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Show " ,m - Saw Amelia Ea&te&i jHyy , in un uglM On July 1, J937, Amelia Ear-fca- rt, at 39 Anierica most fa- trousers and a light shirt with short sleeves. I could tell that both were terribly exhausted. But they didn't appear to be hurt Nor were their clothes torn. When I saw my brother-in-la- w a few minutes later, I tried to tell him what had happened. There were so many people around that I didn't dare speak up. But I did tell my parents as soon as I got home. I can still hear their reaction. "Don't tell anyone, Josephine, or we'll all be in serious trouble my mous autatrtx, disappeared without trace, while on the last ld lap of a light. Accompanied by her navigator, Capt Fred J. Noonan, she had set out from the East In dies toward Howland Island in the West Pacific. It has been variously speculated that they perished at sea, were made prisoners of the Japanese, were cast away on an undiscovered' island, even that they are still living in Japan under assumed names! Now an eyewitness claims that Amelia Earhart and Fred Noonan were shot by the Japanese as spies in her native Saipan. Mrs. Josephine Blanco Akiyama, who was 11 years old when she witnessed Miss Earharfs crash landing, on the beach oj her homeland, taught school and worked as a dental assistant for the US. Navy in Saipan before she came to the United States three years ago. She now lives in San Mateo, Calif., with her husband ld son. and round-tie-toor- father pleaded. . "We might get shot," my mother cried By MRS. JOSEPHINE BLANCO AKIYAMA Just 23 years after her saw Amelia earhart crash on Saipan in the sum- mer of 1937. I know that Miss Earhart and her . navigator, Fred Noonan, were executed as spies by the Japanese a few days later. I was U years old then and probably the only civilian witness because they crashed in a restricted zone of the island. But I had a speciaTplLSS to let me bicycle through this area because my brother-in-la- w worked as a mechanic for the Japanese Navy, and I was permitted to bring him his lunch every noon. That day the sky was not particularly clear. There Were clouds hanging over the beaches. About three or four minutes after I entered the restricted zone, I heard a plane. I looked up and saw a twin-engiplane .cut through the clouds. Therriotors seemed to be functioning all right, but I was too young to know much about that. The plane circled briefly, disappeared, came - -back into view, and dived toward the beach.' It . seemed to leverofl at" the last moment." I was riot close enough to see how badly it was ; damaged. Nor did I dare go closer. I had been raised to curb my curiosity about anything military. And everything that happened in a restricted . 2one was military. : to But my curiosity was too great overcome, so I waited around to see what would happen. After a few minutes I saw soldiers rush to the scene. They surrounded the plane and, a little later, escorted two people past me: a fairly tall, slim Woman with a short' haircut and dressed in man's ' clothing; and a tall man who was wearing dark Amelia Earhart and plane she flew on her last flight. . ne s A . -- out "For- get what you saw!" v AH scared. of were us on were They Saipan scared, for we had come under Japanese-contro- l when the island became its mandate shortly after World JN&t I and was turned into an important naval base. Before, it had belonged to Germany and before that to Spain. I was born there and, like' most natives, was taught early to' respect, obey, and fear the Japanese. At least the military. Socially, we got along quite well with them, and there were many intermarriages. My" own family was" so prominent that" whenever a Japanese dignitary came to Saipan, he would be taken to our house for a native meal. . -- disappearance, an eyewitness gives this exclusive report on the fate of America's most ,. famous aviatrix eight-year-o- I . v: J" hile we had a lot of Japanese civilian friends, IAI V V we knew few of the military. I asked-onthem what happened to the man and woman who were captured. At first he kept evading the issue, but finally he told me they both only a ef had been shot as spies. Again my parents warned me never to mention what I had seen or heard, or all of us would surely be killed. This time I put it out of my mind till after World War II. When the Americans captured Saipan, a Navy dental clinic was established on the island. I was trained and then hired as a dental "assistant I worked with a Navy Jieutenant,.Dr. Kasimir Sheft,' It was to himthat I Jiientioned one day the Ameri--ca- ns who had been captured and killed in 1937. His curiosity about them was immense. He asked me to describe the people, the plane, and the time it happened. He was very excited about what I ' " told him. A few days later he showed me a picture of a man anoVwoman whom I identified as the same two who had crashed on the beach when I was 11. 'That's Amelia Earhart!" he exclaimed, pointing ' at the lady. . "Who was Amelia Earhart?" I asked. It was only then, after he explained, that I realized I had been an eyewitness to a momentous and fateful event in aviation history. Family Weekly, July 3, I960 |