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Baxter 7
in the camp and attempted to curb the often irresponsible and sadistic behavior of the Japanese guards. During Lt. Nemoto's tenure treatment of the prisoners inside the camp improved, but as the P.O.W.'s spent twelve hours a day working at the Rinko coal docks and the Shintetsu iron foundry, the beatings and harsh conditions continued.
In September, 1944, the last Japanese commandant at the camp took charge.
He was Lt. Tetsutana Kato. Tall and big-boned for a Japanese, he too wore heavy, horn-rimmed glasses and acquired the nickname of "Four Eyes." A strict disciplinarian with both P.O.W.'s and soldiers, he improved conditions in the camp. However, at times he would fly into uncontrollable, wild rages followed by apparent periods of remorse. This madman affectionately raised six egg-laying hens in an enclosure behind his quarters. Sometime in June, 1945, I was critically ill with pneumonia and a temperature of 106 degrees. My close friend, Sgt. Lloyd ("Honest Will") Willoughby, as the true story is told, at midnight sneaked into old "Four Eyes"'s chicken coop and, while the laying hens were cackling, stole two eggs. The next morning Major Stewart spoon-fed the raw eggs to me with hot green tea, helping to break the high fever and save my life.
In July, 1945, Lt. Kato personally executed (by beheading) an American Mormon named Francis Spears, who had been recaptured after wandering off in a mentally unbalanced state on one of his unsuccessful escape attempts. Lt. Kato, like Yoshida, was a defendant at the War Crimes trials held in Tokyo and was sentenced to death by hanging.
Serving as an adjutant to each of the camp commandants was the hated Sgt. Ito, who was later hanged. In charge of the medical facilities was the incompetent Medical Corporal Takeo Takohashi. The camp interpreter was a Japanese-American named Shiga who was a graduate of the University of Washington. His parents had sent him to Japan just prior to the war for additional schooling at a Japanese