Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1943, The British Commonwealth, Eastern Europe, the Far East, Volume III

740.00114 Pacific War/125

Memorandum by the Assistant Chief of the Special Division (Keeley)⁹⁰

[Washington,] January 22, 1943.

Reference is made to the underlying telegrams nos. 410, 411, 413, and 417 dated January 18, 1943 from the American Legation at Bern⁹¹ transmitting from the Swiss representative in Japan special reports on prisoner of war camps in Japan.

While the language used in describing conditions prevailing in these camps is intended to be reassuring, it is evident that the plight of these prisoners of war is far from satisfactory owing to the lack of nourishing food supplied to them and to the acute shortage of medicinals available for the treatment of the diseases contracted in the tropics (with the exception of the prisoners of war captured at Shanghai and in North China, all of the American prisoners of war taken by Japan were captured in tropical and sub-tropical zones). While the Swiss authorities report that the prisoners in the four camps in Japan visited admit that the Japanese authorities have made certain efforts to improve their condition, all of the leaders appointed by the prisoners as their spokesmen stressed the need for medicinals. In the four camps in Japan referred to in the underlying telegrams the percentage of sickness averages 23.5 percent.

If this rate of sickness prevails in the temperate climate of Japan where food and medical supplies are not only relatively abundant but where Japan appears to be making an effort to fulfill the obligations she has assumed to observe the Geneva Prisoners of War Convention, it seems reasonable to assume that the rate of sickness is much higher in prisoner of war camps in the Philippines and in other tropical and sub-tropical zones where food and medicines are scarce and where the Japanese authorities are believed to be less mindful of the obligations that their Government has assumed respecting the treatment to be accorded American prisoners of war.

Even if disposed fully to abide by these obligations, the Japanese themselves are lacking in vital medicinals which are required to maintain health in the tropics or for the treatment of tropical diseases. It appears, therefore, that unless some means can be found in the immediate future to send supplemental food supplies and urgently required medicines to our prisoners of war in the Far East,⁹² particularly in the Philippines, thousands of them may die from malnutrition and disease.

While the Japanese have refused to consider issuing safe conducts for neutral vessels operating in the Pacific to carry prisoner of war supplies, they have said that such supplies may be shipped on the exchange vessels.⁹³ Heretofore, in our efforts to carry on the exchange we have stressed the desirability of getting back our civilian nationals still in Japanese hands, and have mentioned the shipment of prisoner of war supplies only as an incidental consideration. It now seems that the prisoner of war angle should be emphasized. Our negotiations with Japan for further exchanges are rapidly reaching an impasse because of the objection of the security agencies of the Government to the departure of certain Japanese designated by the Japanese Government for repatriation whose release it is contended would be inimical to the best interests of the United States. The Department may not wish to be in the position of appearing to insist that the arrangement made with Japan for an exchange be carried out contrary to the national welfare. However, it might be well for the record at least to bring formally to the attention of the War and Navy Departments the reports we have received concerning the seriousness of the plight of American prisoners of war in Japanese hands, particularly their urgent need for medicinals and supplementary food supplies, so that those Departments may be on record as at least sharing the responsibility for any further delay in the exchange which stands in the way of sending vitally needed prisoner of war supplies to the Far East.

While the Justice Department has no direct interest in the plight of our prisoners of war in Japanese hands, it is understood to have made a greater number of objections than other agencies to the repatriation of those Japanese nationals requested by the Japanese Government as a condition to the continuation of the exchange. It might accordingly be advisable to send to the Attorney General⁹⁴ a copy of any communication on the subject that may be made to the Secretaries of War and Navy.⁹⁵

James H. Keeley, Jr.

[For statement of January 28, 1943, by Mr. Joseph C. Grew, Special Assistant to the Secretary of State, entitled “Treatment of Americans Held by Japanese Authorities as Civilian Internees and Prisoners of War”, see War Relocation Centers: Hearings before a Subcommittee of the Committee on Military Affairs, United States Senate, 78th Congress, 1st session (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1943), pages 113, 114.]

90. Addressed to the Assistant Secretary of State (Long) and the Chief of the Division of Far Eastern Affairs (Hamilton).
91. None printed.
92. For correspondence on efforts by the United States to send financial and other assistance to American nationals held by Japan, see pp. 1012 ff.; for correspondence on efforts to send assistance by way of the Soviet Union, see pp. 799 ff.
93. For correspondence on the second exchange of American and Japanese nationals, see pp. 867 ff.
94. Francis Biddle.
95. Henry L. Stimson and Frank Knox, respectively.