This text was obtained via automated optical character recognition.
It has not been edited and may therefore contain several errors.

---

thats about all there is to say for now, but take care of yourselfs keep in good	health and may God bless you and	keep you, your	loving son?
Your loving J.	C. Baxter Jr
Sacks of mail, duly censored but undistributed to the prisoners, were "liberated" by occupying American	forces, and quite	a few of them have appeared
over	the years on	the market,	via stamp dealers	or	through postal	and military
history auctions.
NOTEWORTHY EVENTS PRIOR TO LIBERATION
On or about July 20, 1945, at approximately 2200 hours the Niigata harbor on the Sea of Japan was mined by a squadron of B-29's flying at a low altitude, at the cost of one Flying Fortress. The very next day a large Japanese cargo freighter was sunk by the floating mines as it approached the harbor, leaving the Japanese baffled as to where the mines came from. These mines, dropped by parachute, were designed to float just under the surface of the water, leaving no evidence of their presence.
On August 2, 1945, while we prisoners were en route to the Rinko coal yard and the Marutsu docks, we were abruptly halted and forced into the roadside ditches. Soon the low, haunting drone of distant airplane engines could be heard. The vapor trails from the planes were clearly visible. After a period of time pamphlets came floating down from the sky. The Japanese guards then ordered the P.O.W.'s back into formation and marched us back to the prison stockade.
Later that day Major Fellows informed the P.O.W.'s that all work details were canceled indefinitely and that the pamphlets dropped by the American planes told the Japanese civilians to evacuate the city of Niigata and to flee far into the countryside, because if the Emperor of Japan did not unconditionally surrender by August 5, Niigata and the surrounding area for miles around would be