The Faces of the Prison Guards
The picture above is of the prison guards in Mitsushima, Japan. Sitting in the of the first row are two officers. The one on the left was Capt. Sukeo Nakajima. The other officer was Lt. Kubo. Lt. Kubo eventually took over command of Mitsushima, because of the high death rate under Capt. Nakajima. Capt. Nakajima was executed by hanging.
The one to the left of Lt. Kubo was Matsuzaki, "Scareface". He was executed by hanging. To the left of Matsuzaki, was Tamotsu Kimura, "The Punk". Kimura was executed by hanging. Major Richard Gordon witnessed Kimura beat to death one of the POWs.
In the last row, directly over Capt. Nakajima, was Sadaharu Hiramatsu, "Big Glass Eye". Hiramatsu was executed by hanging.
Missing from the picture is one of Japan's most notorious prison guards, Matsuhiro Watanabe, "The Bird". Watanabe escaped his deserved punishment for crimes he committed in Mitsushima Prison Camp, by first deserting his post, as a guard, and then by going underground, until the American government stopped looking for war criminals in 1947, on orders from Gen. MacArthur. Watanabe was ranked #24, in MacArthurs list of wanted war criminals.
Watanabe, a disciplinary sergeant in the Japanese Army, was one of the most feared. His job was strictly to go from camp to camp and increase the level of discipline, severly beating prisoners in the process. Many died from his beatings. Today, Watanabe walks free and is a very wealthy man, living in Tokyo.
This picture is given to us by Major Richard Gordon.
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