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Japanese War Crimes Trial Continued
One particularly interesting challenge was raised by Vice Admiral Hara during his trial: that the president of the War Crimes Commission, Rear Admiral Arthur C. Robinson, was not senior in rank to the accused as required in navy general courts martial. The issue was to make little difference as far as Admiral Hara was concerned. He, along with Rear Admiral Shimpei Asano of the 41st Guard Unit, Vice Admiral Kobayashi, Commander of the Fourth Fleet, Vice Admiral Wakabayashi, Commander of the Fourth Base Force, Rear Admiral Arima, and Surgeon Chisato Ueno were convicted of neglect of duty in connection with violations of the Laws of War committed by members of their command. Under the theory of command responsibility, they failed to control their men and permitted mistreatment and murder of prisoners of war in their custody.
Captain Masaharu Tanaka and Lcdr. Yoshinumi Danzaki were convicted of killing seven prisoners of war on Dublon by beating, beheading, and stabbing. Lt. Shinji Sakagami was convicted of strangling two Americans to death with his bare hands. Surgeon Captain Hiroshi Iwanami and eighteen other Japanese were convicted of performing illegal medical experiments on prisoners of war. They murdered six prisoners by injecting streptococcus bacteria into their veins, causing blood poisoning, and by placing tourniquets on the arms and legs of others for periods up to seven hours, resulting in death by shock. Captain Iwanami dissected and mutilated the bodies, cutting off their heads and boiling the flesh off to use as medical specimens. He removed the hearts and other organs and placed them in specimen bottles. Surgeon Commander Chisato Ueno and eight others were convicted of murder of one prisoner by chloroforming him and dissecting him alive on the operating table. Afterward the American was carried out on a stretcher to a place near the hospital where a hole had been dug. Dentist Ensign Takeshi Enriguchi then took his sword and beheaded the body before rolling it into the hole. Captain Iwanami, Lt. Tesuo Oishi and Shunpei Asamura were also convicted of murder.
Of 137 men tried, 129 were convicted. Of the 129, 67 were officers, 39 enlisted men, 24 civilians. The officers included one Lieutenant General, four Vice Admirals and two Rear Admirals. The crimes for which they were convicted included: murder, torture, medical experimentation, cannibalism, command neglect of duty, and other violations of the law and customs of war.
Vice Admiral Hara was the highest ranking officer from Truk tried for war crimes. He received a six-year sentence and was flown to Sugamo prison in Japan to serve out his sentence. He was released on April 10, 1951, and served as a Councilor of the Ministry of Justice until his death in 1965.
On May 27, 1947, Colonel John B. Hill, U.S.M.C., Island Command Provost Marshall-Guam, issued his Execution Plan by Hanging, #1-47. Within a large quonset located near the Radio Guam receiving station, two gallows were erected for simultaneous executions of condemned persons. A chaplain was ordered to provide Japanese priests if so requested. A medical officer was selected to record time of death, to secure fingerprints and to affix two identification tags, one for the remains and one for the coffin. A hangman was instructed to check the gallows and equipment before each execution and to spring the trap under the condemned
The last pair of twelve Japanese to die were to be Rear Admiral Shimpei Asano and Surgeon Cdr. Chisato Ueno. The code word “Kobe” was signaled to the stockade and the two men were taken from their cells and handcuffed with their arms behind their backs. They were escorted by Marine guards to a jeep code-named “Blue Boy” and taken the short distance to the quonset, where a Marine corporal waited to carry out his orders for execution. Upon entering the room, the condemned saw two rows of ten chairs for witnesses and officials.
Two 3/4" manila hemp ropes, twenty feet in length and treated with was to insure a smooth sliding action, hung from the gallows. The specifications for the rope followed an English hangman's formula. In determining the length of the drop, the formula stated that the weight of the man to be hanged should be divided into the figure 840, and that the result was considered as the number of feet to which thirteen inched should be added. Tied on each rope was a knot known by hangmen as a clean loop sliding keeper. The front of the gallows was covered with heavy blue canvas to conceal the space beneath the trap door.
Chisato Ueno had been sentenced to death on February 17th, 1948, exactly four years to the day since the attack on Truk. Now, shortly after eight o'clock on the humid, tropical evening of March 31, 1949, according to War Department Pamphlet #27-4 Procedure for Military executions, the 5'6" Japanese surgeon with extremely strong neck muscles was escorted up the nine steps to the gallows. The handcuffs were removed by a Marine guard and a strap placed to secure his arms to his side and another placed around hid legs. A black hood was placed over his head and at 8:26 p.m. the floor panel on which he was standing fell from under his feet and Ueno dropped 94 inches to eternity. He was the last to die, as Rear Admiral Shimpei Asano had preceded him only moments before. Under the dubious honor that rank has its privileges - the Admiral went first.
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