Japanese Prisoner Of War Summary

The Japanese And Prisoners Of War In World War II: With Louis Zamperini’s Story When most people think of World War II, most people think of the Nazis and Adolf Hitler. What a lot of people forget is the Japanese role in the war. They were brutal, almost as brutal as the Nazis. The guards were ruthless and the conditions of the camps were disgusting. Japanese prison guards treated their prisoners very cruelly and disregarded international law as a whole. With over 150 camps, including Prisoner of War, Civilian Internment and Concentration Camps scattered in Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and other countries occupied by the Japanese with over 140,000 white prisoners, the guards are bound to get carried away (historyonthenet.com). The guards often

“Unbroken”, being the most famous of the two being directed by Angelina Jolie, talks about the conditions and lifestyle of the camps, and his journey in the United States Army Air Forces. Ofuna prisoners were housed in cells as narrow as their tatami sleeping mats. Their blankets were paper; their pillows were straw. Most wore the same clothes in which they had been captured. Escape was a nonexistent remedy, except in someone’s imagination. Since the camp was secret, the guards routinely ignored international law. Prisoners did not eat meat once a week. They existed on rice, sometimes mixed with straw or rat droppings (Bos). He describes what happened when the men complained about the lack of meat in his book Devil At My Heels, “Even before the driver dumped it into the trough, the smell overpowered us and the whole mass seemed to move. In fact, it was moving, it being infested with thousands of maggots ... I helped shovel the mess into big soup tureens. We all got the result, hot, the next morning ... The maggots floated lazily on top, as if in their own private swimming pools ... Some guys considered the maggots nutritious, guzzled, and threw up.” Zamperini weighed about eighty pounds from the lack of food and a lot of the prisoners died of

PTSD wasn’t really considered a “thing” until after Vietnam. The rate of PTSD among WWII vets is difficult to ascertain, but one study put the number at 26-33 percent (Bussel). One soldier who was a Prisoner of War in Germany described his experience to Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. He said, “I tell them how PTSD has affected me: I avoid elevators, crowds and July 4th fireworks; I’m claustrophobic from the 12 days I spent in a lightless cell at the Luftwaffe interrogation center in Germany, and I won’t fly unless I have an aisle seat.” It is not uncommon that you hear about soldiers coming back from war with PTSD, as what they have endured and seen is bound to haunt their minds forever. Zamperini also endured years of alcoholism and PTSD from his time as a Prisoner of War before his religious awakening. An account of his life after the war stated, “After the war, Zamp was reunited with his family. On the surface, everything seemed normal - until something upset Louie. Then his long-building frustrations came to the surface, shocking those who loved him. Adjusting to civilian life was difficult. He still despised the Bird and was motivated by one overriding ambition. He wanted to return to Japan and finish what he’d hoped to accomplish there. He wanted to kill the Bird. Although he read his Coming Home pamphlet, Louie didn’t really pay