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(Note: The latest uploads are at the bottom.)
WAR RESEARCH TRIPS
First, a note on my interest in the Pacific War:
I am sometimes asked how I developed such an interest. I can identify three phases in that development. First, as a young boy growing up in the victorious post-war era in the U.S. (1945-55), there were many war documentaries on TV that I watched. The series that impressed me the most was “Victory at Sea.” In addition, there were a lot of war veterans recently returned with memories still fresh from fighting the Japanese or the Germans. I remember sitting around at the local soda fountain in my hometown listening with great fascination to their war stories. Also, as a young boy, I read a book at the local library called, Thirty Seconds over Tokyo, about the Colonel Jimmy Doolittle B-25 air raids on Tokyo on April 18, 1942. Those things first sparked my interest while young.
The second phase was when I joined the Navy years later. Although I was stationed in Japan, my ship often went to the Philippines. There, I visited Corredigor and other war-related sites, which re-kindled my interest.
The third phase came after I started reading books on war history in about 1985. One book led to another as there was the desire to know more details of particular battles, military leaders, etc. The more I read about General Douglas MacArthur, the more I wanted to know; I have probably read over ten books on his life and career. I agree with most historians that the Occupation of Japan under his leadership was a success and probably his greatest achievement. That impression led to my writing a textbook about him.
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I have participated in several military history and research tours, in addition to private trips to military sites in Asia, including, of course, Japan. I use the word “research” above in the liberal sense of the word; most of the trips are simply to visit places I have long studied about. Here is some information, with pictures, of some of those visits.
JAPAN
Two MacArthur-related historical sites in Tokyo
I don’t go to Tokyo often, but when I do I like to visit MacArthur’s office on the 6th floor of the Dai Ichi Insurance building in Yurakucho. The whole building served as GHQ during the Occupation. His office has been preserved much like it was when he used it; an adjoining room is a small museum. The weight of history feels heavy when one sets foot in the room, which I described in my textbook.
When in Yokohama, I try to visit the Hotel New Grand. The general stayed there for two weeks after his arrival in Japan on August 30, 1945, until the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo was repaired. His room there (still in use) has been preserved as well, and is called the “MacArthur Room.” I have a standing offer to stay in the room by the hotel manager, but have yet had the chance to do so. A Japan Times writer, Eric Prideaux, wrote about these two sites with pictures. See the article here: http://www.pripix.com/features/macarthur.h
-------------------------------POW Camp Sites -------------------------------
I have visited several former sites, mostly in Kyushu, such as Omuta, Ohama (Onoda), Tanura, Oeyama (Kyoto area), and Saganoseki. In almost all cases, no structures remain, just open land covered in weeds. As valuable as land is in Japan you would think something would have been built on those sites. That is not the case, because, in my opinion, the local people are aware of the history of the land and feel that it is either jinxed or sacred. They would no more build something there than they would build on the site of a former cemetery. Another interesting thing is that the camps are unacknowledged; that is, there are no signs of any kind, nor are there any notations on local maps. Therefore, it takes a fair amount of field work to find some of them. Obviously, the Japanese are not proud of that war history and are not about to advertise it. (I have written to a couple of local governments complaining that, while former coal mines, burial grounds—former sites of this and that—are notated on maps, former POW camp sites are not. I have never received a response.) Most camps were at or near mines or factories. Those companies today would like to bury the past, and many are reluctant to cooperate with visits due to the adverse publicity that might result. When POW Research Network visits the former camp sites, we try to find locals who either worked at the camp or lived nearby who can explain how things were at that time. As for gathering data, it has been difficult because most incriminating records were hastily burned before the Occupation. Still, through the persistent efforts of the research committee a great deal of knowledge and data has been generated. You can see this at the group’s website: http://www.powresearch.jp
As for the American POWs, most follow a similar pattern of experience: captured in the Philippines, survived the Bataan Death March, then sent to Japan on “Hell Ships” for the last two years of the war to work as forced labor. The story of Lester Tenny, who was made to work at Omuta Camp #17 coal mine, is typical. Lester stands out, however, because he is still fighting for justice on behalf of all who suffered: they want apologies and compensation (back wages) from those companies who profited from the POWs inhumane slave labor. In addition, they are waging a fight with their own U.S. government. The U.S. State Department, not wanting to rock the boat with its biggest ally and second-largest trading partner in Asia, has blocked all attempts at legal relief in U.S. courts. (I wrote Lester a letter of encouragement, and he sent me a nice reply.) Here is a recent (2008) article in the N.Y. Times about Lester’s campaign. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/26/opinion/26kotler.html You can read his POW story in his book, “My Hitch in Hell,” which is described here: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/My-Hitch-in-Hell/Lester-I-Tenney/e/9781574888065 Again, for details on camps in the Kyushu area, testimonies of former POWs, interrogations of former camp guards, and much more, refer to Wes Injerd’s excellent homepage on the subject:
------------------------------- Sugamo Prison ----------------------------------
This was prison the Allied occupation forces took over during the occupation of Japan to house suspected war criminals as they awaited trial before the International Military Tribunal for the Far East, also known as “The Tokyo War Crimes Trials.” (I devoted one lesson to this in my MacArthur text.) After the conclusion of the trials, Sugamo Prison was used to incarcerate some of the convicted and was the site of the execution of the seven sentenced to death. Before I went there, I thought there might be some kind of an historical marker, but like much other “buried war history” in Japan, there was nothing but a stone marker on which is engraved in Japanese “Pray for Eternal Peace.” Most of the site houses modern office buildings. Read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugamo_Prison
------------------------------Yushukan Museum ------------------------------
This is a Japanese military and war museum located within Yasukuni Shrine in Chiyoda, Tokyo. I've been there three times. Both the shrine and the museum are controversial, as they are seen by many as golorifying Japan's agressive military past. In addition, the spirits of convicted Class-A war criminals are enshrined there. In recent years, visits to the shrine by some Japan's top political leaders have outraged China and Korea, the two countries that suffered most under Japanese imperialism. If you can overlook its right-wing leanings, the museum is quite interesting. In the entrance lobby, there is a completely intact Japanese Zero aircraft and a steam locomotive that was once used on the Thai-Burma "Death Railway." Read about the Yushukan here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%ABsh%C5%ABkan
----------------------------------- Takeda B-29 Crash Site --------------------
Only two B-29's crashed in Oita Prefecture where I live. Every May 5th members of the memorial association and the general public gather for a ceremony in the countryside at the site where one crashed in Takeda—about an hour from where I live—on its return to Guam from a bombing mission in 1945. Many B-29s were shot down over Japan, but what sets this one apart is the horror that followed it. Eight of the surviving airmen were taken to Kyushu Imperial University Medical Department where they were used in live vivisection experiments. The various organs manipulated or removed were the lungs, brain, liver, stomach and heart. All eight died during the “operations.” This is the only known case were Americans were used is such experiments. As the only American attending the Takeda ceremony each year, I am asked to give a short speech, in which I thank the participants for honoring the memories of American crew. The Kudo family, which owns the farm where the aircraft fell, built a nice memorial some years ago. It is comforting to know those brave airmen have not been forgotten. Presently, the Association is raising money to build a small structure on the site to house pictures, testimonies, and pieces of the aircraft collected by the villagers after the crash. You can read about the details of this, other B-29 crashes, and POW camps in Kyushu on Wes Injerd’s excellent website: http://home.comcast.net/~winjerd/Page05.htm#Vivisections ------------------------------------- Okinawa ------------------------------------
In 2005 we took a direct 90-minute flight from Oita to Okinawa for a five-day visit. It was my first time back in about forty years. The island is a treasure trove of war history as it was the site of one of the bloodiest battles of the Pacific War from April to June, 1945: The Battle of Okinawa, "The Typhoon of Steel." These are some of the places we visited: Himeyuri Peace Museum, Prefectural Peace Museum, Former Underground Headquarters of the Imperial Japanese Navy, and Hagushi Beaches, where the main landings took place. Read about the battle here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Y%C5%ABsh%C5%ABkan
----------------------------------- Comments ------------------------------------
The above are just a few of the many war history sites in Japan. The country has numerous war museums (called "peace" museums) from Hiroshima and Nagasaki to smaller ones in various regional cities. And across the country, you can find old fortifications, bunkers, and so on. Every now and then and unexploded bomb is dug up. Here is an article about a recent one: http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/okinawa-construction-crew-sets-off-old-buried-explosive
Every time I leave my house I am reminded that Japan is a country that was directly confronted with war on its own shores. Just 300 yards from my house are a couple of the most common war relics that remain today: caves dug into the sides of hills. There are thousands of them all over the country. They were used as bomb shelters during B-29 air raids. Most are about four feet in diameter at the entrence and about ten feet deep. I have talked to a couple of old people in my neighborhood who actually used them when they were kids in 1944-45. According to them, each family had a specific cave assigned to it, normally the one closest to their house.
THAILAND
After reading many fascinating books on the "Death Railway," it was a somber but joyous occasion for Mitsuko and me to have been able to tour the railway with the Burma-Thailand Railway Memorial Association in April 2005. From Boonpong and the Kanchanaburi War Cemetery through the Bridge on the River Kwai, Hellfire Pass, up to Three Pagodas Pass on the Burma border, our tour group traversed its full length and learned the sad history of the 60,000 POWs who slaved away there under horrid conditions. We had the honor of being guided by three Australian survivors, Bill Haskell, Neil MacPherson, and Ernie Redman. This is an honor that future tourists won't have as the few survivors left are becoming infirm. Here is the group's website: http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/okinawa-construction-crew-sets-off-old-buried-explosive
Here is a good general article on the railway: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_Railway
PHILIPPINES
In October 2002, I joined a group of General MacArthur Honor Guard Association members and their families for a week-long MacArthur War-History tour in the Philippines. MacArthur is still revered in the Islands, and we were given the red-carpet treatment the whole time. We stayed at the Manila Hotel which MacArthur called home for some fifteen years. His suite and office on the top floor overlooking Manila Bay is preserved for history. Here is a list of some of the places we visited: American Cemetery, Fort Santiago, Corregidor Island, Bataan Death March Trail, Camp O'Donnel POW camp site (final stop of the Death March), Intramuros, and the U.S. Embassy, where were given a nice reception. Our association dedicated a kilometer marker monument at Km 19 on the Bataan Death March trail.
AUSTRALIA
I had been hoping to visit three places in Australia: the MacArthur Museum in Brisbane, the National War Museum in Canberra, and Cowa. I was able to realize that wish when my daughter, Reimi, spent a year (2006-7) as a foreign exchange student in Melbourne, and we went down to visit her.
------------------------------- MacArthur Museum ---------------------------
The museum is located on the 8th floor of the MacArthur Chambers Building in downtown Brisbane. From July 1942 to September 1944, MacArthur made the whole building his headquarters. It was here that he planned his "island hopping" campaign to fulfill his "I Shall Return" pledge to the Philippines. The item on display that impressed me the most was the actual table that the General and his staff used to map or war strategy. He liked to smoke an occasional cigar, and burn marks from his cigars can be seen at the end of the table. The museum has a library, to which I contributed a copy of my MacArthur book. Read about the museum at their web site:
-------------------------------------- Cowra --------------------------------------
Located in rolling countryside about four hours outside of Canberra, Cowra is the site of the largest POW breakout in modern military history. On the night of August 5, 1944, more than 1000 Japanese prisoners launched a mass "suicide attack" on their guards. Armed with crude weapons, about 300 prisoners fought their way outside the camp while many committed suicide inside. All escapees were captured, but 231, died and 107 were wounded. Four Australian guards were killed. Only the foundations of some buildings remain, but the area is well documented with interpretive signage. Nearby is the Cowra War Cemetary where most of the dead POWs were buried. In town, at the Visitor's Center, there is a museum dedicated to the breakout. A short drive from the POW site is the Cowra Japanese Garden, which is a beautiful as any I have seen in Japan. The story of the breakout is detailed in the book, "Voyage From Shame: The Cowra Breakout and Afterwards," by Harry Gordon. The area's website (below) which covers the above-mentioned places is called "Cowra: The Great Escape."
------------------------------------ Melbourne -----------------------------------
In Melbourne, Reimi took us around to several sightseeing spots. One of them was the majestic St Paul’s Cathedral. I didn’t realize it until I got back and checked my references, but that is the church where the funeral was held of the great Australian jungle surgeon on the “Death Railway,” Sir Edward “Weary” Dunlop, when he died in 1993. It was attended by over 10,000 people. He is a national war hero known to all Australians. We heard a lot of first-hand stories about him while touring the “Death Railway” with former POW Bill Haskell, who knew him well. We also saw a mock-up of one of his operating theaters. I had just finished reading a book on him, “Weary: The Life of Sir Edward Dunlop” by Sue Ebury before going to Australia, so that was timely. Read about his life here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Dunlop
------------------------ Australian War Memorial -------------------------
This has got to be one of the biggest and best war museums in the world. The Australians are big on war history. The northern part of the country was attacked by Japanese aircraft and Sydney Harbor by midget-submarines in early 1942, and an invasion was imminent. Thanks to General MacArthur’s strategy and the Battle of the Coral Sea, the country was saved. In the WWII section, one of the midget-subs salvaged from the harbor is on display. Naturally, there are quite a few displays on MacArthur, whom the Australians still hold in high regard. Here is the museum’s web site: www.awm.gov.au
NEW ZEALAND
CHINA Because of our interest in China and learning the language we travel there two or three times a year. Japan started occupying China in 1931 with the invasion of Manchuria and spread its grip on the country throughout the Pacific War. Since China has been late in developing, war-related sites can be found almost anywhere you travel. I will note just three here. --------------------------- Pingfan (near Harbin) -----------------------------
I mentioned earlier in the section, “Memberships,” that our first trips were with the ABC Research Group that does research on Unit 731 and promotes knowledge about it by holding exhibitions around Japan. In addition to Pingfan, where Unit 731 was headquartered, we visited many related facilities in northern China. One of the more interesting things we did was go into poor, remote villages to interview old men who worked at the 731 facility as young boys, or who were relatives of those killed there. For example, one man we interviewed was in charge of taking care of the rats at the facility’s rat breeding farm. Fleas on rats were used to spread bubonic plague and other deadly diseases among the population. They were usually released directly in villages, but in some cases were dropped by parachute into civilian areas. The list of horrors is long and gruesome. Read more about Unit 731 here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731 (Naturally, the Chinese government appreciates our group’s activities in Japan, so they really lay out the red carpet for our visits.)
------------------------------------ Nanking --------------------------------------
I have read a lot about the “Nanking Massacre,” also called the “Rape of Nanking,” and we have been able to make two trips there in the past five years to see the museum—both the old and the new one. I was disappointed that the new museum still clings to the 300,000 figure for the number of victims murdered by the Japanese military in December 1937. Most historians contend the figure is overblown, although the fact itself is not in doubt. During the occupation of Nanking, the Japanese army committed numerous atrocities, such as rape, looting, arson, and the execution of prisoners of war and civilians. Because the Chinese government promotes war history education in China (unlike Japan) which aims to show how China has been a victim of various imperial and colonial powers, there are invariably a lot of children at these museums. The day we were at the new museum, which is really huge, there were hundreds of school groups; so many in fact that we could hardly see the exhibits. Read about it here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/223038.stm --------------------------------------- Beijing -------------------------------------
On our trip to China’s capital I was most impressed by the “Marco Polo Bridge.” It was first built in 1192, long before Columbus discovered America. It was later rebuilt in the period 1662-1722 (still old!) It is best known for the “Marco Polo Bridge Incident,” in which fighting broke out between Japanese and Chinese troops, marking the start of the second Sino-Japanese War (1937-45). Near the bridge there is a war museum which focuses on how Japan invaded and plundered China. This site has a nice visual tour of the bridge. http://www.thebeijingguide.com/marco_polo_bridge/index.html ----------------------------------- Port Arthur ----------------------------------
I had read a lot about this place where the Japanese-Russian war of
1904-5 took place. The battle of Port Arthur was short but vicious and bloody, characterized by suicide charges by determined Japanese troops against Russian fortifications on the tops of a series of low mountains. It was one of the few times in history where the winning side had more killed than the losing side. Japan's win was also the first time in history that an Asian power defeated a European or Western power. The classic book, Human Bullets, written by Tadayoshi Sakurai details the human sacrifice on the Japanese side. After the book was translated into English, it was edited by Alice M. Bacon, co-founder of a famous girls university in Tokyo, Tsuda University. I wrote about Bacon in my textbook, Foreign Legacies.
U.S.A.
------------------------------ MacArthur Memorial --------------------------
After I had finished my rough manuscript for the MacArthur textbook, I visited the MacArthur Memorial and Museum in Norfolk, Virginia. That visit inspired and motivated me to complete the book—at times I had my doubts about it. Later, the archivist there supplied me with the pictures for my text, at a modest price. The one picture that was ideal for Lesson One, “MacArthur’s Early Years,” a classic picture of the family when he was a young boy cost $100, however. The museum glorifies the life and accomplishments of one of America’s greatest generals. Its four buildings and grounds take up a whole city block. The General and Mrs. MacArthur’s final resting place is there in an impressive rotunda. It has a nice gift shop. While there I bought eight corncob pipes for souvenirs, tapes of his speeches, and a few other things. In the lobby of the gift shop is the original 1950 limousine, which he used from 1950 (in Japan) to the rest of his life. The Memorial is the epitome of the values he espoused in life, “Duty, Honor, Country.” Here is the Memorial’s website: http://www.macarthurmemorial.org/ -------------------------------- Eugene, Oregon -------------------------------
I owned a house in Cottage Grove, Oregon from 1998-2003. While there in the summer of 2003, I met up with Wes Injerd, the POW expert I mentioned earlier. Wes said he was coming down from Portland to interview a Bataan Death March survivor, Omar McGuire. Omar ended up as a POW at No. 3 Yahata Camp here on the island of Kyushu. Having read so many books on the Death March, it was a great honor to be able to meet a survivor and hear his story while Wes filmed and taped it. Those heroes are dwindling in number, as are all WWII veterans. --------------------------- Pearl Harbor, Hawaii -----------------------------
My two kids both live in Hawaii, so we try to visit at least once a year. I lived there for four years in the 1970's while studying at the University of Hawaii so it's a very familiar place. In addition to shopping, we always visit the Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri at Pearl Harbor. I wrote on both these places in my MacArthur textbook. Read about them here: Arizona Memorial: http://www.nps.gov/usar/ , USS Missouri: http://www.ussmissouri.org/visitor-information FUTURE TRIPS
There are still many Pacific War sites I long to see in Asia. Since I am still teaching full-time, five days a week, some visits will have to wait until I retire. However, there are two places I expect to visit in the next year or so:
----------------- Shenyang, China (formerly Mukden) -------------- This is where Japan’s main POW Camp in China, formerly known as Fengtian, was located. It once housed about 1,500 Allied prisoners of war. Yang Jing, a Chinese war historian, has for the past 15 years dedicated himself to a campaign for preservation of the site. Some of the original buildings remain. In 2004, the local government designated the site for preservation, and in 2007 the Chinese government announced that it would renovate the former camp and turn it into a museum. A friend of mine, Michael Hurst, knows Mr. Yang well and visited the site a couple of times. Michael is director of the Taiwan POW Camps Memorial Society. www.powtaiwan.org I met Michael and escorted him around when he came to Kyushu a few years ago for camp research. With his introduction and our newly acquired knowledge of the Chinese language, our visit to Fengtian should be a fruitful one. In addition to Fengtian, we hope to visit the former sites of the Cheng Chia Tun and Liao Yuan POW camps where General Wainwright and other allied generals were incarcerated. Here is an article about the camp: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2007-05/26/content_881003.htm
--------------------- Singapore, Changi POW Camp --------------------Changi was one of the most well-known Japanese POW camps in South Asia. It and its neighboring camps were used to imprison Malayan civilians and (mostly) British and Commonwealth soldiers, 80,000 of whom became prisoners after the fall of Singapore in February 1942. Many of them were later sent to work on the Burma-Thailand “Death” Railway, and after that sent to Japan as slave labor. One of them, Jack Boon (picture right), eventually ended up right here in my home town of Oita at the Saganoseki POW camp, and I escorted him on his visit to his former camp in 2003. Read about Changi here: http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/changi_pow_camp.htm I have visited, or hope to visit, many other places, but as the list is long I will end this section here. Below are the two latest postings:
-------------------Hainan Island, China----------------------------
On our trip to study Chinese on Hainan Island in September 2010, we were lucky to catch the last day of a photo exhibition at the Hainan Provincial Museum about a little-known POW rescue mission on the island. The Pigeon Mission, or, Dongfang Dropdown, commemorated the liberation of several hundred Allied POWs on August 27, 1945. A small team of 8 U.S. and 1 Chinese military flew from Kunming and parachuted down into Dongfang on the west coast of the island to "liberate" the prisoners, who were sick and starving. It was a matter of convincing the Japanese that the war was over, not an easy task given the propaganda and poor communications at the time.
----------------------------------Guam--------------------------------------------
In January 2011 we made our first visit to Guam. In addition to U.S. shopping--Guam has the largest K-Mart in the world--a highlight of the trip was seeing the site (cave entrance) where the Japanese soldier, Shoichi Yokoi (1915-1997), hid out in the jungle for 28 years after the war.
  Sgt. Yokoi was a tailor before the war. He made his clothes (pictured are trousers) out of coconut fiber. It took a lot of ingenuity to survive 28 years in the jungle alone. He was declared healthy when captured by local villagers in 1972.
 This is the U.S. War in the Pacific Museum in Guam.
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Click on image for a larger view.
 Azaleas were in full bloom when I visited Sanko Peace Park, Kyushu,
on May 3, 2005 for a memorial ceremony. Sixty years ago to the day
of the visit a B-29 crashed at the site. It is about 2 hours from my house
by car.
 Jerry Balser and his son were special guests at the ceremony held
on May 3, 2005. Jerry's father, Lewis Balser, was one of the crew-
members killed in the crash. The man is holding a picture of Jerry's
family taken in 1944. Needless to say, it was very emotional for
Jerry to visit the site where his father died serving his country in
1945. It gives me staisfaction to help with these kinds of visits, that
time as a translator.
 This is the office where General MacArthur ruled over Japan for six and a half
years as head of the Occupation. Those are the original chairs and table. His
desk was always clean, and the room had a spartan atmosphere, according to
former staff members.
 Oeyama, Honshu. Inspecting the site of a former comfort women
station (brothel) with other POW Research Network members.
 At the entrance to the former Omine POW Camp site, Kyushu.
 Former Omine, Kyushu, POW Camp site. L-R: Mr. Shiba, who lived
next to the camp as a young boy, Mr. Hirano, fellow POW Research
Group member, and MIchael Hurst, Director of the Taiwan POW
Camps Memorial Society.
 Sugamo Prison, Tokyo, as it looked around the timeof the Tokyo
War Crimes Trials, 1947. It was demolished in 1971.
 The museum's Zero fighter.
 Mr. Akimoto, 76, describing the B-29 crash at the site. On the top of
the monument is a picture of the Kamikazi pilot who rammed the
U.S. aircraft.
 A piece of the B-29 picked up by the local farmers on May 5, 1945
 Mitsuko beside memorial markers overlooking the main landing
beach of the Okinawa invasion which took place in April 1945.
 A cave near my house used as a shelter during B-29 air raids in 1945.
 "Hellfire Pass," one of the worse stretches of the Death Railway,
where POWs worked around the clock cutting, with hand tools,
through sheer rock formations to lay rails. (Mitsuko in foreground)
 The marker that our group donated at
km 19 of the "Death March" trail in the
Philippines.
 MacArthur Chambers Building, Brisbane, Australia.
The MacArthur Museum is on the eight floor.
 Cowra POW Camp, Australia, July 1, 1941, 2
months before the breakout. Japanese POWs
an be seen playing baseball in front of their
barracks.
 "Weary" Dunlop, 1907-1993,
the great "Jungle Surgeon"
on the Thai-Burma Death
Railway.
 Australian War Memorial, Canberra, Australia
 Auckland War Memorial Museum, New Zealand
 Map of China
 Our ABC Research Group interviewed this 88-yr-old man who was
forced to work at the Unit 731 facility as a young boy. Like many
in rural China, he is poor. His two-room house has a dirt floor and
no running water, although it does have electricity.
 The controversial figure on the front of the Nanking Massacre Museum.
 Marco Polo Bridge, Beijing, China
 Original Russian artillery piece, which was manufactured in Russia
in 1895. You can get an idea of the heights the Japanese soldiers
had to scale to reach the Russian positions to win the land Battle of
Port Arthur.
 MacArthur's 1950 limousine in the lobby of the Memorial gift shop.
 With Bataan Death March survivor, Omar McGuire, Eugene, Oregon.
Wes Injerd, POW research expert, is at right.
 With "War in the Pacific" Vol. 1-3 author General Jerome T. Hagen
at the Arizona Memorial Giftshop, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
 American veterans and their relatives gather at the site of the prisoner
of war camp where they were held by Japanese forces during the World
War Two, in Shenyang, northeast China's Liaoning province May 21, 2007.
They returned to the site to commemorate China's decision to turn the
cluster of brick buildings into a museum. Picture taken May 21, 2007.
[Reuters]
 With Jack Boon and Mr. Mikasa. Jack (l.), from Australia, was a POW
in Singapore before being sent to work on the "Death Railway," after
which he was sent to a a POW camp right here in my hometown of Oita,
Japan. Sixty-eight years later, in 2003, he returned to the site. Mr. Mikasa
was an office worker at the camp in those days.
  This is the entrance to the last cave Yokoi stayed in for twelve years.
 This shows the size of the cave and its features.
Yokoi's cave was in dense jungle near a beautiful waterfall where he was able to get water and fish. He hid during the day and came out to scavage for food at night.
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