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Show Lest We Forget! (From Associated Press) 1 The Japanese beheading of a captured American airman was disclosed in all its stark details I ; Tuesday as General MacArthur's headquarters made public a diary captured from a' Japanese soldier at Salamaua, New Guinea. The execution carried out according ac-cording to the "Samurai" code of the Japanese, occurred last March. Verbatim translations of extracts ex-tracts of the dairy, dated March 29, said: , "We all assembled at headquarters head-quarters where one of the crew of ai Douglas shot down by antiaircraft antiair-craft March 18 was brought under guard. "Tai Commander (sublieutenant first class) Komai told us it had been decided to execute him and he was to be accorded a Samurai's death. "We were assemlbled to witness1 the execution. The prisoner was given a drink of water outside the guardhouse. The chief surgeon, Lieutenant Komai, and a platoon commander bearing a sword came from the officers' mess. "The time has come. The prisoner pris-oner of war totters forward with j his arms tied. His hair is cut, close. "I feel he suspects what is j afoot, but he is more composed than I thought he would be. Without With-out more ado he is put on a truck and taken to the place of execution. execu-tion. "The prisoner sits beside the chief surgeon and about 10 guards accompany him. The noise of the engine echoes along the road in the hush of twilight. "The sun has set and columns of clouds rise before us. "I glance at the prisoner and he seems prepared. He gazes at the grass, now at the mountains and sea. ''At the execution ground Lieutenant Lieu-tenant Komai faces the prisoner and said: 'You are to die. I am going to kill you with this Japanese Japan-ese sword according to the Samurai Samu-rai code.' "The commander's face is stern. Now the time has come. The prisoner is made to sit on the edge of a waiter-filled bomb crater. The precaution is taken to surround sur-round him with guards. "When I put myself in his place the hate engendered by this daily bombing yields to ordinary human feelings." The tai commander draws his favorite sword( the famous 'Osanvune.' The sight of the glittering glit-tering blade sends cold shivers down the spine. First he touches prisoner's neck liigfhtly with sword. "Then he raises it overhead. His arm muscles bulge. Prisoner closes his eyes for a second and at once the sword sweeps down. "Swish it sounds at first like noise of cutting, but is actually made by blood spurting from arteries. The body falls forward. Everybody steps forward as head rolls on the ground. "The dark blood gushed from trunk. All is over. There lies the head like a' white doll. "I realize that the emotions I feel just now was not personal pity but manifestation of magnanimity mag-nanimity that becomes a chivalrous chiv-alrous samurai. "A superior seaman from the medical unit received the sword from the surgeon. He rolls the bedy on back. " 'Here's something for the other day take that,' he says, and with one sweep lays open the abdomen. " 'These thick-headed, white ( : ) are thiok-bellied, too,' he remarks. There's not a drop of blood left in the man's body. The seaman gives him a1 kick, then buries it. "The wind blows mournfully and the scene prints itself on my mind. Darkness descends. "In front of headquarters we got off truck. If ever I get back alive this will ma'ke good story to tell. That's why I write it down. "The prisoner killed today was air force 'tai' (captain or flight lieutenant) from Moresby. He young man aged 23, an instructor in army transport command at Moresby." That ended the entry in the diary. But at the end of the press release, appearing as if headquarters head-quarters wanted to remember the name for future reference, was the footnote that said the officer who committed the atrocity was Sublieutenant First Class Komai and the next senior officer responsible re-sponsible was Lieutenant Commander Com-mander Tsukioka. |