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World War II soldiers endured a great deal

by ROGER GREGORY Contributing Writer
| May 3, 2023 1:00 AM

This military tale takes place during World War II in the South Pacific.

The Japanese people in today’s world are nice friendly people, just like you and me. But it was a different story with their soldiers in World War II. The Japanese had a counterpart to the Nazi Gestapo, called the Kempei Tai.

Captured Americans were sent on “hell ships” in dark, stinking holds to camps in China, Korea, and Japan where they were forced to work as slave labor in mines, factories, and farms. They also built the “Railroad of Death” over the Kwai River at the cost of 300 allies dead per mile.

When capturing Americans as prisoners of war, this group would torture many of them. One of their favorite tricks was to force fistfuls of rice down their throats, then jam a water hose down their throat until their bellies swelled then they would mercilessly jump on him. Worse yet, they would cut off the heads of prisoners of war with a samurai sword.

The statistics, at the end of the war, spoke to the brutal the Japanese treated anyone within their grasp. Allied POWs captured by the Germans in the European theaters died at a rate of 1.1 percent, otherwise 1 out of 100. But the POWs held by the Japanese died at a rate of 37%. That 37 out of every hundred is an astonishing number.

Roger Gregory is a Vietnam veteran, serving in the 1st Infantry Division, and is a business owner in Priest River.