Multilingual CornerDiscuss The Allies POWs - Testimonies by IJA Soldiers in the Current forums; In my recent research of the Battle of Bataan and Corregidor, I have come across a couple of tesimonies writen ...
In my recent research of the Battle of Bataan and Corregidor, I have come across a couple of tesimonies writen by IJA soldiers in 1942 concerning the allies POWs in the Philippines and the Malay Peninsula.
Stories were introduced in the old weekly magazine "Photo Weekly (issue nos. 236, 237, 239, 240 and 243)" and I am going to translate them to introduce details here as soon as possible but my first impression that may be called a 'discovery' for me will be -
1. Meal for the prisones was typical Japanese one which is called "Ichi-ju issai - a combination of a bowl of rice with Umeboshi (Pickled sour plum) and a cup of soup (miso-shiru)" - a very simple and basic one for the ordinary Japanese at the time. It was originally invented by some Buddhism training monks in the 14th century. Calorie is never enough even for the present Japanese. It is now regarded a sort of diet meal.
2. IJA soldiers show their surprise and embarrassment to have encountered another totally different life style. For example, a British POW requests "cards" to play but an IJA soldier cannot understand why.
I would like to continue this thread to the end anyhow.
Attached image shows the "Ichi-ju issai" meal as an example.
Umeboshi would have been one, not two. It was one when I was a child, at least.
Thanks.
Thanks vB and Aaron. I always appreciate your favorable comments.
To introuduce what it was in IJA/IJN is what I can contribute to the members here.
Please enjoy.
"Ichi-ju issai - a combination of a bowl of rice with Umeboshi (Pickled sour plum) and a cup of soup (miso-shiru)"
I'm very familiar with this meal (lol)...a typical dish my father might serve. I, myself, prefer takuan to umeboshi, but perhaps it was not the custom in those days...
Thanks very much for this information...I look forward to anything you might discover. This is a good thread for "instant email notification"!!!
Title: Two American Soldiers
=================
Author: Mr. Yoshiro Saito
of the 1023rd Unit of IJA
introduced in Photo Weekly 243rd issue dated Oct 21, 1942.
The time for attacking the Corregidor Fortress had come about twenty days later since the Bataan Peninsula fell. Our unit withdrew the position located on the 900th highlands near the Mariveles naval port, where we were tormented badly by febrile disease and storms, to spread our new position on a small rice field of the valley located in the west of Cabcaben Airfield . It was May 2nd.
Observation station was decided atop the high ground of about 500 meters right front from the battery.
The high ground was in the bush but exposed its gentle front slope to the Corregidor, so we had to pay more attention to camouflaging the station.
A clean river was flowing in the skirts of the high ground. My platoon built a cookhouse in the river side.
Devided into two groups, we took charge of cooking every other day by shift.
The Corregidor Fortress showed the decline of their fighting spirit rapidly then.
Samely as the Battle of Bataan, their morning greeting had been always thirty minutes earlier than ours with fire. Aiming at our position, the Cheney battery of the right end of the island used to send their 30 centimeters cannonballs almost every morning. But recently, there was no greeting and no response to our greeting either.
"No more shells." we whispered.
So were the batteries of Grubbs and Wheeler on the island. They were silent and the silence seemed telling us their serious decline of the fighting spirit rather than the fact of lack of the shells itself.
One day, two American soldiers visited our cookhouse. They asked us any job for them as they were going to do their best.
Our 1st Class Private Okuno who was good at English asked them why. They said that they had been belonging to their unit at Limay Airfield as groundcrew but been evacuating in the outback of Mt. Mariveles since April 3 when the all-out attack of Japanese Army began. They were awfully emaciated and their blue eyes were staring at us uneasily.
"Why did not you surrender much earlier?"
They answered calmly that they had never thought the Corregidor would fall.
"Then, you are coming out now because you think it would fall, aren't you?"
"Yes..." the two nodded.
They were bringing two sets of rolled blankets and a set of tableware hanging on the waist but no arms with them. We gave them meals. They ate them surprisingly a lot.
We decided to hire them as cook assistants.
(..... this story continues)
Caption of the photo on the original page image attached: "Our unit soldiers during attack Corregidor"
I've mentioned a few times that my wife's grandfather was on MacArthur's staff and was captured on Bataan. Here's a link for his book.
He was pulled off the death march because one of his fellow prisoners identified him as a cryptographer and his captors may of thought they could get some intelligence from him. Although betrayed, this action might have saved his life.
Anyway, here a link for his book - keep the story coming!
"Success is not Final, Failure is not Fatal, it is the Courage to Continue that Counts"
Sir Winston Churchill
"To him the People of the World Largely owe the Freedom and Liberties they Enjoy Today"
Enscription on Hugh Dowding's (AOC Fighter Command 1936-40) statue in London
This looks like being a most interesting thread. I, for one, am really interested in anything that comes up regarding Malaya and Singapore. Keep up the great work!!
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Originally Posted by Shinpachi 
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