<i>There, he was locked in a 5ft cage that soon became full of red ants, mosquitoes and his own filth.</i><p>...<p><i>A towel was put over his mouth and nose. Then one of the guards picked up a long rubber hose, turned a faucet on full force, and directed the stream onto the towel. The water soaked through, blocking Lomax’s mouth and nose. He gagged and frantically gasped for breath as water filled his throat. His stomach began to swell. He was drowning on dry land. When the towel was finally removed and Lomax had recovered from his delirium, he still refused to confess and name his confederates. The water torture began once more.</i><p>Sounds horrible.<p><i>The memorandum describes in detail each of the techniques proposed as generally used, including attention grasp, walling, facial hold, insult slap, cramped confinement (large and small and with and without an insect), wall standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, and waterboarding.</i><p>The Bybee Memos, authored by the Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States and signed by Assistant Attorney General[1]. These techniques were used by the US on suspected terrorists.<p>I hate how the line between the good guys and the bad guys is so blurred I sometimes question if it exists at all.<p>[1] <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bybee_Memo" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bybee_Memo</a>
My brother and sister walked 325km from Ban Pong to Sangkhla Buri along what exists of this very railway. It was in memory of a POW my brother met at our church who worked on the railway during his time in the war.<p>My sister wrote a book about the experience called Norn Lup? A Journey Of Railways, Roads, & Wats. <a href="http://intrepid-girl.com/blog/writing/buy-the-book-norn-lup-a-journey-of-railways-roads-and-wats/" rel="nofollow">http://intrepid-girl.com/blog/writing/buy-the-book-norn-lup-...</a><p>And my brother made a documentary <a href="http://www.lukenowell.com/projects/lukenowell/thailandtrek/" rel="nofollow">http://www.lukenowell.com/projects/lukenowell/thailandtrek/</a><p>Hope people don't mind these plugs but they both add value to the story behind this railway and the people who worked on it against their will.<p>You can read about their expedition here <a href="http://www.deathrailwaywalk.com/" rel="nofollow">http://www.deathrailwaywalk.com/</a>
Maybe Murnat Kurnaz can come back to America in 50 years and make friends with his former torturers, too. And then a movie.<p><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/notes-from-a-guantanamo-survivor.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/08/opinion/sunday/notes-from-...</a>
Interesting story. The ingenuity prisoners display is often remarkable. Of course, this goes pretty much against the current mood in Japanese politics (or at least what I, as a foreigner living abroad, reads about), which goes more along the lines of "our brave soldiers never did anything wrong when they were expanding the Co-Prosperity Sphere".
My grandfather was POW at Changi for four years.
He saw many of his friends die; many tragically just after the war when they rashly ate too much of the wrong thing.
During his captivity his family didn't know whether he was dead or alive.
He never knowingly bought a Japanese product.
He never spoke about his experience much.<p>I'd like to think things would have been a lot better had he had the opportunity to meet some genuinely apologetic Japanese.
If you want to reflect on something truly heinous bear in mind that during torture sessions these days it is customary to have a doctor on hand to ensure that the victim is not actually killed. The objective is to inflict ongoing pain and killing would defeat the objective. So a doctor of all things witnesses the process and keeps the victim alive so he/she can be tortured more. Apparently you can get any professional to do anything no matter how wildly those actions may seem to be to the most fundamental values of their profession and the oath they swear to practice it.
It's an impressive story and hard for anybody of us to even imagine in this day and age.<p>These days I live in Bangkok and have been fortunate enough to take the train that rides over the track these POW have made. It was a very humbling experience.
Especially the parts where the train drives through rocky areas where the walls have all been cut by human force, no explosives have been used.
It takes a whole day to drive the track which is among the parts that make it so hard to believe it has all been made by hand and that so many people have died while making it.<p>See also:
<a href="http://www.seat61.com/Bridge-on-the-River-Kwai.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.seat61.com/Bridge-on-the-River-Kwai.htm</a><p>If you ever get a chance to visit, then I can highly recommend it.<p>Unfortunately looking at what these POW achieved is one of the few things we can do to honor those who suffered there.
Something tells me there will be no meeting 50 years after the torture in US secret prisons -- especially none with any insight into the wrongness of it.
Extraordinary story. This reminds me somewhat of a 1955 reunion[1] of Paul Tibbets, the pilot of the Enola Gay, and a survivor of the Hiroshima bomb in an episode of "This is your life". I can't say the whole show is tasteful but I found the meeting incredibly emotional to watch.<p>[1] <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0m8D6APp64" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0m8D6APp64</a>
Server seems to be buckling under the load, but archive.org has a copy: <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131027021454/http://www.abroadintheyard.com/tortured-by-japanese-ww2-former-pow-met-chief-tormentor-again-50-years-later/" rel="nofollow">https://web.archive.org/web/20131027021454/http://www.abroad...</a>
I find it strange that if Mr. Nagase had been a rather indifferent PoW camp "administrator" who did not actively participate in torturing him, the late Mr. Lomax would likely feel no great urge to meet him and make friends with him. I' ve read that a kind of bond is almost always formed between the tortured and the torturer. Something for psychologists to explore I guess.
I am certainly touched by this. I'd forgive a guy like that and many other Japanese who admit to their horrific acts. I don't like generalization such as saying I forgive Japan, nor would I say Japanese are monsters. So long the stubborn politicians still exist, there will always be sting on Japan's reputation as a country.
I keep finding rumors the movie will be released in the US in a few months, but nothing concrete.<p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2058107/releaseinfo" rel="nofollow">http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2058107/releaseinfo</a>
One of the most astonishing books I've ever read is Unbroken, which is the true story of an American pilot (and Olympic athlete) who went through a similar experience as a POW of the Japanese. Well worth checking out.
So assassinating ex-Nazi torturers is kosher but not ex-Imperial Japan Army torturers, coercing Korean women as sex slaves for the Japanese army, massacring an entire Chinese city, conducting live human experiments with germs and chemicals?