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Parent Witness Tells How Japs Slew 14 U. S. Flyers News Article
Date
Language English
Collection C.W.J. Phelps Collection
Box Box 1
Folder First Phelps Scrap Book
Repository University of Virginia Law Library
Witness Tells Hwo Japs Slew 14 U. S. Flyers Shanghai, China, July 5 (AP) – Fourteen American flyers who were captured at Taihoku, Formosa, were lined up in a trench and shot by a Japanese firing squad, Yashushi Marushima, Formosan medical officer, told an American military court today. His was the first eye-witness account of the execution. Marushima testified at the war crimes trial of Lt. Gen. Haruki Isayama and seven officer subordinates accused of condemning the Americans after a mock trial in which no defense counsel was provided. The prosecution charged that the court records were subsequently falsified with alleged confessions. The executions took place June 16, 1945, Marushima said. The Americans were blindfolded with black clothes upon which were chalked bulls-eyes. A firing squad two yards away then shot the men down in their ready-made graves. Marushima certified them dead.