 1948 saying that it had no comment to make and the British government sent a subsequent note on 13 August 1948 warning that ''no public announcement is likely to be made about this''.(107)
A series of similar political decisions were taken by Japanese and American officials to bring to an end trials of Japanese accused of war crimes and to release those convicted, commute their sentences or pardon them. At the same time that the trial of senior Japanese civilian and military was taking place before the Tokyo Tribunal, Japanese Emperor Hirohito promulgated a secret imperial rescript pardoning under Japanese law all members of the Japanese armed forces who might have committed crimes during the war, which was later tacitly approved by United States General MacArthur, as Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.(108) As a result, there never were any prosecutions in Japanese courts of Japanese for war crimes. (109) The Far Eastern Commission (FEC) issued a formal advisory in 1949 to the 19 Allies in the Far East that trials of Japanese for war crimes should take place no later than 30 September 1949.(110) Two years later, the Treaty of Peace with Japan provided in Article II that all Japanese who had been convicted of war crimes would be returned to Japan to serve the rest of their sentences under the authority of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, with the aim, as it later became known, to ensure early release on parole or commutation of sentences.(111)
END QUOTE
Beyond Hirohito's blanket amnesty, granted of course while the country was under Occupation, as early as 1946 there was strong rumblings in Washington, London, Ottawa to stop prosecutions. The history of the aborted investigations, for instance, of Unit 731 is related in Sheldon Harris's book FACTORIES OF DEATH. Other war criminals were protected by SCAP -- including Tsuji Masanobu, famous for his Sook Ching ethnic cleansings in Singapore --
for more on this see James Mackay BETRAYAL IN HIGH PLACES. In this instance, evidence points to the fact that SCAP forces did not stop short of eliminating war-crimes investigators who they found inconvenient -- Colonel Wild was the victim. I am collecting many, many details about the about-face in SCAP regarding the prosecutions and investigations. Of course, the debate about Hirohito's criminality has been covered in many, many books. What I'm looking at now is the next level on down.
Peggy - >Arthur -- Did you ever here of this officier and his experience as a result of his involvement in war-crimes tribunals?
Colonel H.E.R. Smith was in charge of war crimes trials in Singapore from 1946-1948. He was to have presided over all the trials held in Singpoare but he was advised by the Provost Marshal of a Japanese plot to kill him and the orders were rescinded. He was also told that he should change his name. He became Colonel Richard Craig-Hallam and continued to service in the British army in Germany. He died peacefully in January 2000.
The information about Col. Smith came from an article published by the Copenhagen Peace Research Institute. I've asked them to supply me with a copy that gives the sources to their assertions about Smith. I think Smith was involved in German war crimes trials, too at some point.
Arthur - >Peggy, Sorry, but I only have a limited amount of material regarding the war crimes mainly to do with colonel Wild and captain Goodwin
I have no mention in my records of either Smith or Craig Hallam However I understand that all investigaters were on a hit list, especially the persistant ones.
Peggy - >Arthur -- Thanks. Interesting that there is a pattern. I hope if anyone out there has any information of Colonel Smith they'll pass it along.
Since he died in 2000, there's probably something in the way of obituaries in the British Press, which I'm going to look for. Though I don't know whether it would be under the name of Smith, or his new identity as Colonel Richard Craig-Hallam.
Now, here's a good case in point. Can I, as a non-relative, access colonel Smith's/Craig-Hallam's service records? From what Maurice said in an earlier letter, I don't think it is possible.
Peggy - >Arthur -- It appears that Smith was in charge when the following men were convicted and sentenced. I also believe he would have been deeply involved in the investigations concerning the infamous Col. Tsuji -- the guy Wild was investigating when his plane exploded. If I have it right, the British government get special permission to continue to pursue the Tsuji investigation, but this all terminated in 1948.
Admiral Teczo HARA -- Andaman Island massacres
General Harada -- ex-commander in Java
Major-General Hidaka
Lt. General Kawamuri
Major-General Otsuka
Lt. General Fufuye Shimpei
Major-General Sato Tamenori
Major-General Toshio
Arthur - >Peggy, I would suggest that you give it a try via the public records office. Tall a little white lie and say that you are involved in a documentary. Arthur
Re Col Tsujii read a book "The Killer They Called God" by Ian Ward published by Media Masters Singapore ISN 98-00-3921-2also gives some info on O S E Singapore. something I didn't know about
Denis - FYI, you probably got it but for confirmation.
JLK
JAPANESE IMPERIAL ARMY FILES
An alphabetical list of historical record groups related to Japanese Imperial Army war crimes from World War II compiled for the Interagency Working Group on Nazi War Crimes and Japanese Imperial Government Records and transferred to the National Archives may be found here (thanks to MJR): http://www.fas.org/sgp/othergov/japan-imp-records.htm
Hirohito's connection to bacteriological warfare was confirmed by a much later researcher, Edward Behr. Behr, after researching into the life of Pu-Yi, the puppet Emperor of Japanese-dominated Manchukuo, led him to research the life of Emperor Hirohito. In his book, Hirohito: Behind the Myth, he wrote:
"The decrease in the size of the army was compensated for by the creation of new tank and anti-tank units, a signals corps, and, later, a chemical and bacteriological warfare centre -- these last two were, in part at least, the brainchild of the scientific minded Prince Kuni, Hirohito's father-in-law, and Hirohito himself; with his passion for science and marine biology, took a keen interest in both centres from their creation" (Hirohito: Behind the Myth, 1989,
p.76).Years after the end of the Pacific war, revelations of the existence of Japanese laboratories for research into bacteriological weapons in Manchuria were brought to the attention of the world. These new deadly weapons were tested on prisoners of war and cost thousands of lives. Such incidences would have provided a case of centrally organized war criminality in Japan. Yet, everything connected with this crime was kept from the Tokyo war crimes trial.
Edward Behr wrote that veterans of the "Imperial" unit, otherwise known as "Unit 731", were inordinately proud of its "imperial" origin, pointing out that theirs was the only army unit ever set up by "imperial decree"."Unit 731" was the brainchild of General Shire Ishii. General Ishii was known to Hirohito. Later, Ishii was promoted, and bestowed by Hirohito with the highest honor --the Order of the Rising Sun.
The American military authorities were aware of such crimes but they wanted to avail themselves of the results of these experiments. As the Cold War loomed over the horizon, American officials tried to prevent any research information from falling into the hands of the Soviet Union. On one hand, the Japanese criminals involved in these misdemeanors had all the confidential data, while on the other hand, Douglas MacArthur and his minions wanted the data for themselves. So a scheme was set up whereby criminals were promised immunity by MacArthur from prosecution in exchange for divulging the results obtained from the experiments. MacArthur maintained this arrangement and thus the whole scheme was kept secret during the Tokyo trial. The criminals were happy not to be prosecuted and, so too, was MacArthur, because he would have all the most up-to-date scientific data for himself, and in a very inexpensive way.When the Tokyo trial was brought up for review at an international symposium on May 28-29, 1983 in Tokyo, the Dutch judge, B.V.A. Roling, was the last remaining judge from the original trial. During the Tokyo Trial in 1946-48, Roling was the youngest judge at the age of just under forty. In 1985, writing from Groningen, he expressed,
"The prestige of the trial has been severely damaged by the revelation of the existence in Manchuria of a Japanese laboratory for research into bacteriological weapons.
" ... It is not inconceivable that it was strictly a military matter, kept by the minister of defense from his colleagues in the government. But it remains a disturbing fact that this, the worst of Japanese crimes, was kept from the tribunal" (The Tokyo War Crimes Trial, An International Symposium,
Introduction, by B.V.A. Roling, p.18).At a late stage of the Pacific war, Russia declared war against Japan to revenge her defeat forty years previously. The Red Army then seized much of Manchuria against almost no opposition from the weakened Kwangtung Army. During the 1983 symposium, Judge Roling expressed his enigma, "It is incomprehensible that the Russian prosecutor did not reveal the affair." The notion that the Russians had a mirror motive of the Americans did not enter his thoughts.
As to the life of Hirohito, it is a mystery to many people. Despite mounting evidence that the Emperor was not only deeply involved in the war but also acted as an instigator, by placing the right men at the right places, by coaxing and guiding his pupils through persistent questioning of his generals' aims and tactics, he, ironically, managed to evade any responsibility for the war. He was granted immunity by Douglas MacArthur, especially after their first meeting of September, 1945.