Anyone on this thread a historian of Iwo Jima or a Pacific War expert?
In the months preceding the Iwo invasion, the Japanese used at least 10,000 Korean “conscripts” to help dig the cave and tunnel network on the island.
Historically, that seems to be the end of the story.
Anyone here know how the Koreans were treated, or how many Koreans died, or where they went after Iwo, or what ultimately happened to them?
These are just guesses, mind you, but considering that the Koreans were Jap slaves, I'd answer your questions as follows:
a) very poorly;
b) most of them; and
c) the Japs put uniforms on them and forced them to run at the Americans with empty rifles...
In the years after 1939, the historians calculate, the Korean numbers in Japan swelled to over a million -- their figure is 1,120,000 -- although Tokyo's official government number is only 724,287. The miners' task was to descend into difficult seams to dig coal shipped exclusively for military use......Most workers suffered malnutrition, as they received only a handful of rice a month supplemented by inferior cereals. No meat was provided, for what is a more carnivorous people than the Japanese, who to this day prefer fish
If you find out anything, please ping me. I have been trying to get information on something slightly related. My Chinese GF’s grandfather was killed in the PI in WWII. I know he wasn’t fighting for the US, and I don’t believe any Chinese willingly fought for the Japanese. Her family, as per cultural habit, does not talk about it, even within the family.
Badly, most of them, the few who survived were American POWs.
All built with Korean slave labor where they estimated, tens of thousands died.
Since we never invaded Japan, the cave complexes were never occupied.
We will never know how many actually died.
...
Anyone here know how the Koreans were treated, or how many Koreans died, or where they went after Iwo, or what ultimately happened to them?”
I am not a historian, or Pacific War expert, but considering how the Japanese treated Koreans in other parts of the theater, I can make an educated guess. They worked them to death.