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Show Returned Hurricane Man j Relates Tales of ; Japanese Camp Horrors i Arriving last week end in Hurricane, Hur-ricane, was Eldon Wright, EM 3,'C, one of the 1,012 former U. S. prisoners released from the Japs, who was returned aboard the USS Ozark. He was one of the survivors of the submarine, USS Sculpin, taken over in 1943. Victims of Jap brutality for 13 months, survivors of the Sculpin, were taken first to Truk where they were questioned and beaten. Then they were taken aboard two aircraft carriers to Japan. En-route, En-route, one of the carriers was sunk by an American submarine, only one member surviving. He with those of the other carrier were taken to the secret Jap interrogation camp of Orfuna, outside Tokyo. Months of brutal treatment followed, including the mental torture that they were "special captives" and not registered regist-ered as prisoners of war, and were thought by their government govern-ment and families to be dead. For three months the men were not allowed to speak to each other. Food consisted of weak soup, barley, and rice. The barracks were cold, and each man had 6nly one Jap uniform. From Orfuna, they were sent to Camp Ashio, in Northern Japan, to work in the copper mines and smelters from 10 to 12 hours a day with tree leaves, grass, maize, sea weed, and tomato vine soup as their food. The cold was almost unbearable. After the Jap surrender the prisoners took over the camp until un-til they boarded the Ozark for home. Seaman Wright is the son of Howard Wright of Hurricane. |