Gene M. Labiuk B-29 POW Mail W ith the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9 in 1945, the Japanese military, government and Emperor realized that they could not defeat the allied nations or protect their homeland from them. On August 15, Emperor Hirohito broadcast a radio message to the Japanese people. Prisoner of War (POW) A. W. Rance, who was fluent in Japanese, translated the Emperor s speech to the POWs at Camp 5B, saying that Japan is surrendering and agreeing to the terms of the Potsdam Declaration. 1 Figure 1. Leaflet dropped on all POW camps informing the POWs of the end of the war and that relief would becoming shortly. - CWM 19960007-019, George Metcalf Archival Collection, Canada War Museum PHSC Journal 162-163 Summer-Fall 2015 27
With this, the commandants of the Japanese prisoner of war camps informed the POWs that they were free, but they had to remain in camp until relief personnel could get there to remove them to rehabilitation facilities in other areas. Figure 1 shows a leaflet that was dropped to the POWs informing them of the end of the war and that a representative would arrive to make arrangements for their withdrawal. These leaflets were dropped on all POW camps in Japan and the former occupied territories. They were printed on both sides one side in English and the other side in Japanese. American authorities asked Japanese military personnel for the locations of the POW camps spread throughout Japan and the former occupied territories. The Japanese response was not very co-operative because only a very few high ranking military personnel knew the exact locations of these camps. American reconnaissance planes began flying over Japan and the former occupied territories in the approximate areas given to them in order to locate these camps. Figure 2 shows a map of the camps in Japan, with Niigata Camp #5B being located at the top, approximately 160 miles northwest of Tokyo on the western side of Honshu Island. Camp 5B was one of the more remote camps in Japan. Following the Emperor s surrender speech, the POWs were informed to paint POW, PW or any other type of signal that would alert American reconnaissanceplane pilots to their locations. Figure 3 shows an aerial photo taken by a reconnaissance plane of Camp 5B with the white PW painted on the roof tops of the huts. Camp 5B was spotted by pilots flying from the USS Lexington. When a POW camp was sighted, in the following days U.S. bomber aircraft would begin parachute drops in which 50 gallon drums packed with canned food were Figure 2. Map of the various POW camps in Japan with Niigata Camp 5B at the top. - Courtesy www.mansell.com 28 PHSC Journal 162-163 Summer-Fall 2015
Figure 3. Aerial photo of Camp 5B. - Courtesy www.northchinamarines.com Figure 4. Aerial photo of Camp 5B after a parachute drop. Note the holes in the roof tops made by crashing barrels. - Courtesy China Marines 2 dropped. The contents consisted of meats, fish, fruits and vegetables, as well as baked goods such as breads and pastries, soups, medical supplies, fresh clothing, toiletry supplies and in some cases mail from home. This article describes a letter from Canada delivered to Camp 5B by this process. When these planes flew overhead to make their drops, the drums often were so heavy that they broke free of their parachutes and came crashing to the ground. A few lives were lost when men in the vicinity of the drop were either crushed or hurt from the breaking drums and the flying contents. Figure 4 shows an aerial photo of the buildings at Camp 5B after a parachute drop. Note the holes in the roofs where the barrels crashed through. The Japanese military seldom were co-operative in delivering mail from home to the POWs throughout Japan and the occupied territories. They often held mail from the prisoners and kept it in storage. Upon liberation, when these storage facilities were discovered, the liberators went to great lengths to get mail to the liberated POWs before their transport home. If the liberated POW could not be located prior to his departure, the mail was returned to its sender. As mentioned earlier in this article regarding the parachute drops, some delayed POW mail was dropped to PHSC Journal 162-163 Summer-Fall 2015 29
Figure 5. Front and back of a cover from Drummondville, Quebec, to a Sgt. Lloyd C. Doull, / E29875, Royal Rifles of Canada. / Canadian Prisoner of War, Tokyo Prisoner of War Camp. / Tokyo, Japan. On the back of the cover, written in pencil Dropped by B-29, on Camp 5B - Niigata, Japan on Aug 29/45 @ 1200 hrs. - CWM 19960007-014, George Metcalf Archival Collection, Canada War Museum 30 PHSC Journal 162-163 Summer-Fall 2015
Figure 6. Photo of freed POWs at Camp 5B, taken on September 3, 1945. - Courtesy China Marines 2 the camp. Figure 5 shows the front and back of a cover from Mr. and Mrs. L. E. Doull, of Drummondville, Quebec, to a Sgt. Lloyd C. Doull, / E29875, Royal Rifles of Canada. / Canadian Prisoner of War, Tokyo Prisoner of War Camp. / Tokyo, Japan. There is no postmark indicating when this letter was sent. It was censored in Canada by Censor DB / 556. The vertical red handstamp in Japanese translated to English means Tokyo Prison Camp Examined by Censor. The back of the cover shows what this article is about: written in pencil is Dropped by B-29, on Camp 5B - Niigata, Japan on Aug 29/45 @ 1200 hrs. Camp 5B opened on September 3, 1943 with the arrival of 300 POWs from Hong Kong. This group was composed mostly of Canadian soldiers with some men of the Hong Kong Volunteer Defence Force, as well as Dutch sailors (the surviving crewmen of a submarine sunk by the Japanese off Java). In October 1944, the Japanese authorities reported that Camp 5B held 215 Americans and 354 British, Canadian, Dutch and other allied POWs. By the time liberation came, over 900 Allied POWs had moved through this camp. Camp 5B closed on August 21, 1945. Figure 6 shows a liberation photo taken of the former POWs on September 3, 1945 at Camp 5B, showing Canadians, British, Americans, Australians, Dutch, Javanese and Filipinos. 2 On September 5, 1945 at 10:00 p.m., the men departed camp by train for Yokohama, arriving there the next day at 7:00 a.m. From Yokohama, many were flown to Manila; others left in naval ships for San Francisco with stops at Guam and Honolulu. 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thank you to Gray Scrimgeour for his assistance in editing this article, and also to Horst Mueller for his translation of the Japanese handstamp on the front of the cover. REFERENCES 1. www.mansell.com. A website dedicated for Research of Allied POWS Under the Japanese Control. 2. China Marines, Fourth Marines Band: Last China Band, www.lastchinaband.com 3. North China Marines, www.northchinamarines.com PHSC Journal 162-163 Summer-Fall 2015 31