The Fourth Candle — The (Dead) Letters of an American
Marked PERSONAL
Dai-Ichi Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
September 18, 1945
My dearest Peggy,
I hope this letter finds you & the children all well.
I am well, so please do not worry about me (even though I know you do). I am only sorry that I have not been able to write to you sooner, but work has been very busy since I left Manila.
I doubt I will ever forget my first sight of Japan’s coastline. It stretched before us like a long thin line of green earth with a thin line of white surf. It looked peaceful & un-peopled — no smoking chimneys, or trains, or traffic. Of course, it was an illusion!
We finally docked in Japan at Yokohama on August 21st & from day one I have found this to be a very strange place & the Japs to be a very strange people. Of course, their country is completely hurt & ruined in a way that is unimaginable to people back home. Our bombing of Tokyo, & I suppose of most other cities, certainly hit the Japanese home, right where the average man would feel it most. One can hardly believe the reports in American papers that the Japs do not know they lost the war. The evidence of it is everywhere, inescapable, & in many respects permanent. There are places here where, as far as one can see, lies only miles of rubble. Some temples & museums are gone for good, & the rest will take decades to restore. The ordinary people look ragged & distraught. They remind me of timid mice (but there are others among them who are as sharp as rats). The children are the friendliest.
As you know, my mission is to find out as much as I can about the Japanese biological warfare program. However, it seems the Japs already know more about me than I know about them!
My interpreter is called Dr Naito & he was waiting for me on the quayside at Yokohama. He actually had a photograph of me taken back at Camp Detrick (& heaven only knows how he got hold of that). He walked up the gangway to meet me & his first words were, ‘Dr Thompson, I presume?’
Naito is very friendly but is not to be trusted and I’ll give you an example of what it is like here with some of them. The first night I was in Tokyo, Naito took me out for dinner to one of the big hotels (there is still the good life here for some of them). The hotel restaurant was in the traditional Japanese style, very Spartan with mats & sliding doors. Naito even unlaced my shoes for me! He then introduced me to this very old, tiny Jap who said, ‘Welcome to Japan, Dr Thompson. I hope you like tempura?’
Naito told me that the man was a senior vice-president of a major Japanese company, the equivalent of our General Electric. Then dozens of waitresses appeared in kimonos with trays of Japanese food & alcohol. Naito & the old man proposed lots of toasts to new friendships & they were most impressed I could use their chopsticks. But at the end of the evening the old man suddenly said, ‘How would Dr Thompson like to earn $5,000 a week for the rest of his life?’
I imagined your reaction & I laughed & I said who wouldn’t want to earn $5,000 a week for the rest of their life! But then the old man said, ‘Well, it’s very easy. By doing nothing!’
I then realized they were being very serious & so I became very angry. I turned to Naito & told him in no uncertain terms that I wanted to leave immediately. Of course, they were very embarrassed. All the way back to the hotel, Naitō apologized again & again because he was sure I would sack him or report him. I must admit I was sorely tempted but I need him if I am to complete my mission quickly (& get out of here). So, as I say, they are not to be trusted.
By the way, tell George that General MacArthur arrived in Tokyo on August 30th & that I was waiting for him at the US embassy. The General had assembled a huge motorcade of men & equipment & had even arranged for air cover from fighters & bombers. The General meant to teach the Japs a lesson & so he thundered through the city, in his motorcade, with his air-cover, the short distance from the embassy, past the Imperial Palace, to the Dai-Ichi Building, his new headquarters. Tell George that I was in the third jeep behind the General. The streets were deserted, the lights all out, but we knew they were watching & the hairs rose on the back of my neck. You can also tell George that I have a personally signed portrait of the General for him (& let’s all hope it will one day be President MacArthur because he is a great man & an inspiration. It is true he can often be brusque, but I guess you have to be something of an egotist if you get to that position of authority. You are very aware though that he feels very heavily the weight of the responsibility he is carrying. He has talked to me for hours about BW & what I think & what I fear).
Finally, another interesting thing happened the other day when Naitō & I were walking along the Ginza (their main shopping street). I saw this old Jap tumble off his bicycle in the middle of the traffic & so I automatically ran forward to help him up from under the wheels of the passing cars & dusted him down. But then this old Jap turned to me & spat in my face & rode away! I asked Naitō why; was it because I was an American, because we had won the war? But Naitō said it was because I had saved the old Jap’s life & so now he would feel he owed me his life. He would also know he could never repay me. So he spat in my face! Well, that’s gratitude for you!
As I say, it’s certainly a very strange place & the Japs are a very, very strange people.
Please kiss the children for me. Tell George that the Japs are still crazy about baseball & so I get all the latest news & tell Emily I’ll bring back one of those Jap dolls for her (as I promised).
All my love, Murray.
*
Stamped RESTRICTED
APO 500-Advanced Echelon
September 27, 1945
To:
Colonel Harlan Worthley, Office of the Chief Chemical Warfare Service, Special Project Division, Gravelly Point, Washington, D.C.
Dear Colonel Worthley,
Sufficient time has now elapsed since my arrival in Japan to permit a preliminary analysis of Japanese BW activities. While this is a purely informal statement sent to you with Colonel Copthorne’s permission, it will give you an idea of what may generally be expected in the near future. Detailed reports will of course be available through channels.
To begin with, I was very fortunate to be assigned to the scientific section under Drs K. T. Compton and E. L. Moreland. This was entirely due to the energetic and timely action of Colonel Copthorne. I feel quite strongly that this temporary attachment has permitted a type of investigation that would not have been possible under other circumstances. I should also like to emphasize that the chief chemical officer has demonstrated an unusual appreciation of technical problems. As a result of being associated with this committee my work has had an impetus which will, I think, permit evaluation of the problem (for whatever it is worth).
So progress is being made at this end and I think the pace will soon be greatly accelerated. So far as my mission is concerned, it has been necessary to follow GHQ policy in dealing with the Japs. However, efforts have been made to place me in an advantageous position. Up to this time, I have been permitted to contact only civilians and have spent a good deal of time at the Ministry of Public Health and the Government Institute for Infectious Diseases. Most fortunately one of my number one targets in the person of Prof. Miyagawa has been in the latter institution. He is a virus man, is familiar with all my work, and is apparently most anxious to stay in good graces (I trust none of them). I have approached Miyagawa as the Theatre Surgeon’s representative. It is fortunate that this is true and that I am investigating recent advances in infectious diseases for the Surgeon. It provides an excellent means of entry and to date I have not mentioned our subject for fear that the target will vanish.
However, I am amassing a prodigious file and will have material for reports soon. I do think it will be desirable to write a very detailed report for Special Projects Division when I return, more detailed than the Chemical Theatre Officer or Surgeon would wish.
Thanks to Miyagawa I have had extensive conferences with senior scientists and I have several things to report:
A great deal of work has been done in infectious diseases. If half of the Jap claims are true — and I am going to have chance to check — then there is a tremendous amount of investigation to do.
For the past two or three years, Miyagawa himself (he seems to be top dog in the field) has worked on a method for large-scale preservation of biological materials at room temperature. He claims to have perfected this method and has tested the following substances after one year of preservation (with no loss of potency):
a) Bacillus coli
b) B. prodigiosus
c) Rickettsia
d) Lymphogranuloma
e) Drugs
f) Blood constituents
g) Colloidal suspensions of certain metals which he claims have marvelous therapeutic qualities.
Next week I am taking a trip with him to investigate the apparatus and to meet his colleague, a physicist. Naturally, as a medical officer representing the Surgeon, I am interested in blood components and in drugs which may be of therapeutic value.
I also have appointments at the Army Medical College and certain other installations. On the whole I am impressed with potentialities here and elsewhere and feel that I can say a definite start has been made.
No mention of several vaccines and certain epidemiological observations have been made because I wish to check protocols and laboratory findings.
However, as a result of my status with the committee it is also apparent that the present and the immediate future will be the productive periods. Dr Moreland plans to leave Japan in five or six weeks and it will be necessary for me to carry out my principal investigations during this time. Colonel Copthorne is in agreement with me that my mission will probably be completed shortly after this committee is dissolved.
I plan to return to the United States when my work is brought to an end, which should be sometime in November.
Sincerely, Lt. Col. Murray Thompson.
*
Marked PERSONAL
Dai-Ichi Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
October 27, 1945
My dearest Peggy,
I hope this letter finds you & the children all well. Thank you so very much for your last letters and parcel. I cannot tell you how much it meant to me to read all your news of home and the children.
I am well, so do not worry about me. I have been working hard since my last letter & I hope now my work here is almost done. Initially, however, I was worried that I would not be able to complete my report as I was receiving little or no cooperation from the Japs. They connived & they lied to keep me in the dark. They gave me nothing & they told me nothing. I could not help blaming Naitō for this state of affairs. To be very honest, Peggy, I felt despondent.
However, the General summoned me to his office & advised me to call their bluff. As always, it was good advice. I returned to my own office & I told Naito that I had lost face with the General & that he was sending me home as I was a total failure as an inquirer. I told Naitō that the General had ordered a much tougher investigator to be sent here to replace me as the General felt I had been too kind to him (Naitō) because I had given rations to him & his family. I also told Naitō that the General said it was now time for the Soviets to be involved. Well, you should have seen Naitō’sface drop!
The next morning Naitō was waiting for me with a handwritten document marked, PRIVATE (SECRET) INFORMATION FOR COLONEL THOMPSON’S EYES ONLY. Naitō said he now felt it was his duty to tell me all he knew about BW to help my ‘sincere investigation as a fellow scientist’.
I was elated as I knew the General’s advice & my bluff had paid off but, naturally, I still played it cool with Naitō (you have to, with all of them). I severely rebuked him for not giving me this information sooner. But Naitō claimed he had wanted to tell me all this from Day One but felt he could not do so without the permission of the higher officers of Jap HQ.
I must say, Naitō did seem very scared & he repeatedly begged me to burn the pages he had given me after I had read them & never to use his name when speaking to the men he had listed. He claimed he would be killed if anyone discovered he had given me this information. I believed him but, then again, he may well have been acting (they are all very, very good actors).
I still had one question for Naitō (the only question that really matters to me) & so I asked him then & there, ‘Were Allied prisoners ever used as experimental guinea pigs?’
Naitō vowed to me, ‘on the lives of his children, on the souls of his parents’, that no Allied prisoners were ever used as experimental guinea pigs. Again, I believed him & so I wrote in my own hand at the end of his document, ‘I have asked Or Naitō whether prisoners were ever used as experimental guinea pigs. He vows that this has not been the case’ and I signed it, Dr M. Thompson, Lt. Col.
I then took the document directly to the General himself. I must admit it was one of the most exciting moments of my life because this document was the breakthrough we needed. It was dynamite. The General & all his top men (Willoughby & Compton) were equally delighted with the document & my bluff. Of course, I knew now the hard work would really begin &, even though we had the names we needed (thanks to Naitō), there was still no guarantee that if we found these men they would talk to me. We were also worried about the Soviets scaring them all away. But I had a plan & I suggested to the General that we tell Naitō that no one involved in BW would be prosecuted as a war criminal, as long as they told us everything we needed to know. I felt this was the only way to make them all come out of hiding & start talking. The General & all the other guys agreed with me that this was the best way & the General himself said (& I quote), ‘Well, Tommy, you’re the man in charge of the scientific aspects of this investigation. If you feel you cannot get all the information, we’re not given to torture, then offer him (Naitō) that promise as coming from General MacArthur himself — and get that data!’ I must admit I felt very proud of myself!
So I immediately put the deal on the table to Naitō & I swear the Jap had tears of gratitude in his eyes as he thanked me.
Well, after all that, it has been plain sailing. I have been able to speak to all their top men & to get all their information.
As I write to you today, my report is being typed up. Once it has been checked & submitted, I believe I will be able to return home to you all, via Manila. Of course, I will wire you with my exact arrival as soon as it is confirmed through channels.
So, until that happy day, kiss George & Emily for me, and start dusting down the bunting as I will see you all soon!!!
With all my love, Murray.
*
Stamped SECRET
APO 500-Advanced Echelon
November 1, 1945
To:
Colonel Harlan Worthley, Office of the Chief Chemical Warfare Service, Special Project Division, Gravelly Point, Washington, D.C.
Dear Colonel Worthley,
I am enclosing my finished report and I would like to take this opportunity to supply further background details about my investigation and how much of the information was gained.
On October 4, I received handwritten information from Lt. Col. Naitō, a Japanese medical officer. It was written in very poor English, difficult to understand, but I immediately realized these twelve pages were dynamite because the document lays out the organization of the Bóeki Kyüsuibü (Water Purification Unit) and admits that it had been engaged in BW. It also ties Ishii with the Unit and with BW and it even seems to tie in the Emperor (though Naitō denies it, of course).
Colonel Naitō stated that he was divulging this information, which was considered by the Japs as secret, only because he felt that the information would be developed later and that by an effort on their part to be truthful we would be more lenient with them. My request for the military to supply us with information on BW, according to Naitō, created consternation among the higher officials of the General Headquarters of the Japanese army. After much discussion and debate, it was decided by the General Staff to furnish us with the information requested. Naitō indicated that the chief of the Bureau of Medicine of the Japanese army and the chief of the Section of Sanitation and other technical personnel were in favor of furnishing us with all details. On the other hand, the members of the General Staff, comparable to our own OPD, were opposed to giving the information.
To summarize, Naitō stated that the Japanese army had an organization for BW, both defensive and offensive. The offensive operations were under ‘Second Section of War Operation’ under the General Staff. The research and defensive work was under the Bureau of Medical Affairs and known as ‘Section of Sanitation’. Three organizations figured prominently in the actual work. Foremost of these was the installation at Harbin, Manchuria, under the jurisdiction of the Kwantung Army. The other two were under the China Army in Nanking and at the Army Medical College here in Tokyo.
The main research work at Harbin was under the direction of Lt. Gen. Shirō Ishii and apparently was conducted between the years 1936 and 1945 (there is some likelihood that Ishii will be apprehended shortly).
Colonel Naitō stated that the reason for planning offensive research was because the Japs expected that Soviet Russia might attack Japan with BW, especially in Manchuria. He states that there was some BW sabotage (inoculating horses with anthrax) in the northern part of Manchuria during 1944 or 1945 while the Japs were building the Peiangcheng-Heiho railroad. Further, he stated that Japan should be prepared for revenge in case the enemy used illegal warfare.
Naitō advised that the Emperor did not like the preparation for chemical warfare by the Japanese army or navy. Because of this the scale of research for chemical warfare was not permitted to be large. Since the General Staff was cognizant of the Emperor’s feeling on chemical warfare they insisted that the work on biological warfare should not refer to offensive preparations. They therefore referred to all work on BW as being purely defensive.
Naitō stated that General Headquarters made no attempt to begin active BW and did not plan to unless the enemy initiated this type of warfare. As an afterthought he stated that the circumstances during the last period of the war became such that the Japs were unable to start BW.
The following agents were listed by Naitō as having been studied: Plague, cholera, dysentery, salmonellas and anthrax. He stated that none of the filterable viruses were studied because of, ‘the difficulty to get them in mass’!
Colonel Naitō fears that all the experimental records at Harbin may have been burnt at the beginning of Russia’s sudden invasion. He stated, however, that if we succeed in securing one of the key personnel of the Harbin installation, it should be possible to obtain information concerning the work carried on there.
The following studies were made by the Army Medical College in Tokyo:
a) Studies on cheopis flea, zoological studies for the purpose of defense and tests of insecticides.
b) Studies on mass production of bacteria, in connection with possible sudden large-scale demands for immunizing agents to combat large cholera or plague epidemics.
c) Studies on some poisons which are hard to detect, for instance ‘fugu’ toxin.
d) Studies on keeping bacteria in a living state by the lyophile process.
Comment: I asked Naitō whether prisoners were ever used as experimental ‘guinea pigs’. Naitō ‘vows’ that this was never done.
Finally, it is gratifying to note, as you will see in my report, that our intelligence on Jap BW activities collected during the war was accurate insofar as the defensive organization was concerned.
I now plan to return to the United States and I look forward to seeing you again on your next visit to Camp Detrick.
Sincerely, Lt. Col. Murray Thompson.
DOCUMENT INSERT, ATTACHED TO LETTER:
SECRET
REPORT
OF
SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE SURVEY IN JAPAN
September and October 1945
VOLUME V
BIOLOGICAL WARFARE (BW)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS
CONCLUSIONS
SUMMARY: BIOLOGICAL WARFARE (BW)
Responsible officers of both the army and navy have freely admitted to an interest in defensive BW.
Naval officers maintain that offensive BW was not investigated.
Information has been obtained that from 1936 to 1945 the Japanese army fostered offensive BW, probably on a large scale. This was apparently done without the knowledge (and possibly contrary to the wishes) of the Emperor. If this was the case, reluctance to give information relative to offensive BW is partially explained.
BW seems to have been largely a military activity, with civilian talent excluded in all but minor roles.
The initial stimulus for Japanese participation in BW seems to have been twofold:
a) The influence of Lt. Gen. Shirō Ishii.
b) The conviction that the Russians had practiced BW in Manchuria in 1935, and that they might use it again (the Chinese were similarly accused).
The principal BW center was situated in Pingfan, near Harbin, Manchuria. This was a large self-sufficient installation with a garrison of 3,000 by 1939-40 (reduced to 1,500 in 1945).
Intensive efforts were extended to develop BW into a practical weapon, at least eight types of special bombs being tested for large-scale dissemination of bacteria.
The most thoroughly investigated munition was the Uji type-50 bomb. More than 2,000 of these bombs were used in field trials. The Ha bomb, too, was exploded experimentally. Note that whereas the Uji bomb was an all-purpose munition, the Ha bomb was constructed and produced with only one purpose in mind — the dispersion of anthrax spores. The immediate effect was gained by shrapnel bursts with secondary considerations given to ground contamination. The statement has been made that a scratch wound from a single piece of shrapnel was sufficient to produce illness and death in 50–90 % of the horses, and in 90-100 % of the sheep exposed in experiments. More than 500 sheep were used in such field trials and estimates of horses similarly expended vary from 100 to 200.
Employing static techniques and drop tests from planes, approximately 4,000 bombs were used in field trials at Pingfan.
By 1939, definite progress had been made, but the Japanese at no time were in a position to use BW as a weapon. However, their advances in certain bomb types was such as to warrant the closest scrutiny of the Japanese work.
Japanese offensive BW was characterized by a curious mixture of foresight, energy, ingenuity and at the same time, lack of imagination with surprisingly amateurish approaches to some aspects of the work.
Organisms which were considered as possible candidates for BW, and which were tested in the laboratory or in the field included: all types of gastrointestinal bacterial pathogens, P. pestis (plague), B. anthracis (anthrax) and M. malleomyces (glanders).
Japanese defensive BW stresses:
a) Organizations of fixed and mobile preventive medicine units (with emphasis on water purification).
b) An accelerated vaccine-production program.
c) A system of BW education of medical officers in all echelons (BW Defensive Intelligence Institute).
The principal reasons for the Japanese failure were:
a) Limited or improper selection of BW agents.
b) Denial (even prohibition) of cooperated scientific effort.
c) Lack of cooperation of the various elements of the army (e.g. ordnance).
d) Exclusion of civilian scientists, thus denying the project the best technical talent in the Empire.
e) A policy of retrenchment at a crucial point in the development of the project.
CONCLUSIONS:
It is the opinion of the investigating officer that:
a) If a policy had been followed in 1939 which would have permitted the reasonably generous budget to be strengthened by an organization with some power in the Japanese military system, and which would have stressed integration of services and cooperation among the workers, the Japanese BW project might well have produced a practical weapon.
b) However, since the Japanese dreaded the United States’ capacity for retaliating in kind (i.e. BW) or with chemical warfare agents, it is most unlikely that they would have used a BW attack against American troops even if the weapon had been at hand.
c) The Japanese are fully aware of the reasons for the failure in their development of BW. It is extremely unlikely that they would repeat their mistakes.
SUPPLEMENT 1a, ATTACHED TO DOCUMENT:
Map indicating that the Japanese army had ‘water purification units’ attached to their 18th, 31st, 33rd, 49th, 53rd, 54th, 55th, and 56th Divisions stationed in Burma, with larger fixed field ‘water purification units’ at Rangoon and Mandalay.
DISTRIBUTION
Report on Scientific Intelligence Survey
Agency
Vol. V
C/S, GHQ, AFPAC
1
Chief Surgeon, GHQ, AFPAC
2
Chief Chemical Officer, GHQ, AFPAC
2
Nav. Tech. Jap.
2
A C of S, G-2
Att: War Department Intelligence Target Section. 3
War Department, G-2
Att: Scientific Branch 39
Air Technical Intl. Group, FEAF 2
Lt. Col. M. Thompson 1
Stencils have been sent to G-2, War Department, where additional copies may be made available upon request.
— Report ends —
*
Marked PERSONAL
Dai-Ichi Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
November 18, 1945
My dearest Peggy,
I hope, with all my heart, that you and the children are all well. As you know, I had hoped (& prayed) to be home with you all by now or, at the very latest, for Thanksgiving.
Unfortunately, things have taken a turn for the worse here. I know now that they have lied to me (these Japs) & my work here is far from done. I realize that they flattered me in order to distract me, faking respect for my reputation & my work at the College of Physicians & Surgeons. I realize, too, that I have been blinded by their titles & ranks, their own reputations & work.
There is something, however, I should have told you before but I suppose I was ashamed even then because I already knew (in my heart of hearts) that I had made a mistake. I suppose, also, that I was worried you would think less of me as a husband & as a father (& as a man) had you known (& I worry you may yet think so).
Back in October, before I had even completed my report, I received a strange visit at my room here at the Dai-Ichi Hotel. I was lying on my bed, tired as usual, but unable to sleep when I heard a curious scratching outside my window. Imagine my surprise when I opened the curtains & saw a Jap, clinging for dear life to the water pipe, & staring back through the window at me. I ran back to my bed & grabbed my revolver from under my pillow. I then opened the window & grabbed the Jap by the hairs on his neck & hauled him into the room. He was wearing a beret, a sweatshirt & trousers & he was cowering & shaking before me. But he then pulled a document from the belt of his trousers & held it out to me. I took it from him with my left hand but all the time I kept my finger on the trigger of my revolver. I asked him who he was & what this document was. He told me he was a former BW engineer & that this document was the blueprint of a bomb known as the Uji bomb. He told me that this bomb was loaded with plague germs, that over one hundred were produced but that they did not work very well. He also told me experiments were carried out using Chinese prisoners.
I asked him for more details & he told me that the prisoners were chained to stakes at varying distances from the bomb, that the bomb was then detonated & records were taken as to the differing impact of the bomb & its germs on the prisoners at their various distances. He told me many prisoners died. He then told me that the prisoners were both Chinese AND American.
Of course, I was shocked & asked him where these experiments took place. He told me the experiments were conducted in a place called Pingfan, a suburb of Harbin, & and also at Mukden. He told me they also inoculated Chinese & American prisoners of war with bubonic plague.
As you know, my dearest Peggy, first and foremost, above all else, I am a medical doctor. I took the Hippocratic Oath & I believe in the words of that oath. I believe in the sanctity of human life.
So I knew then that I had made a mistake, a huge & terrible mistake, a mistake that would haunt me from then on if I did not take immediate steps to correct it. I knew I had to rectify my mistake.
I went straight to the General’s office. I told the General (& Willoughby & Compton) that Naitō had lied to me, lied to us all. I told them that we had no choice now but to scotch their immunity deal, that we had no choice now but to prosecute them all.
Well, the General raised his eyebrows & lit his pipe & then he said (& I quote), ‘Well, first we need more evidence. We can’t simply act on this. So keep going, keep going…’
Willoughby & Compton agreed with him (as usual) & Willoughby even added that I should ‘keep quiet.’
I admit I was surprised by their reaction. Most of all, I was surprised they were not surprised by this new information.
Of course, I went straight back to Naitō & I gave him a piece of my mind. As usual, he was most apologetic but it cut no ice with me. I demanded he give me all the information he had on this place called Pingfan & that if he did not, I would have him arrested as a war criminal on General MacArthur’s orders (this was a lie but two can play at that game, I thought).
Anyway, lie or not, it had the desired effect on Naitō. He told me he didn’t really know much about the place, just what he’d heard from conversations he’d had with scientists who had worked there. But he thought that Unit 731 (the name they use) chose Pingfan because it was ‘the perfect place’; the temperature was ideal, with an average wind speed of ten to twelve miles per hour, the optimal conditions for disseminating bacteria. The perfect place, he kept saying. He also said (& I quote again), ‘But, I promise you, no human beings were involved in the experiments there.’ Liar, I thought to myself & I knew then that Pingfan was a place I must see with my own eyes.
Well, the plane (a B29) was ready & waiting for me at Tokyo airport to fly me to China and Pingfan. I was aboard, the propellers turning, when the engine suddenly stopped & the pilot came back down the plane. He said he had just received orders from General MacArthur himself & that I was recalled & was not to go to Pingfan. I could not believe it & so I headed straight back to GHQ.
The General was waiting for me with Willoughby & Compton. He said it was simply too risky for me to go to Pingfan because relations with the Soviets were deteriorating daily & the General could not risk a B29 falling into their hands.
Willoughby also now claimed that all our intelligence in mainland China indicated that Pingfan had been razed on the day of surrender & that it was nothing but a ruin now, that there was nothing to see. Nothing to see indeed, I thought to myself. That is the story of my time here.
So to my regret & to my shame (but on their orders), nowhere in my report, neither with regard to the Uji bomb nor the Ha bomb, did I make reference to any human experiments, nor is there reference to the blueprint I had received from the BW engineer & his allegation that prisoners of war had been killed in experiments.
Things then took a further bad turn within hours of me filing the report. I was back at the hotel, already packing & dreaming of seeing you all, when there was a knock on my door. It was a reporter from the wire services. He was holding a copy of my report & said it looked ‘very interesting’ & that he wanted to know more. Of course, I asked him how on earth he got hold of it & he said that there was a heap of them on a desk at GHQ, that they were only marked RESTRICTED & that the press were allowed to read anything marked RESTRICTED. I immediately commandeered a jeep from the desk clerk & drove back to Dai-Ichi HQ. I ran up the stairs to the General’s outer office. It was dark and unlocked & there, on the desk, was a pile of my reports all marked RESTRICTED. I counted them up. There were twenty-eight, twenty-nine including the one in my hand. However, if the General’s secretary had done as I had asked & made thirty copies, then one copy was still missing.
There is no doubt in my mind that Naitō had taken the missing copy (though, of course, he denies it) & that my report was already being read out in the suburbs by the senior members of Unit 731. No doubt too, they were celebrating my incompetence.
I hope you will also understand, from all I have told you, why I cannot return home to you & the children until I have corrected my mistake. I beg your understanding, patience & forgiveness.
Think of me this Thanksgiving, as I will be thinking of you all that day, as I think of you and miss you all each and every day.
With all my love, your husband, Murray.
*
Stamped TOP SECRET
APO 500-Advanced Echelon
December 9, 1945
To:
Colonel Harlan Worthley, Office of the Chief Chemical Warfare Service, Special Project Division, Gravelly Point, Washington, D.C.
Dear Colonel Worthley,
It is with great regret, and heavy heart, that I write this letter to you. However, I am duty- and honor-bound to tell you that I sincerely regret writing the report dated November 1, 1945.
Almost immediately upon completion of the above-mentioned report, I was confronted with new information which contradicted statements included in my report. I realize now that my report includes statements that are not only contradictory but also false.
Many of these contradictions & falsehoods are the result of my (misplaced) trust in Lt. Col. Naitō. I thought Naitō was quick, helpful, efficient and very humble. I thought he worked a long day, every day, and then went home dutifully to his wife. I now know (though he does not know I know) that he does nothing of the sort. Every night, he leaves my office here at Supreme Allied HQ in the Dai-Ichi Building and makes immediately for a rendezvous with senior members of Unit 731 and Unit 100 who are hiding here in the suburbs of Tokyo. He goes to brief them on what I am finding out which — thanks to him — is precious little. I know now he has been controlling me and it is his job to make sure I don’t find out too much. He has been very good at his job (up to now).
It is true that thanks to Naitō I was able to interview Yoshijirō Umezu, the chief of the Army General Staff and commander-in-chief of the former Kwantung Army. I also interviewed Tadakazu Wakamatsu, the Vice-Minister of War; Lt. Gen. ToraShirō Kawabe, vice-chief of the Army General Staff; Hiroshi Kambayashi and Nobuaki Hori, the army and navy Surgeon Generals; Colonel Saburo Idezuki, chief, Division of Preventative Medicine, Tokyo Army Medical College; Colonel Takamoto Inoue, chief, Bacteriological Section, Tokyo Army Medical College; Colonel Tomosada Masuda, Ishii’s deputy; Major Junichi Kaneko, the BW bomb expert; Lt. Col. Seiichi Niizuma, a senior army technical expert.
I asked them about fuses, detonations and scattering devices. I asked them about their ‘bacillus bomb’. I showed them the Red Book — the book with the details of Special Bomb Mark 7 — which we had captured in the South Pacific in May 1944.
Of course, they must have known that this was all I knew, that this was all we had. They also knew all I really wanted to know was where Ishii was. But, repeatedly, they all told me they presumed the commander of Unit 731 was still in Manchuria, or even dead. But I now know they were lying (all of them).
However, based on these interviews and the information that Naitō gave me, and which at that time I believed (wrongly) to be true, it was my recommendation to SCAP that no one involved in the Jap BW program be prosecuted as a war criminal. I made this recommendation in the sincere (but false) belief that no prisoners were ever used as experimental ‘guinea pigs’, as Naitō had ‘vowed’ that this was never the case. This I know now was a complete and utter lie (among many, many others).
Now I have a new and secret informant — whose identity, at this stage, I cannot reveal. But I will say that my new informant was an engineer with Unit 731 in China and has supplied me with the documentation and information which details the extent of the offensive Jap BW program. Furthermore, this informant is willing to testify that prisoners were used as ‘guinea pigs’. It is my belief that this informant of mine has provided the documentation and testimony needed to prosecute members of Unit 731 and Unit 100 as war criminals.
As protocol dictates, I have furnished SCAP with this new intelligence but, for reasons that remain unclear, I have yet to receive any direction or instruction as to how to proceed. I fear, however, that time is of the essence and that we cannot afford to procrastinate any longer.
As you know, President Truman has appointed Joseph B. Keenan as our chief prosecutor at the IMTFE and Keenan is expected here in Tokyo any day now with his team of lawyers. I believe a meeting with the prosecution should be arranged as soon as possible, but await confirmation of your consent and further instructions in all these matters.
Sincerely, Lt. Col. Murray Thompson.
*
Marked PERSONAL
Dai-Ichi Hotel, Tokyo, Japan
January 27, 1946
My dearest Peggy,
I hope you & the children are all well & that you were able to enjoy a merry Christmas & a happy New Year. I am only sorry, with all my heart, that I was not there to enjoy the holidays with you. However, I fear I would have been poor company as I have had a bad cough (though worry not, I am certain I am over the worst of it now).
To be honest, these past few weeks have not been easy ones & I have now been forced to take matters into my own hands in regard to my work. I did so only after much thought & soul searching but in the sincere hope that I would be able to bring matters here to a head & a swift conclusion would follow. I am still hopeful that this will prove to be the case & that sooner-than-you-think I’ll be walking up the driveway to our house (never to leave again!).
To my consternation, & in spite of many interviews with the General & letters to Washington, I have still received no response to my urgent requests to follow up on the allegations of human experiments &, in particular, to locate & question Lt. Gen. Ishii (the top man in charge of the offensive Jap BW program in China).
But, as my father used to say, you have to beat the ground to startle the snakes & so I have been beating the ground very hard here in Tokyo. Very hard, indeed!
Earlier this month, I received a copy of George Merck’s personal report to Secretary of War Patterson on Allied BW activities during the war. Merck included in his report the following sentence: ‘There is no evidence that the enemy ever resorted to this (BW) means of warfare.’ But, in his conclusion, Merck stressed that continued efforts in BW research were vital to America’s security.
Having read this report, I realized I needed help. I called the one Jap journalist who has been helpful to me & I gave him everything I knew about Ishii & Unit 731. I told him he could run the story, but not to use my name. I then asked him for a favor in return. I asked him to call The Pacific Stars & Stripes newspaper & to give them everything I had given him. Of course, I asked him to leave out my name & to attribute all quotes to ‘Japanese Communist leaders’.
Two days later the article ran, quoting Japanese Communist leaders accusing ‘members of the Japanese Medical Corps’ of inoculating American & Chinese prisoners of war with bubonic plague virus. It went on (& I quote): ‘Dr Shim Ishii, former lieutenant general in the Japanese Surgeons’ Corps and former head of the Ishii Institute in Harbin, directed “human guinea pig” tests both at Mukden and Harbin.’
The article claimed that experiments at Canton had backfired & that plague had broken out in the city. It further stated that Ishii, despite having had a mock funeral staged, was alive & well & living in Japan. Well, as you can imagine, all hell broke loose & before I knew it I was back in the General’s office (though no one suspects it was me who so well & truly let the cat out of the bag)!
Anyway, Willoughby (who I do not trust) told me that Masaji Kitano, the commander of Unit 731 from 1942 to 1944, was already on a plane from China & I was to question him upon his arrival in Tokyo. But they saved the best for last — Ishii had also miraculously turned up in Chiba Prefecture & I was to interview him too.
So I am finally to meet the devil & talk with him.
Wish me luck & pray that I’ll be back home with you all very soon now. I cannot tell you how much I miss you all & am looking forward to seeing you, so kiss the children from me.
All my love, Murray.
*
Stamped TOP SECRET
APO 500-Advanced Echelon
February 25, 1946
To:
Colonel Harlan Worthley, Office of the Chief Chemical Warfare Service, Special Project Division, Gravelly Point, Washington, D.C.
Dear Colonel Worthley,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your timely and continued support of my request to remain in charge of the Jap BW investigation. I am only too aware that not every one (particularly in G-2) felt I, or anyone from Camp Detrick, should even remain involved.
As you are no doubt aware, the International Prosecution Section for the Tokyo War Crimes Trial is now here in Tokyo and in full swing. I have a meeting scheduled (for March 8) with Lt. Col. Thomas H. Morrow of the IPS, whose brief is to prepare the prosecution’s case in relation to Japanese military aggression and war crimes in China. From my initial conversations with Lt. Col. Morrow it is clear that he wishes to bring BW matters before the Tokyo trial.
As you are also aware, I have just completed a series of interrogations with Lt. Gen. Ishii and Lt. Gen. Kitano and much of what was said will be of interest and relevance to Lt. Col. Morrow. However, before sharing any of our information with the IPS, I feel it is only proper to fully brief yourself and the Chemical Warfare Section. To that end, I will be sending — through proper channels — the stenographic transcripts of my interrogations with Lt. Gen. Ishii and Lt. Gen. Kitano. However, I feel it is my duty to bring some matters raised by the interrogations to your immediate attention.
The interrogations were conducted over the best part of the last seven weeks, commencing January 18, after Ishii was finally located (thanks to my ‘informant’) and brought to Tokyo from his home village in Chiba (where he had been residing all along). During this period, we have also interviewed a further twenty-five intimates of Ishii about him and his work.
I would like to note for the record, however, that it was a great pity that Ishii was not arrested and interned in Sugamo, instead of being merely asked to reside in his Tokyo house while charges against him were being investigated. I do strongly feel that had Ishii been interned in Sugamo with the rest of them, then we would have been able to gain more substantial (and damning) testimony from him. I am aware that Ishii’s health is not good (he has chronic chole-cystitis and dysentery), but I feel that should have in no way dictated the location of the interviews (his Tokyo home).
I would also like to note for the record that it was a further source of regret that all interview sessions were conducted in the presence of Ishii’s daughter (Harumi). At the request of Lt. Col. D. S. Tait of Technical Intelligence and Lt. E. M. Ellis of the War Department Intelligence Section (who were also both present throughout each interview), and with the approval of GHQ (but against my own wishes), Ishii’s daughter also recorded each interview and then typed out the transcriptions which she then delivered on a daily basis to the GHQ building at the Ichigaya garrison in Tokyo (where the War Crimes Trials are to take place). Lt. Ellis also acted as interpreter and it was my personal impression that the answers to many of my questions had already been ‘rehearsed’ (and the same, in fact, can be said of all the Japs I have interviewed).
It is my opinion that Ishii therefore had ample opportunity to consult his former associates — several of whom we know to be present in Tokyo and the vicinity — since the interrogations were intermittent and much of his information was presented to me by charts and written in answer to our questionnaires.
Furthermore, many of the ‘interrogations’ were conducted in a far too casual and relaxed environment for my liking (particularly given the severity of the crimes I believe Ishii and Kitano to be guilty of). We were, for example, frequently served meals and invited to attend dinner parties in the company of geisha and hostesses etc. I, of course, refused such offers of hospitality as being inappropriate (but I know others did accept).
I would ask you to bear in mind that the transcripts (to follow) have been reported in the first and third person for purposes of simplification and so I would emphasize that, while the context has been accurately recorded, they are not a verbatim literal record as the interpreter (Lt. Ellis) acted as a channel in the interviews.
The particular points I would like to bring to your attention are as follows:
From the outset, I found Ishii’s answers to be guarded, concise and often evasive. Furthermore, I believe that Ishii’s repeated claim that all BW records were destroyed to be a pretense, not least because the technical information we did obtain from him (in response to our questionnaires) indicates an amazing familiarity with technical data. Such familiarity naturally leads one to question his contention that all records pertaining to BW research and development were destroyed. As stated above, it is my belief that, in all probability, much of the information Ishii did present was compiled with reference to documentation and with the assistance of his former associates at Pingfan and, no doubt, following much discussion as to what — and what not — to share with us.
Ishii also continues to maintain that no official directive existed for the prosecution of an offensive BW program and that it was conducted purely as a phase of military preventive medicine. He seeks to portray his BW research as being a local, small-scale, almost renegade operation, confined exclusively to Pingfan, and tested on only small animals (‘monkeys, rats, squirrels, and other small animals’). He denies any field tests whatsoever were ever conducted, and categorically denies that any experiments were conducted using human ‘guinea pigs’ (‘no humans at all were used in the tests’).
Ishii maintains that such allegations and rumors (of human experimentation) have been falsely and maliciously spread about himself and his unit (‘A lot of men in my unit, and others who know nothing about it, have been spreading rumors to the effect that some secret work has been carried on in BW … I want you to have a clear understanding that this is false’) and he claims to be the victim of an orchestrated campaign of blackmail and extortion by disaffected and destitute former subordinates. Tait and Ellis seem to believe him and claim to have seen the proof (in letters and telegrams), though they have yet to share this evidence with me (despite my repeated requests).
Ishii continually stated that all work done in BW was purely defensive and in anticipation of a Soviet BW attack. He claims to know that the Soviets have ‘tularemia, typhus fever, cholera, anthrax, and plague bacteria’ and that the Soviets had ‘completed their BW preparations’ and that such knowledge ‘frightened’ him.
While political analysis is not within the province of the present mission, I feel I would be negligent in my duty as an investigating officer if I did not point out that such diatribes against Russian intrigue stem from poorly informed as well as from thoughtful and responsible sources. The colossal effrontery against common sense is thoroughly demonstrated by such a statement as ‘Originally we had no intention of waging war against the United States. The Soviet Union has always been our future possible enemy.’ It has been my experience that confused thought and conflicting statements have permeated all my discussions with the highest Jap officers and Lt. Gen. Ishii is no exception. Of course, on the other hand, I do believe that claims about Russian BW activity can hardly be discounted without further evaluation, but it is also my belief that the Japs are also well aware that by making such claims they are telling us (or some of us) what we want to hear while, at the same time, skilfully exonerating themselves.
In regard to plague — of particular interest to me, as you are aware — Ishii made the following statements:
‘Due to the danger of it [plague], there were no field experiments with it. There were a great many field mice in Manchuria and it would have been dangerous to conduct field experiments with plague because the field mice would very easily carry the organisms and start an epidemic. We conducted experiments with plague only in the laboratory.’
I asked what kind of experiments.
Ishii stated: ‘We put rats in cages inside the room and sprayed the whole room with plague bacteria. This was to determine how the rats became infected, whether through the eyes, nose, mouth or through the skin. But the results were not too effective as we usually got only a 10 percent infection.’
‘By which route?’
‘Through the nose and also through an open wound; animals were shaved and it was found that they would become infected through the microscopic abrasions caused by the shaving. We found that the lymph nodes became inflamed and that was how we then knew if the animal had become infected.’
In response to further questioning, Ishii then went on to say: ‘The spray test was not conducted in a special chamber. However, the windows in the room were double-plated and paper was put all over the walls. The room was made as air-tight as possible and human beings did not enter the room. They conducted the test from an outside corridor. After the experiment, we sprayed formalin in the room and did not enter it for one day. We also wore protective clothing, masks, and rubber shoes. Before we touched the animals, we put the cages, the animals, and all, into a solution of creosol.’
I asked had there been any accidents.
‘Yes. One person who handled the animals after the experiment got infected and died.’
‘How about outside?’
Ishii said, ‘No.’
I then stated: ‘We have heard from Chinese sources that plague was started in Changteh, in 1941, by airplanes flying over and dropping plague material and a plague resulted. Do you know anything about this?’
Ishii said, ‘No, and anyway, it is impossible from a scientific point of view, as I thought you would have known, to drop plague organisms from airplanes.’
‘But what if rats, rags, and bits of cotton infected with plague were dropped and later picked up by the Chinese and that is then how it was to have started?’
‘If you drop rats from airplanes they will die,’ laughed Ishii. ‘There is no chance of a human being catching plague as a result of dropping organisms from an airplane.’
‘How about balloons?’
‘I would imagine balloons might be rather hard to control and navigate, wouldn’t you, Dr Thompson?’
As you can see from the above exchange, Lt. Gen. Ishii is an extremely confident man. However, Ishii — in my impression of the man — is also prone to boast about his achievements (for example, about his invention of a porcelain bomb for plague dissemination, about his water filters for field use, and an anti-dysentery pill he claims to have developed) and I believe this egotism and vanity will be his undoing.
In conclusion, and regardless of Ishii’s contention, it is evident to me from the progress that was made that BW research and development in all its phases was conducted on a large scale, and was officially sanctioned and supported by the highest military authority.
It is also evident that BW research was not confined to Pingfan and mainland China, as we have been led to believe. It is my belief that work in this field was also carried on in the Army Medical College in Tokyo. Therefore, it is impossible that the military leadership here in Tokyo was unaware of the program and that it was almost certainly conducted with the support and sanction of the highest military authority.
This leads, of course, to the inevitable (and political) question of exactly how high that sanction extended and I am aware that this is also the question uppermost in the minds (and worries) of both SCAP and Washington. In response to my direct questioning as to whether the Emperor himself was informed of BW research, Ishii replied that the Emperor was ‘a lover of humanity and never would have consented to such a thing.’
However, I strongly believe we have only scratched the surface of Ishii and his work. I am convinced that sometime soon, if we continue to question Ishii and his associates, we will be able to break him. Ishii is a proud, determined, almost ruthless individual and no one, in my experience, with such personal characteristics can fail to have made enemies. As you are aware, GHQ has received, and continues to receive, literally thousands of correspondences from disaffected Japs containing allegations of war crimes. Among these many telegrams and letters there are sure to be some which will refer to BW experiments in China and also in Japan. However, it is a slow and time-consuming process verifying each individual allegation and we simply do not have the necessary manpower at our disposal.
Finally, there are also some additional, highly important and extremely CONFIDENTIAL remarks I would like to make to you.
I took the liberty of showing the notes I had made of my interviews with Ishii and Kitano to my tame informant (the former BW engineer). As you know, it has been my experience that these Japs are simply not to be trusted (they are all good actors and accomplished liars). It was my intention therefore to verify the information I had received from Ishii and Kitano with my informant.
However, my informant gave me a startling and unexpected piece of information. He claims to have recently met with one of his acquaintances, who himself was a member of Unit 731. This acquaintance told my informant that he had personally met with Lt. Gen. Kitano, who told him that ‘just prior to the American Army inquiry [that is to say, my own interrogation of Kitano and Ishii], GHQ gave Ishii and myself [Kitano] a hearing and granted us permission to consult with each other in order that we could arrange not to contradict each other over items which were to be kept secret.’
My informant also claims that ‘the Americans knew all along that Ishii, Kitano, etc., had secretly fled back to Japan after the end of the war and they planned to make secret contact with them. Between the end of last year and the early months of this year, the Americans held secret meetings with Ishii and other ranking officers [a total of five persons] in a restaurant in Kamakura [just south of Tokyo]. During these meetings, which are known as the “Kamakura Conference,” Ishii revealed all about the experimentation and the bacteriological weapons. In return for providing the data that he had brought back from Manchuria, he asked that none of the unit members would be indicted for war crimes. The Americans accepted this condition and a secret contract was made between them.’
My informant refuses to name the ‘acquaintance’ who gave him this information but states that the acquaintance is a ‘former military physician, a Lt. Col (born in 1902), in Osaka, who had been a member of Unit 731.’ This former Lt. Col. also stated that he had recently met with Lt. Gen. Ishii, who boasted, ‘It is I who helped all you guys out and saved your skin!’
Of course, I have (for now) no way of knowing whether or not this information is true. However, if it is true, and I am aware it is a ‘big if’, it would certainly explain a lot.
To be very candid, sir, the politics of all this is beginning to weigh on me and I would be most grateful if you would tell me frankly and honestly (and in the utmost confidence) whether another section — G-2 or Scientific Intelligence, for example — are, to your knowledge, also engaged in any Jap BW investigation of their own and, if that is the case, whether they might have cut some kind of deal with the top Jap BW men (to the exclusion of the rest of us).
However, and whatever the truth of the matter, I remain very hopeful that my second report on Jap BW activities will be much more comprehensive than my first and that it will be completed and with you by the end of May, at the latest, as previously discussed.
Sincerely, Lt. Col. Murray Thompson.
*
Marked PERSONAL
St Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
September 9, 1946
My dearest Peggy,
I am sorry I have worried you by my silence & lack of communication. However, I truly hope this letter finds you & the children all well (despite the worry I have no doubt put you through).
As (I hope) you were informed, I collapsed with a severe hemorrhage on March 10 & was diagnosed with TB. Since then I have been hospitalized here at St Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo. It is embarrassing for a doctor to admit, but I realize now that I had ignored the warning signs as for some time I had been feeling very weak. However, I put this down to the stress of the job. I should not, however, have been so reckless in ignoring the fevers & coughs that had plagued me on & off since last September.
I do now feel that I am on the mend (& the doctors agree), so please do not worry. I am resting & taking things easy (I have little choice in the matter as the nurses are very strict!).
I must admit, though, that I have been following the progress of the War Crimes Trial & it has done nothing for my mood!
A couple of days before my collapse I actually met with Morrow (who is one of our investigators in our prosecution) & I gave him all I had. I also told him in no uncertain terms that I believed that Ishii & his gang were guilty of serious war crimes (Ishii’s rank of lieutenant general also means he could be prosecuted as a Class ‘A’ war criminal). For starters, BW is outlawed by every civilized nation & furthermore Ishii carried out human experiments on both prisoners of war & civilians. The rest of his gang also committed enough crimes to be considered as ‘B’ & ‘C’ class war criminals. In our meeting, Morrow seemed very keen to go after Ishii & his subordinates & promised he would.
Imagine my surprise & disappointment then to find that nowhere in the lists of the accused is there any mention of Ishii or any of his subordinates. As far as I am aware, the sole mention of BW to date occurred last week during the prosecution’s case about what the Japs did in Nanking. One of the assistant prosecutors (Sutton, I think his name was) suddenly stated in court that the Tama Detachment (which was the name for Ishii’s unit at Nanking) had taken Chinese civilians & American prisoners of war & used them for experiments (which we all know to be true). He said that the Japs had injected them with toxic bacteria to see how their bodies reacted. Of course, this caused uproar in court & he was asked by the judges for more evidence, at which point Sutton said he did not anticipate introducing any additional evidence on the matter!
I refuse to believe that this will be all that is said on the matter, so I keep reading the newspapers every day in hope.
Anyway, as you can imagine, I have had plenty of time to think & reflect on my many shortcomings, both professionally & personally, as a doctor & a soldier, & as a husband & a father. I realize now that I have failed every one & it is my sole aim now to put things right as soon as I am discharged from here.
I can only apologize for all the anxiety & worry I have caused you but, hopefully, I am now on the road to recovery & will soon be well enough to travel & finally return home to you all.
Until then, with all my love, Murray.
*
Stamped TOP SECRET
St Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
January 9, 1947
To:
Colonel Harlan Worthley, Office of the Chief Chemical Warfare Service, Special Project Division, Gravelly Point, Washington, D.C.
Dear Colonel Worthley,
Sir, as you are no doubt aware, soon after my last letter to you (of February 25, 1946) I suffered a severe hemorrhage and was diagnosed with tuberculosis. As a result, I have been forced to remain here in Tokyo, hospitalized under doctor’s orders (and only doctor’s orders?) for the past year. My health has somewhat recovered now, but I am still unable to leave hospital and return either to my work or home to my family.
To the best of my ability, and it has not been easy, I have tried to keep abreast of developments in the BW investigation, through the occasional report in newspapers and the (even more) occasional visit from colleagues. However, and I hope you will forgive the abrupt and rude comments of a sick man, I cannot help but feel a strong sense of disappointment and frustration.
It would seem to me (from here, at least) that none of the information I gathered and passed on to you in my last letter, nor any of the information I gave to Lt. Col. Thomas H. Morrow and the IPS, has been acted upon, particularly in regard to Lt. Gen. Ishii. I would go so far as to say that (from Day One) no one seems to have taken me seriously (or anyone from Camp Detrick, for that matter). I know we are the new kids on the block, so to speak, but they have no respect for us or our work. I cannot help but feel that this is because we are essentially civilians and are in no way connected with the old-line Chemical Corps (and its old-boy network).
If one was prone to paranoia — and this city and this Occupation, these Japs and our own men, certainly do nothing to discourage such feelings — then one might even think that my sudden illness and enforced removal from the investigation are viewed in the Dai-Ichi Building as providential intervention. There are days when, I admit, I feel very much like a pawn that has simply been swept off the board when the game was not going the way some people upstairs might have desired it to go.
However, the IMTFE is still in session and so there is still time to act upon the information I gathered and passed on to you (and to the IPS) and to bring Ishii and his subordinates to justice. My only regret is that my health problems (and the doctors) prevent me from personally ensuring that this is done. Hence this rather rude and abrupt letter, which I hope you will forgive but understand and, more importantly, act upon.
Finally, I would like to state for the record that as soon as my health permits I am most eager to resume my work in what I hope is the ongoing investigation into the Jap BW program, in whatever capacity you deem fit.
Sincerely, Lt. Col. Murray Thompson.
*
Marked PERSONAL
St Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan
July 9, 1947
Dear Peggy,
As you can see from the above address, & as you probably already know through other channels, I am still confined on doctor’s orders (& quite possibly on MacArthur’s orders, too) to this hospital. They say my illness has taken a turn for the worse, but I do not believe them. I now believe they may even be experimenting on me, for they seem incapable of curing my illness, only prolonging it.
So the days turn into weeks, the weeks into months, the months into years, & I cannot tell you how much I miss you, Peggy, & how much I miss the children (who doubtless do not even remember me). I also cannot tell you how much I want to leave this bed, this hospital, this city, & this country! But I know that even if I can leave this bed & this hospital, I will not be able to leave this city & this country until I have corrected all the mistakes I know I have made, until I have righted all those wrongs.
For as I lie here, hour after hour, day after day, with nothing but time on my hands, I cannot help but go over & over, again & again, all the events that have left me here, that have STRANDED me here so very far from you & all I hold dear. Particularly, I cannot help but go over & over all the choices & mistakes I have made. Peggy, I go back, again & again, over & over so many things.
Do you remember the balloons, Peggy? I see now that was where it all started for me, with those balloons, for that was when they first came for me, those men who never knock, who never introduce themselves, those men who came that day in November 1944, who told me of Jap germ warfare attacks on the Chinese in Manchuria. They’ve killed a lot of people, they said, they’ve poisoned wells, poisoned reservoirs. So we knew. Even then, back in 1944, we knew, I knew. Then they told me of the strange balloon that had been found in Butte, Montana, thirty feet in diameter, ninety-one feet round, & made of rice paper, told me of ten other strange balloons that had been found, & told me to come to Washington.
Do you remember how excited I was, Peggy? How I stood in that circle around those balloons, that circle of military & scientific experts, how I told them these strange balloons had obviously come from Japan, that prevailing winds could easily carry balloons from Japan to the US mainland? How I warned them that if any of these balloons contained Japanese B-encephalitis, then we were in real trouble because mosquitoes are the best vectors of Japanese B-encephalitis & we have plenty of mosquitoes here in the States? How I warned them that our population had no defenses against B-encephalitis, that we had no experience of the disease so we were totally vulnerable, that four out of every five people who contracted B-encephalitis would die? Of course, I didn’t stop there, did I? I told them it was equally possible that the Japs could have contaminated the balloons with anthrax, that anthrax is a tough bug, sturdy & cheap to produce, that we knew the Japs had already used it in China. I warned them back then that the Japs could splatter the west & southwest of Canada & the United States, that they could contaminate the pastures & the forests, kill all the cows & sheep, all the horses & pigs, plus a considerable number of human beings. I also told them there would be widespread panic & hysteria, so they placed rigid censorship on all radio & press reports of the finding of any balloons.
But the balloons kept coming, didn’t they, Peggy? By the end of March 1945, over two hundred balloons had been found from Hawaii to Alaska & down to Michigan & I pored over each one of them, inch by inch, but I found no hint of bacteria, no trace of disease. Nothing except incendiary devices, only two of which actually detonated — do you remember those, Peggy? The one in Helena, Montana, that exploded & killed a woman, the other in Oregon which killed six men out fishing, do you remember?
But I refused to believe that the Japs had not infected the balloons. I could not believe there were no bacteria, no disease, that these were the only balloons. So I spent hour after hour in the glass belly of a B19, tracking up & down the west coast of the United States, hour after hour looking for thirty feet of rice paper hanging in a tree or lying punctured in a field, & still I found nothing.
But I refused to give up, even then. I gathered up every field report I could find. I asked for meetings at the headquarters of the 7th Service Command in Omaha, Nebraska & the headquarters of the US Western Defense Command in San Francisco. I spoke for hours, I spoke for days, telling them what we knew, what I knew, even then, in March 1945. I told them about biological warfare & about strange balloons. I told them about the Jap germ attacks on the Chinese & about the Jap use of anthrax, the Jap use of plague —
PLAGUE, even then, PLAGUE.
I told them about the man who headed the Jap BW project, though I could not yet name him. I told them about the Jap BW headquarters (which I then believed to be in Nanking). I told them about the prisoner-of-war statements which mentioned a bacillus bomb (the Mark VII, Type 13, Experimental Bacillus Bomb). I warned them of possible targets, possible means of dispersal, possible biological agents & diseases. I told them about Jap attempts to get a strain of yellow fever virus from the Rockefeller Institute in New York & about a similar attempt in Rio de Janeiro. I told them it was quite possible that the Japs now had the virus through Germany. I warned them of the threat to our cattle & livestock from rinderpest, that rinderpest kills & spreads rapidly, that we were 100 percent vulnerable to rinderpest. I warned them that one single balloon could be crossing the Pacific that very minute, carrying enough cholera to start an epidemic, that we were 100 percent vulnerable to cholera.
I told them & I warned them because I KNEW, Peggy, I KNEW, even then, I KNEW.
But then, of course, the call came from MacArthur & that was the last time I saw you, the last time I saw the children, that last time before I ended up here in THIS PLAGUED CITY.
I know now for sure, Peggy, that they’d already been told about me before I even set foot in this place, that was why they were waiting for me, why they had my photograph!
That photograph of me in Camp Detrick is another thing I keep coming back to, over & over, again & again. How had the Japs got hold of that photograph? I know that our own guys, our own G-2, must have given it to the Japs, that G-2 must have already made contact with Naitō & the top men in the Jap BW program & that was why he was waiting for me, why he had my photograph in his paws, why he knew I wasn’t up to the job because THEY HAD TOLD HIM, because THEY HAD ALREADY MADE THEIR DEAL.
Of course, I knew even then that I could not & should not trust them but I see now that I personally was far too ready to believe all that I was told. So I believed that the Kwantung Army operated on the mainland with a high degree of independence from the military leadership back in Tokyo & I believed that, within the KA, Ishii was a law unto himself, that the Army Medical Department exercised no control over Ishii & his operations.
I realize that I became obsessed with Ishii, believing Ishii, & Ishii alone, to be the one who should bear sole burden for their BW program. I realize now that this was what I wanted to believe.
Now I believe more than ever that the deal (deals? Who knows how many deals were made?) was a mistake. But I swear to you, Peggy, that I did not know that human guinea pigs had been used when I suggested the arrangement to MacArthur, Willoughby & Compton. And now we know about the bacillus & anthrax bombs & their use on American prisoners of war & Chinese civilians, now we have the evidence, there is still time to prosecute Ishii & all the other guilty Japs at the Tokyo Trial. But no one here or in Washington takes my claims about the human experiments seriously or, should I say, no one wants to take them seriously because it does not suit them & what they (wrongly) believe to be ‘our best interests’.
But in years to come future generations will ask, who knew? Who knew and who made the deal? And the answer is, they all knew. They all knew, myself included. We all knew and so we are all guilty, guilty of the things we did, and guilty of the things we did NOT do.
I cannot bear the thought that George or Emily might one day read of all this & know that their own father knew, know that their own father was guilty (which I am), & that he did nothing.
All that I now plan to do, I do for our children.
Perhaps I should not tell you this, Peggy, but there are days here when I wake, my eyes still closed, & I can hear the voices of the children & I believe, for just one moment, I am home again, home with you & the children, & that I am finally & forever home, out of this bed & this hospital, away from this city & this country, from this hell. But then, of course, I open my eyes & I know I am not home, that I am still here, here in this bed in this hospital in this city in this country, in this hell, that those voices were not the voices of our children but the voices of vermin, of mice & of rats, in the walls & under the floor, muttering & whispering, & then I fear I will never leave this bed & this hospital, never leave this city & this country, that I will never leave this hell, that I will never hear the voices of our children again, will never see their lips move again, never even see their faces again. But I swear to you, Peggy, I WILL NOT LET THIS HAPPEN, I will not let their experiments succeed, I will not let them get away with this.
So, as soon as I am able, I plan to discharge myself & check back into the Dai-Ichi Hotel. I plan to finish the task at hand, to correct all my mistakes, as quickly as I can, so I can then finally, finally put all this behind me & return to you all a new & better man, a better husband to you & a better father to the children.
With all my love, always, Murray.
*
Stamped TOP SECRET
From the Diseased, Infected & Plagued City,
In the Place & Hour of No God,
January 26, 1948
To whom it may concern, but not for the eyes or the knowledge of my wife or my children, or any who have felt or shown affection toward me. A second letter is for their eyes, and only their eyes.
I write this letter here and now, in this laboratory, at the end, not as explanation or vindication of my actions or inactions, but to document, and to warn. For I know now for certain that they have been experimenting on me and that they have been successful, that they are the ones who are behind the mutterings and the whisperings, in the walls and under the floors, that it is their voices that every day mutter and whisper, ‘Get up, Tommy! You still have work to do. Get up!’
They are the ones behind that voice on the telephone this evening — that thick and heavy-accented voice — that voice which said, ‘On your head are these dead.’
These men who never knock, who never introduce themselves, these men who sit and who stare, who watch me and who follow me, on the corners and in the doorways, in their protective masks and rubber shoes. ALWAYS FRIENDLY, VERY FRIENDLY. But I know I will never see their faces, never know their names, for they all wear masks — monkey masks, squirrel masks, but mainly the masks of mice, the masks of rats — white clay masks. THEY ARE THE RATS BOARDING THE SINKING SHIP, testing me, experimenting on me, in this city that has become their laboratory, with its double-plated windows and its paper-covered walls, THIS PLAGUED CITY that is their laboratory of the Apocalypse.
In this laboratory, IN THIS PLAGUED CITY, here at the end, I see the Angel of History and the Angel of Pestilence, and I feel the breath of their wings upon me now, and I close my eyes.
In the history of the world, there have been as many plagues as there have been wars. They rise and they triumph, then they decline and they disappear. But they always return, plagues and wars. They always return, these plagues and wars, to take men equally by surprise. Until now, now men have married plague and war in an unholy, godless matrimony.
And I see visions, visions of plagues, my eyes open / my eyes closed, the same visions. The dead rat on the stair, gray and yellow, the cat convulsing in the kitchen, a bloody red flower blossoming in its mouth. That is how it will start. The rats in the daylight, from out of the walls, from under the floors, they will first come in files, and then die in piles, six thousand dead in one day, burnt in bonfires through the night, and then the rats will be gone and the fevers will start, the swellings and the vomiting, the yellow and the gray, before the asphyxiation and then the death, the red and black death, the red and black death of the people, death of this city, this gray and yellow city of gray and yellow eyes, then red and black eyes, of yellow blossoms and red flowers here and there, on the corners and in the doorways, this gray and yellow, red and black city wherein men will take to their beds and leave them on stretchers, in coffins, in hearses, until there are no more stretchers, no more coffins and no more hearses.
ON YOUR HEAD ARE THESE DEAD!
Just the swellings and vomiting, the asphyxiation and death, the death of this city, death of this country, this (w)hole world.
ON YOUR HEAD!
For it is coming! It is coming! It is coming!
And I know I am to blame, too.
For I know it is my fault.
ON MY HEAD!
My mistake IN THE PLAGUED CITY, this city of public records and private erasures, of half-truths and whole-lies –
LIES! LIES! LIES!
Again and again, I come back to that incident, over and over, that incident on the Ginza with the old mouse on his bicycle.
For I can still feel his spit upon my face.
Still taste his spit in my mouth.
His spit in my blood.
In my blood.
My blood, infected and signed, Dr M. Thompson, Tokyo, 1948.
— Stamped, MISSION TERMINATED, 2/27/48 –
Beneath the Black Gate, in its upper chamber, you are crawling, crawling again, crawling beneath the swinging shoes of a dead American, round and around, in the occult circle, in the light of its candles, round and around you crawl, beneath the swinging shoes of all the dead, the swinging shoes of all the dead upon your head, the dirty soles of their swinging shoes upon your head,
round and around, on your head,
round and around,
you crawl –
And now the ropes snap, and the shoes fall, and the bodies fall, on your head, another candle, on your head, extinguished,
on your head. Out –
Out. Out –
But in this occult circle, in the light of its now-eight candles, still you crawl on, in circles, on you crawl still,
in circles, circles of conspiracies, circles of agendas, conspiracies and agendas that form narratives and give meanings, narratives and meanings, fictions and lies –
For on your hands, you are still clothed in your despair, on your knees, still digging your own grave, still-born in your own tomb, this airless, artless tomb of ink and words, still enticed and entranced, still deceived and defeated,
in-snared and in–
prisoned –
In the flicker-light of these eight candles, where there are no keys and there are no doors, where there are only locks and only walls, but still you turn the yellow-pages of your notebooks, your ink and their words, still searching for clues and searching for maps, in their clippings and in your copies, in the ghosts of their stories,
your stories of their ghosts:
NEIGHBOURHOOD INVESTIGATIVE HQ
A local organization named Mejiro Chian Kyōkai Nagasaki Shibu
has founded a ‘Civil Investigative Headquarters’ because ‘the locals will be upset unless the [Teigin] case is solved quickly,’ said the Chief of the HQ, Mr Shimizu.
The HQ is located in the office of the Nagasaki Shrine, and their investigation is mostly focused on the killer’s tracks. They summon those who had been in the vicinity of the crime scene, and who had hurried to rescue the victims, as well as local children who may have also witnessed the crime. Shimizu and his team plan to gather up all these testimonies and give their reports to Mejiro Police Station.
Each member of the team runs a separate district of the neighbourhood and witnesses are summoned to the Nagasaki Shrine HQ, even in the night, to be questioned by these amateur cops. For now, Chief Shimizu ignores his own business and devotes himself entirely to the investigation, twenty-four hours a day. ‘I take 5 or 6 Hiropon injections per day but, what-the-heck, I’ll do beyond my best till we get him,’ said Mr Shimizu, and he will not disband the HQ until the killer is caught.
However, one local housewife complained, ‘I really wish the killer would be caught very soon, or he [Mr Shimizu] will be back to ask us for another donation to his association!’
In the flakes and in the flurries, in the night and in the snow, the medium stands before you now, in a cape and in a hat, and she says, ‘I am Shimizu Kogorō. I am the Occult-Tantei…’
Before you now, in his cape and his hat,
with his curses and his spells, stain–
tear-ed and stain-blood-ed, nailed
to the back of a door, IN THE oCcULT CITY
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