European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 9, 1945, Darmstadt, Hesse                                By orphant yank staff correspondent somewhere in the stockade was set in a Large rectangular Clearing near the Edge of a Grove of Coconut Palms and guava off to the right of the outer barbed wire Barrier was a mangrove swamp and beyond that a Clayco lored River that wound like a twisted ribbon through tangles of tropical fronds and water a re faced a carbine Slung barrel Down from his stopped us about 10 Yards from the Gate recognizing the staff sergeant interpreter with Jit sizing me up briefly with bored he that fellow got permission to be Here the staff pulled a paper out of his poncho and handed it to the he glanced at it a said Okay and motioned us at the barbed wire Gate another my with fixed Bayonet halted us and asked me if i had a pistol or a Jungle knife on when i said he let us we went for several Yards along a narrow passage formed by More barbed wire until we came to the main a cleared Square about the size of a baseball Diamond with of tents and Little nip thatched huts lining three of its four the staff stopped for a pointed to the Yard where the japs were and said there they More than 200 of the filthy you ought to be Able to get a Cross Section of the Jap soldiers mind from he offered me a cigarette and then explained the procedure we were to i was to put my questions to him in English he would trans late them to the if it proved he would carry out the interrogation further him self to get As Complete and revealing answers As when he was satisfied with an he would sum it up for me in before we go he there Are some things you ought to the japs youll see and talk to will fall into two Broad there will be those who surrendered voluntarily be cause they  take and those taken against their wills because of wounds or the first Are mostly stupid animal slaves who have been drilled and drilled until they know How to handle a piece or Wield a knife and otherwise they know absolutely nothing about they have no minds of their own and act Only when a Superior presses a the second Type is something else they Are shrewd and possessed of an amazing singleness of purpose that is the direct result of just one sheep like subservience to their superiors and to the there Slick and Well trained and live Only to obey their superiors orders to kill As Many of us Guys As pos otherwise there just like the first mindless automatons who move when the but ton is theres a third but you wont see Many of them in any prison Camp because there almost never there the killers who fight like madmen until there wiped you can realize How Many of these bastards there Are when you consider the Small number of prisoners weve taken compared with Jap casual there the Type who tortured captured marines on Guadalcanal and engineered the March of death on Jitter led the Way Over to the tent nearest the inner heres one who As Good to Start with As he Hes a was with those Para troops the japs tried to land on Leyte the other his transport was shot Down off the and everyone in it was killed except he managed to get ashore but he ran into a Bunch of you can imagine what a going Over they gave he Falls into the second Type i he was captured against his will and now he thinks Hes disgraced forever says hell commit suicide the first Chance he when we ducked under the tent the sitting Buddha fashion with one foot under his buttocks and the other pulled up on the opposite looked up with a startled express then he stood abruptly and bowed up and his arms spread a crinkled smile on his he was big for a with Broad shoulders and a clean shaven Bullet shaped head there were band aids on his Chin and under his apparently mementos of 1 Esau in a philippine pm Camp a yank correspondent with on interpreter interviews Jap prisoners to find out what they think about baseball and their his session with the and there were uneven Gold edges on his protruding Jitter asked him to sit Down and told him what we wanted to talk about then the questioning every time the prisoner a nervous tic twitched above his right where is your Home town Jitter stopped to is a City near Kobe in the Southern part of japans biggest How Long have you been in the army five did you take your Basic training in Japan some of while you were training did your officers Ever talk about the United states or Tell you that americans were bad and were a threat to the peace of Japan All they talked about was How to shoot How to did you Volunteer or were you conscripted i Why did you Volunteer because i like army life it makes you feel like a when you were How did you think you would be treated the tic above the japs Eye twitched three or four times in rapid he didst say anything just sat there with his Mouth Hung his face a twitching Jitter repeated the question with an did you think you would be tortured or killed has anyone in this Camp Hurt you in any Way everyone has been plenty of nobody has Hurt do you think you will be Hurt or killed i dont the japs tic twitched More i have asked maps to kill i have asked maps to let me kill Why do you want to kill yourself because i am i could never go Back do you have a family a Mother and friends schoolmates  they understand and forgive you the prisoner was suddenly a Blank As if he didst know what the question Jitter asked it i dont know if they it  make any difference if they would you be afraid to go Home yes if you were Able to escape Back to your would you fight and try to kill As hard As you did before you were captured Why for what the his tic still started picking at a big Scab on his once More he didst understand the meaning of a Why were you fighting in the first place for the when he said the word the Jap sergeant made a almost imperceptible snapping his spine Jitter turned to me and they All do Are you fighting for anything else but the emperor at the sound of the the japs spine snapped straight Why do you think Japan is fighting this War to Rule the Why do you think that Japan should Rule the world because Japan is greater than any other what makes you think that Japan has Japan is powerful and did you Ever hear or read much about the United states do you think America is powerful i dont do you think America is right i dont Japan is Why do you think Japan is right cant anyone possibly be right but Japan the prisoner looked Blank is Japan right because Only Japan has the emperor the japs spine snapped straight and he answered quickly As if from Lite a High school speaking the words fast and without the emperor is the emperor is god for the whole Jitter looked at shrugging his shoulders As if to see what i mean he went when were you last in Japan i was in Miyaski did the people there have enough to eat were they concerned or scared about the War they were do they think Japan will win the War every japanese thinks that Japan will win the did you Ever hear of Morotti they have told us about do you know youve been kicked out of those places and that now youre being kicked out of the Philippines i dont All places so far Are just you maybe win Japan will win the of Rte got sighed and said theres no Point talking to this one any lets go in the next the next tent was it had a Long Bamboo pole in the and Over the ground the prisoners had spread layers of Palm there were 16 japs in the tent and All of them were squatting on the floor tying Palm leaves together with strands of they were naked except for Jockstrap arrangements of White when we came in the prisoners stood up in Jitter told them to sit then he picked out two who could answer for the one of a pfc in the was very Young and rather frail his Cheek Bones we rent As High As those of most of his race and his skin had a certain unhealthy the two characteristics combined to make him look less he had no expression at All when he but when he bowed he had the usual crinkled the other prisoner was a Seaman second class who had been fished out of Surigao Strait after his ship was blasted in the no famous Battle of the night of he was remarkably slant eyed and with a clean abnormally Large when he he grinned in an almost sneering and when he tried to stress a Point he waved his hands like a bartender mixing a whisky Jitter turned to the Young pfc wheres your Home in the province of when did you get in the army in october what did you do before you were in the army worked on my fathers did you have plenty to eat we had did the japanese government get any of your food some of after you got into the army were you told anything about the what you were fighting for and so Forth they told us we were fighting for eternal when you were in school before the War did you Ever read or study much about the United states do you hate americans i dont do you hate America i dont then Why did you fight and try to kill americans the Young pics eyes darted Back and Forth nervously Over the tent one of the other a demented looking stopped grinning and his Mouth hanging open and his eyes fixed on the Jitter asked the question Why did you fight and kill americans because of the every Back in the semicircle of listening prisoners straightened up when the word was the thin prisoner was a few seconds but he finally jerked to his idiot Grin do you believe that the emperor is god Jitter put the same question to All of the others and each one in his turn nodded and said the sound japs make when they p i