Mukden Prisoner Of War Remembrance Society

In 5th of May, Guang Ming Daily newsroom welcomed a special guest, WWII American Veteran Mr. Randall Edwards. A few days before, companied by Mr. Wang Ao- vice Chairman of Truth Council of World War II History in Asia, Mr. Edwards and nine other fellow veterans returned to the site of Mukden Allie POW concentration camp, where he was captured for nearly three years. During our two hours interview, Mr. Edwards’s recollection of the Japanese army’s cruelty re-opened that unthinkable chapter of history.

December 7th 1941, Following the attack on Pearl Harbour, Japanese attacked Philippine islands, Pacific war started. Close to 100,000 US-Philippine Allies soldiers fought till the last minutes and were captured by Japanese. In October 1942 they were forced to board ‘The Vessel of the Hell’ to be transferred to Japan, Korea and China. Many of them died during the journey. November 11, 1942, the first group of 1,500 allies POWs(1,200 of which were Americans) arrived Mukden concentration camp, what they called “most hated place”.

It is painful for Mr. Edwards to recall the horrific ordeal. “The life in the concentration camp is terrible, especially the first winter. Due to shortage of food and clothes, four or five people died each day. The winter of northern China is freezing, the ground is as hard as rock. The corpses could not be buried in the ground instead they were piled up in the shed, the scene was horribly sad.” According to the statistics of the U.S. Army Headquarter, more than 260 American soldiers died in Mukden concentration camp and over 100 soldiers disappeared.

Japanese abused prisoners verbally and physically. Mr. Edwards were often beaten, the strikes on his face seriously damaged his hearing. He recalled that once three prisoners managed to escape but were captured months later. The Japanese tied them up on a pole and beat them to death. The nightmare has never left Mr. Edwards mind. Japanese captors’ cruel treatments did not diminish the prisoners’ courage. They continued fighting by concealing working tools and other means.

In the beginning of 1943, some Japanese in white uniform gave prisoners injections, in the name of vaccination. Many prisoners suffered from high fever and other symptoms repeatedly and died afterwards. Other prisoners who were sent to carry the corpses away found the bodies were numbered and autopsied by the Japanese, some even had organs removed. Mr. Edwards were also being injected no less than ten times, luckily he survived. The vice Chairman of Truth Council of World War II History in Asia Mr. Wang Ao told reporter that they have the evidence of the notorious Japanese army 731 Division conducting chemical experiments on Mukden POW and autopsy on the bodies of the prisoners who died consequently of such experiments.

However, despite the cruelty and violence of the Japanese captors in the concentration camp the prisoners also experienced kindness of the local Chinese people whom Japanese hired to work in factories. The prisoners had to walk 5 miles every day to the factory to work. Japanese forbid them communicating with Chinese. But some Chinese workers still took the risk secretly providing food to the prisoners. Mr. Edwards was grateful for the friendship of Chinese people.

Mr. Edwards received over 40 medals during his service years in the U.S. Navy. After the retirement he studied and got his Bachelor degree at the University of Miami and worked in an Atomic energy factory in Tennessee. Although the life is satisfactory, the experience in the concentration camp is still disturbing him, like a dark shadow he could not get away from easily. Mr. Edward seldom mentions this chapter of his life, he even wanted to ‘freeze’ the memory altogether. However, he felt that he had the responsibility of letting the world know the horrific crimes committed by the Japanese war criminals. “Currently there are only over one hundred American Mukden veterans left, if we don’t tell the truth, this part of history will be forgotten, and history must not be forgotten.”

On the appeal of Truth Council of World War II History in Asia and Mukden Incident Institution, the city of Shenyang now has a Museum of Mukden Concentration Camp, in order to remind people and future generations about what happened there during the war. Memory may become dim, the truth of history will never fade

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