Afuna, Japan. 1945. A group of Australian War Correspondents visited a prisoner of war (POW) camp


Afuna, Japan. 1945. A group of Australian War Correspondents visited a prisoner of war (POW) camp and found shocking conditions of cruelty. The camp was about fifteen miles out of Yokosuka Naval Base, and the Corespondents were the first to find the POWs. The camp was not registered (with the International Red Cross) and all the 103 occupants, comprising ninety eight Americans, four British and one New Zealander, were reported dead some time ago. 


The men had been cruelly beaten and maltreated, but for the past week or two they had better treatment and were given a chance to pick up. American planes had dropped comforts and clothing to them. The Japanese guards who had beaten the men were taken from the camp and replaced by others a week before the occupation. Almost every day "Bimbo" beatings were administered. Here Chief Petty Officer (CPO) Harold Newman RN of Carshalton, Surrey, England, assumes the position only too well as the "Afuna crouch". He is demonstrating to the Australian officers, the cruel methods. 


They are, Army Captain John Goodchild of Melbourne, Vic, and Navy Lieutenant John Barnes of Melbourne, Vic. CPO Newman has been a POW for three and a half years. He was on HMS Exeter sunk in the Java Sea. He was reported dead and his wife will not know he is alive until she receives the signals which were sent out to them when the group of Australian War Correspondents set them free, and brought them back to a British base. Swinging the "Bimbo", which is larger and heavier than a baseball bat is Radioman Lawrence Sibert of Fort Collins, Colorado. He was a also a POW for three and a half years, and was sunk in the same battle in the Java Sea. He was then serving in USS Pope. Note the long corridor of cell like cubicles which were locked each night and the prisoners, sore but happy, in the background watching the demonstration

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