Ship of Ghosts (76 page)

Deaths in Branches Three and Five
: Arthur L. Varley, diary entry for Jan. 11–19, 1944.
Deaths in F and H Forces
: Kinvig,
River Kwai Railway
, 198.
Movements of A Force
: Varley, diary entry for Nov. 7, 1943.
The Japanese “seemed to indulge in a system of competitive bidding
…”: Harold S. Hamlin, “Report of Service as Prisoner of War,” 5. “
This camp was much better than anything we had seen
…”: Charles D. Smith, “USS
Houston
(CA-30) and Experiences,” 21–22. “
Like dining at the Savoy in Hollywood
”: Houston Tom Wright, UNT interview, 166. “
He lost no telling how many dollars
…”:
Marvin Robinson, UNT interview, 138. “
They’d chloroform the guy
…”: John H. Wisecup, UNT interview, 101. See also Wright, 170.
Construction of the bridge at Tamarkan (“the Bridge on the River Kwai”)
: Davies,
The Man Behind the Bridge
, 100–103. “
They were in a hurry to finish it
…”: Wisecup, UNT interview, 96.
Air attacks on the bridge
: U.S. Army Air Forces, Historical Office,
The Tenth Air Force: 1943
, 91.

The Tenth Air Force
: Army Air Forces Historical Office,
The Tenth Air Force: 1943,
32–38. “
A resourceful, able and wily enemy must be blasted from the jungles
…”: General Order No. 1, Headquarters, Eastern Air Command, Dec. 15, 1943, quoted in Ibid., 38.
January 1943 reconnaissance of railway
: Fritsche, “Liberators on the Kwai,” 82.
Friendly casualties from air attacks
: Davies,
The Man Behind the Bridge
, 144; Kinvig,
River Kwai Railway
, 180–181.
Houston
men lost on the
Tamahoko Maru
were yeoman second class Robert P. Willerton and seaman first class Joseph J. Alleva, USS
Houston
Association crew roster; “List of Hellship Voyages,” last updated January 27, 2005,
www.west-point.org/family/japanese-pow/Ships.htm
.
Lost Battalion hell ship KIA
: Fillmore,
Prisoner of War
, 151–153.
Submarine attack on
Rakuyo Maru
and
Kachidoki Maru
: Kinvig, 188.
Death of Brigadier Varley
: Kelly,
Just Soldiers
,
www.anzacday.org.au/ history/ww2/anecdotes/survivors.html
. “
As men were received on board, we stripped them
…”: “USS
Pampanito
(SS-383): The Third War Patrol.” “
The first ‘open source’ information on conditions in the railway camps
…”: Kinvig, 188.

“
Look at the mighty Japanese air force
…”: Frank King, UNT interview, 138–139.
Failed air attacks on Burma bridges
:
The Tenth Air Force: 1943,
105, 110–111. “
When we protested the camp being located
…”: Fillmore,
Prisoner of War
, 94. “
You cussed the planes and everyone in them
…”: Ibid., 101. “
You want to cheer them for tearing up the bridge
…”: Roy Offerle, UNT interview, 141. “
Prisoners will not laugh at Japanese guards
…”: Fillmore, 101. “
That little P-51 came down with the B-24s
…”: Luther Prunty, UNT interview, 195. “
My friends, American airmen
…”: Houston Tom Wright, UNT interview, 173. “
I don’t believe it
…”: James “Red” Huffman, interview with the author; see also Melfred L. Forsman, UNT interview, 204. “
When the all-clear would go
…”
and
“
He was breathing under the ground
…”: Huffman, Ibid.
The AZON bomb
: Kinvig, 182.
Bombing of “Bridge 277” (the bridge at Tamarkan):
Carl H. Frische, “Liberators on the Kwae,” 88. “
You could see they were worried
…”: John H. Wisecup, UNT interview, 115. “
They had been very casual about guarding us
…”: Eddie Fung, UNT interview, 139–140.
Troops were advised to kill “cautiously and circumspectly
…”: Brackman,
The Other Nuremberg
, 246.
Declaration regarding “liquidation” of prisoner populations
: Exhibit 2015, Tokyo War Crimes Trials, January 9, 1947, translated by Stephen H. Green, in Holmes,
Unjust Enrichment
, 123–124.

Warship construction
: Parshall, “Why Japan Really Lost the War.” “
And you know,
whoosh!
”: John H. Wisecup, UNT interview, 112–113.
Tonnage of bombs dropped on Japan, November 1944 to August 1945, and projections of September to December 1945
: Frank,
Downfall
, 306. “
Bombed Bullshit
!” Luther Prunty, UNT interview, 186. “
There wasn’t an engine on that railroad
…”: Otto C. Schwarz, UNT interview, 143. “
You know, you Americans think you’re smarter
…”: Schwarz, 135–136. “
Most of us stayed up to see the new year in
…”: Fujita, diary entry for Jan. 1, 1945. “
The Saturday morning raid was sure a rooter
…”: Ibid., entry for March 9, 1945; in that attack as many as 100,000 people died; see Frank,
Downfall
, 16–17.
U.S. prisoners at Ohasi
: Jess Stanbrough, UNT interview, 152–153; Arthur L. Maher, “Jap Prison Experiences,” 24–25. “
It smelled like a fireplace burning pine wood
…”: Stanbrough, 155. “
We more or less accepted it philosophically
”: Maher, 25. “
I imagine they had an air gun up there
…”: Lloyd V. Willey, interview with the author.
Thai humanitarians
: Davies,
The Man Behind the Bridge
, 130–131; Kinvig,
River Kwai Railway
, 150–152.
Kempeitai activities
: Fisher, “Medical Experiences,” 34; Willey interview with the author.
Siam becomes Thailand
: Nathaniel P. Davis, letter to Lawrence T. McCarthy, June 29, 1940.
Nighttime flights over Thailand
: Pryor, UNT interview, Feb. 20, 1973, 63, 72–73.
“I am your friend. I am with your friends
…”: Ibid., 77–78. “
If we run into Japanese, it will be bad for Japanese
”: Ibid., 78.

OSS begins Thailand operation
: “The Overseas Targets,” 403; Smith,
Into Siam
, 17; Reynolds, “The Opening Wedge,” 329, 339. Unbeknownst to the OSS, the codebreaking coup that produced the “Magic” intercepts of diplomatic signals gave Washington access to much of the information Donovan wanted out of Thailand. “
The opening wedge for postwar American economic
…”: Reynolds, 329.
Training of OSS field agents
: Smith,
Into Siam
, 48.
Training of Thai auxiliaries
: Ibid., 22, 25.
“They can throw their weight in wildcats”:
Ibid., 49.
The Thai agents killed by the Japanese
were Karawek Srivicharn or “Cary” and Sompongse Salyabongse or “Sal.” Smith,
Into Siam
, 168–169, 302.
Pow reaches Bangkok
: Ibid., 180–183. “
A lamp had been lighted in the capital of Siam
”: Ibid., 183. “
Ruth
”: Reynolds, 330–331; “The Overseas Targets,” 408. “
A double life is not an easy one
,” Smith,
Into Siam
, 233.
The OSS agents in Bangkok
were Maj. John Wester, a resident of Siam for eighteen years, and Dick Greenlee from Scarsdale, New York, who once worked as a tax lawyer in General Donovan’s New York law firm. They flew by British seaplane to the waters off Thailand’s southern coast and were spirited into Bangkok on a Thai Customs Department launch. See Reynolds, 336.

Gus Forsman at Kanburi
: Melfred L. Forsman, UNT interview, 202, 207–215. “
We learned, from these sources
…”: Fillmore,
Prisoner of War
, 106. “
Six years hell. We’ll be lucky
…”: Forsman, 214.
Outram Road jail
: Daws,
Prisoners of the Japanese
,
254–255; Lomax,
The Railway Man
, 158, 163–164. “
A warder’s boots would make a booming sound
…”: Lomax, 161–162. “
This was a place in which the living
…”: Ibid., 164.
Forsman at Outram Road
: Forsman, 218–229.
FDR’s death
: Larrabee,
Commander in Chief
, 647.
Maj. Gen. Lowell Rooks in Germany
: Ziemke,
The U.S. Army in the Occupation of Germany
, Chapter 15.
POWs at Phet Buri (Cashew Mountain Camp) and Tayang airfield
: Frank King, UNT interview, 147; Sharp, “Japanese Documentary,” 27; Roy Offerle, UNT interview, 153; Luther Prunty, UNT interview, 200–201 (calling the camp White Pagoda Camp, west of Phet Buri, where an airstrip was being laid); James Huffman, interview with the author; Lanson H. Harris, speech, Long Beach Yacht Club; Lloyd V. Willey, UNT interview, 203–204. “
Anything to get the hell out of camp
…”
and other quotes
: Harris, speech. “
You never tell anybody you’re gonna escape
…”: Huffman, interview. “
This is really stupid
”: Harris, speech. “
You know, it’s been three years
…”: Huffman, interview.
Chinese dragon lore
: Ingersoll,
Dragons and Dragon Lore
. “
All of a sudden we looked up and here comes this clown
…”: Harris, speech. This was the second week of June 1945, per John C. Reas, letter to Pat Bozeman, April 26, 1988.

“
About twenty minutes later, here come these Japs
…”
and other quotes from Lanson H. Harris
: Harris, speech, Long Beach Yacht Club. “
They would nearly kill you with the smoke
…”
and other quotes from James “Red” Huffman:
Huffman, interview with the author.
Major Bartlett “captured fifteen armed German soldiers
…”: Headquarters, ETO, U.S. Army, Certificate of Merit to Maj. Eben B. Bartlett Jr. Gallaher is referred to as “Virlen” and “Virlin” in other documents; re rank, Gallaher was promoted to sgt. on July 19; see OSS Records, Opero to Pattern, Aug. 17, 1945.
Bartlett airdropped into Thailand
: OSS, “Pattern Operational Report” (by Maj. Eben B. Bartlett Jr.), Sept. 28, 1945; Opero to Pattern, June 6, 1945; Pattern to Opero, June 11, 1945.
Operation Salad (supply drops)
: OSS, “Report on Operation Salad,” July 11, 1945; Smith,
Into Siam
, 203; Tenth Air Force, “Special Flight Intelligence Report,” by Lt. Col. Robert A. Erdin, June 22, 1945. “
The way I feel about this business
…”: Pattern to Opero, July 14, 1945. “
If Japs come in here, shall we fight it out
…”: Pattern to Opero, July 3, 1945. “
Present policy is not to have any of our groups fight
…”: Opero to Pattern, July 4, 1945.
Reporting “lamentable
”:
War Report of the OSS
, 412. “
Things are getting hot down there
…”
and
conversations between Smith and Pow
: Smith,
Into Siam
, 248. “
Upon their arrival, a runner came
…”: OSS, “Pattern Operational Report.” “
I have two prisoners of war with me
…”: OSS, Pattern to Opero, July 27, 1945. “
He would get us apart
,” Red Huffman, interview with the author. “
What particular information do you want
…?”: OSS, Pattern to Opero, July 27, 1945.
“Neither one of us would go”:
Huffman, interview with the author. “
Have told them they would be [exfiltrated] soonest
…”:
OSS, Pattern to Opero, July 28, 1945.
USS
Houston
KIA/MIA list
(current to March 1, 1945):
OSS, Pattern to Opero, Aug. 7, 1945.

“
All our men are bang-happy
…”
and
“
Another thing the fellows are anxious to get
…”: Grassi quoted in Smith,
Into Siam
, 258–259. “
The only difficulty anticipated
…”: Eben B. Bartlett Jr., untitled document, “From Pattern.” “
Keep cautioning [your agents] against overt action
…”: Smith, 284. “
Never forget Pearl Harbor
”: USS
Indiana
, Ship’s Log.
Bombardment of Kamaishi:
Cressman,
The Official Chronology of the U.S. Navy in World War II
. 334. Reportedly Admiral Halsey “firmly directed [the British task force] to attend to other targets, thus creating a distinct impression that the U.S. Navy regarded this operation as specific retaliation for Pearl Harbor.” See Frank,
Downfall
, 158.
“Where were our planes…?”:
Jess Stanbrough, UNT interview, 161. “
There was a lot of people that had been captured
…”: Ibid., 189–190. “
The prodigious land, sea and air forces of the United States
…”: “Proclamation Calling for the Surrender of Japan,” Potsdam, July 26, 1945.
www.niraikanai.wwma.net/pages/archive/potsdam.html
.