JAPS.' SHAM "HUMANITY"

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 248, 21 October 1942, Page 5

JAPS.' SHAM "HUMANITY"

UNCAPTURED AIRMEN PUNISHED.

P.A. Gable.

LONDON, Oct. 19.

U.S. airmen captured on April 18 in the United .States bombing raid on Tokio have been punished, says Tokio radio. The punishment has been imposed in accordance with military law for their failure to observe the principles of humanity. The radio added that Japan will execute or severely punish airmen taken prisoner who are found to have committed cruel or inhuman acts in their attacks on Japanese or Japanese-held territory. "During the investigation, American airmen who had been captured said that it was proper for them deliberately to bomb Japanese hospitals, schools, and civilian homes," stated the broadcast. "The army therefore has severely dealt with these Americans," declared Tokio radio. Ofhcial Washington reports of the raid on April 18 stated that all the raiding planes returned, and that only military objeetives were hit. Tokio claimed that nine of the raiders were shot down, and that bombs landed on a school and a hospital. The Japanese threats to execute captured U.S. airmen is, according to Washington ofhciajs, primarily intended to bolster Japanese morale. The officials point out that revenge and cruelty have always been an important factor in Japanese psychology.