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+--- Thread: POWs held in US during WWII (/showthread.php?tid=483)
POWs held in US during WWII - JayTownsend - 03-01-2013
Kind of interesting but here are total number of Axis POWs held in the United States during WWII, not the total taken by the US just housed in the Continental US.
• German: 425,000
• Italian: 51,000
• Japanese: 5,000
RE: POWs held in US during WWII - JayTownsend - 03-01-2013
The first POW the Americans captured was Japanese:
Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki was the only survivor of the ten-man midget submarine force that attempted to sneak into Pearl harbor and destroy US ships with their torpedoes. The five midget subs, each with a two-man crew, failed to do any damage during the attack.
Trouble for Sakamaki and his crew-mate, Petty Officer Second Class Kiyoshi Inagaki, started soon after they were launched from their mother ship, I-24. Their trim mechanism malfunctioned and they were barely able to right the craft. On their first attempt to enter the harbor, they missed the narrow channel entrance and crashed into a reef, destroying one of their two torpedo warheads. Battery gas escaped inside the boat, making breathing next to impossible.
After struggling to get off the reef, the midget sub missed the channel entrance a second time. On the third attempt, the sub again crashed into the reef. By the time the pair again managed to get their sub in deep water, the boat had lost all offensive capabilities.
But still they didn't give up. Sakamaki's next plan was to ram the Pennsylvania and climb aboard to engage the enemy in hand to hand combat.
Before this could be accomplished, the sub lost all power and the crew passed out from fatigue and near-asphyxiation. Sajkamaki and Inagaki awoke near dawn on December 8, and immediately crashed their boat into a reef again....this time in full view of US troops of the 298th Infantry Regiment who had been guarding the beach off Bellow Field. Sakamaki and Inagaki abandoned ship. Sakamaki lit a fuse to destroy his boat, so that it could not be captured, but the charge didn't work. In the water, Inagaki was swept out to sea and drowned. Sakamaki washed onto the beach where he was captured, thus becoming the first Japanese prisoner of war.
Sakamaki's determination and heroism was never recognized by his native land. On the contrary, according to the code of the Japanese soldier, Sakamaki became a non-person when he allowed himself to be taken prisoner. Though his treatment as a POW was not harsh, Sakamaki repeatedly requested that he be killed rather than live in shame.
A Japanese painting memorialized the heroes of the Special Attack unit who operated the midget subs during the attack. The painting showed nine faces. Only Sakamaki was missing.
Sakamaki's sub was shipped to the US mainland for intensive study by naval intelligence and later served as a draw for war bond sales rallies.
After the war he worked for Toyota.
RE: POWs held in US during WWII - JayTownsend - 03-01-2013
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kazuo_Sakamaki
RE: POWs held in US during WWII - rerathbun - 03-01-2013
(03-01-2013, 05:49 AM)JayTownsend Wrote: Sakamaki's determination and heroism was never recognized by his native land.
Anyone know if that was true as of the time of his death? His obit did not say either way. Hard to believe Japan did not acknowledge his service by the 1990's.
RE: POWs held in US during WWII - armyduck95 - 03-04-2013
I am stationed here at Rock Island Arsenal, IL. Not only was it a former Confederate Prison in the American Civil War, it housed Italian POWs. Once Italy surrendered, the POWs were offered the chance to work in the Arsenal and make military equipment in exchange for limited pass priveleges. The POWs were allowed limited parole with escorts into downtown Moline and Rock Island and actually became rather popular with the locals.
RE: POWs held in US during WWII - Shad - 03-04-2013
Interesting. Were they eventually deported or naturalized?
RE: POWs held in US during WWII - armyduck95 - 03-09-2013
(03-04-2013, 01:39 PM)Shad Wrote: Interesting. Were they eventually deported or naturalized?
I'll have to check the museum records at some point, but most likely - all were deported in accordance with POW rules.