Kamaishi in WWII

As an important foundry town, Kamaishi played a significant role in the Japanese war effort and was targeted by the U.S. Navy during World War II. On 14 July 1945, under the command of Rear Admiral John F. Shafroth Jr., the battleships USS South Dakota (BB-57), USS Indiana (BB-58), and USS Massachusetts (BB-59), the heavy cruisers USS Chicago (CA-136) and USS Quincy (CA-71), and nine destroyers bombarded the Japan Ironworks and warehouses, along with nearby oil tanks and vessels, to great effect. This was the first naval bombardment of the Japanese mainland. Rear Admiral John F. Shafroth Jr.'s battleships and cruisers, joined by two Royal Navy light cruisers, attacked again on 9 August. The mill was also the site of the Sendai Prisoner of War Camp,[8] and 32 Allied prisoners were killed in the raids. A second naval bombardment followed on 8 August, specifically targeting the civilian portion the city. A total of 694 civilians and 30 Japanese military personnel were killed in the bombardment. -- Wikipedia

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"The 200 who arrived in May 1945 were reported to be in poor condition owing to the shortage of vegetables in Tokyo and lacked Vitamin C. As PWs were deriving insufficient nourishment from their food, after consultation with Lt. PYMA, it was decided to extract the juice of beans and issue this half cooked. This was found to be very beneficial particularly to the sick. Also bones were ground into a powder and cooked in soup. The Comandant stated that when he took over the camp health conditions were not good and he continuously did all in his power to improve matters, with the consequence that weights increased and there was less sickness throughout."

http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/sendai/Sendai_5_Kamaishi/SEN-05_Investigation_Report_Deaths.pdf

"Yokohama D1/D2: The camp is breaking up. Two hundred of us, Americans, are being sent to a place called Kamaichi, somewhere to the north. Everyone is being payed off, in cash, by Mitsubishi.[10 -15 sen per day, less charges]...North of Sendai in a little town called Morioka, up high in the mountains, we change trains and ride down a branch canyon to the coast. Kamaichi was a fishing village, some years back, but it has been converted to a steel mill town. The fisherfolk are still here, of course, but mostly the town is that steel mill nestled back against the mountain. The small alluvial plain at the mouth of the river, most of the level land available, is a big open field. The mill processed scrap iron only. I reckon that I have arrived at the destination for that mountain of scrap iron that was shipped out of Pier Two, Astoria, Oregon." -- Robert L Raymond, memoirs

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13 Apr 1945: Large group of Americans, British, and the crew of the MV Hauraki arrive from Yokohama Dispatch Camp at the Mitsubishi Shipyards (Tok 13D ex Tok3B)

15 Sep 1945: Rescue Effected

http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/sendai/Sendai_5_Kamaishi/sendai_5_main.html

July 14 bombing: Raymond group hides in tunnel. "A few days ago the fisherfolk made a great, for them, find,... tons and tons of kelp. Put out to dry, the stuff was every where. Like bunting it festooned every clothesline, porch rail, even draped across rooftops. It is a very important source of Minerals in their diet. The first impression when we leave the tunnel is kelp strewn everywhere... but dirty and ugly... down into the dirt and ashes. Our camp is still standing but it is just about the only wooden building that is still standing...The railroad comes down the ravine, off the mountain, and loops around behind the steel mill. There are a couple of small outcrop ridges with tunnels through them, right behind the steel will. Most of the Dutchmen, that work in the mill, took shelter in one of them. About half of the tunnel, one whole end, was caved in by a shell. I don’t know. Death is death I guess but this close to the end... and from “our” side seems kind of extra bitter. Thirty two Dutchmen will not make it home. The “fortunes of war” are strange indeed." -- Robert L. Raymond, memoirs

" August second is a repeat of July the fourteenth. That smoke in the “holy” stack must have made Bull Halsey think that he had not “done it properly” the first time, came back to stir up the debri again. Muffled “boom-boom-booms” reverberate through the tunnel. The fisherfolk have taken off to the hills... or somewhere. This time the camp too is gone. That anti-aircraft unit across the road was hit... in the ammunition dump. The exploding ammo torched the camp. Jack lost a finger, industrial accident at the steel mill, was “sick list” when the attack came. He saw that the Jap side of the figure “8” was on fire, went over to fight fire, met the Commandant coming out at the gate. That end was far gone beyond any firefighting efforts at that point. When he turned back towards the prisoner side he saw that the prisoner side was “gone” too. He and the Camp Commandant helped some of the walking wounded out into the open between the road and the beach. There was just no way that they could do anything for the bedridden sick that had been stuffed down into those stupid shelters, covered with boards and dirt and built right next to the barracks... an oven. Only the agile got out. Six were suffocated I guess. The barracks came down on top of the shelter and the fire consumed all the oxygen... or they were simply “baked”. -- Raymond, memoirs

After treaty, waiting for rescue. " We can look out over the desolation that is Kamaichi to the space between the headlands where one of these days a ship will suddenly appear... flying the stars and stripes. The four of us are not really impatient but someone suggests that maybe we ought to walk up the canyon to Morioka and “hitch” a ride on the train to Tokyo. The idea is discussed at some length. We finally decide that it isn’t such a good idea... that probably that ship will be here “tomorrow”... We might fee “lost”, somewhere in between Morioka and Tokyo. Up the hill a bit, another four: Miller, Shorty, Perry and Thomas (all Shanghai Marines) decide that it sounds like a real good idea... and take off... They reach Tokyo okay, are flown back to the states, arriving two weeks ahead of the rest of us but, some years later I run into Miller. He says that it was one of his hairiest experiences of the war... “Four unarmed Americans traipsing blythely down through the heart of a country with only a couple of days to digest its defeat...” quote, “We Bust have been crazy”... but the four of us: Jack, Chief Bowan, Tribby and me just sit on, on the hillside, waxing philosophical. Probably our reasons are all different but we agree: “The experience was ‘worth’ it... but by no means do we ever want to go through it again”. Then we are quiet... lost in our own, individual, thoughts." -- Raymond, memoirs

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POW rescue roster, Kamaishi, 78 Americans

http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/sendai/Sendai_5_Kamaishi/sen_05_kamaishi_yank.html

details from POW rescue & last months of camp

http://www.mansell.com/pow_resources/camplists/sendai/sendai_4/SEN-04-05_Rosters_Reports_RG407Bx115.pdf

Robert Raymond (1921)