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Japs Tortured Doolittle Flier in Strait-JacketBy Capt. George Barrtutor's nc*e: Capt. George Barr. cite of the flieri tcho participated in the epic Tokyo raid of Apni.I M2, was the lest to be returned home. In a series of two articles, he tell* his story /or the first time.NEW YORK. May 31 ONSj-For three year* 1 was beaten, kicked and pumroeled pretty regularly by Se Japanese and systematically starved every day-I was captured by the Japs the morning of* April 19. 1942. the day after we bombed Tokyo, and the nightmare of starvation and beatings began on the 20th, and d:d no. end until last June.1 watched Bob Meder. as nice as ■ guy as you’ll ever meet, die of starvation and mistreatmenlln our prison at Nanking. I know that tl e Jat» took three of the Doolittle Dean ’HaUmark. Bill Farrow ^Harold Spalz, and executedthem.I have nightmares even now, when I wake up panting for breath and struggling to free myself from the Japgtrelght-ladcet in which 1I sp«t in hour of the worst torture l ever endured because I reaented a blow from one of. the guards.'Fore* Idiotic’But If 1 had the chance now to nut any of those guards In a Straight-Jacket. X would not dolt-I have learned that force accomplishes nothing. It i* idlobc.fn DqurUs MacArthur Is pursu-taJtoriSS course In ladling the JTpT He is bringing democrabc to them through which they can become decent pcoplc. Thc Jape need to be■pother method of educating them would be an exchange ol between the two countnes-Jap «t.utent* coming here and our students spending some time mJ wT must learn something aboutSifJSL «A bnU-ble SJSg SiVUT JSSareSSd their P»W rttgwHJ*• That is the only road toward lastingf** Victim* of Fearn.jsrstsentence la too light. In fact. In the rZZot Capt Tatsuta Sotojiro who toremmandant of -hc K.ang-wan military prison and who reeled the firing squad, it may be too severe. *He simply obeyed orders which came from the higher-ups andwhen .» in Kiangwan. he was as decent to us as he could bej’hemensSSaSJJustice—not this business of give tom a fair trial and then shootcate. They did it three times, but I onlv passed out once-So I knew what to expect from the Japs. But this vnnter day m 1944 was the culmination. P'raps.itt££££5r^assaA®ss8 few minutes each day in the courtyard.Punches GuardW- wore cumbersome Japanese slippers which always fell off as we Jotted around, so we took them off before starting the exercise and ran=w,*StS5Msrsrsrts1 r'^fangry, but 1*^ ““ mv cell. Then the guard struck me on the legs with his sword. I saw red. I whirled and puncbed him^ the nose. . He went down and thesssSysWmmS**«®?5SSa rope through my arms at me cltS and tied it securely at theback. I was helpless, though I couldm°p7nicyc!»mes quickly when youSTirSf ,r^elpb7ou^| jhcreEsthat position. .Panic and PainThen the pain began At tW sUrt there is only numbness, but wdco the blood forces lu £!constricted channels the P«“ ctm« frightful. I could har WjJS ? was °aUnost hysteric*hour. Then the guards tlghto^ the strings even mart. They were able to do that occaure my bones and flesh had contracted, remained in the sack for another half hour while the ™mmandant calmly looked at me. a waWhtn his hand. The F^rspuation poiued down my fare andInto»my eyes, although it was a cold day.At the end of an hour. » **«— released I could ***•'IffiS not take the towel one me to wipe my face. They ea nw stumbling back to my cell ana Misakl—the friendly guard—gave“if M h?d3S chance then. I wouldssrta«rsJE**£■5.*!aw—The Japa who beat us were the victW of fear, which Is to m victims of the Japanese system-Tbev were afraid of their superior ISrere; afraid, even, ot tteivf^tomtotfhi^^U10^ S omrerswere afraid of the men above them., - when I came out of that iackct one of the guards, my only CSS imone them, offered me a SSJJSdSrrfTW eelL He took I fSStM chance doing that and I'll never forget It or him., But I’ll never forget the ordeal of to streight-Jacket. dthcr. 1 into to rack one winter day In 1944 In the courtyard ofourspe-dally-built prison at Nanking. I had i taken a lot before thatgSsasvg Sss iwss
Newspaper Details
Southern Germany Stars and Stripes
Altdorf, Bavaria, DE
Sat, Jun 01, 1946
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Dylan S.
USA 20 Sep 2016
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Southern Germany Stars and Stripes
