I was ordered to inject potassium cyanide – my experience at a field hospital in Kochinda –
I was ordered to inject potassium cyanide – my experience at a field hospital in Kochinda –
Name: Haru Fukuyama (22譜久山ハル)
Date of birth: June 5, 1928
Place of birth: Yonagusuku village
At the time: Member of Girls’ Student Corps (Shiraume Student Nurse Corps)
■ October 1945: Assignment to a field hospital of the Tama Unit (nickname for Independent Mixed Brigades)
I think it was around mid-October. It was somewhere in Ginowan.
We were told to “gather there,” so we all gathered there.
At that time, we were 2nd-year students in secondary school. We received the following order: “Second-year students, report to Tama Unit. Third-year students, report to the Naval Hospital.”
I asked the principal: “Do we go without taking anything with us?”
The principal replied: “The prefectural governor is here. I will give you nurse’s licenses, so even though you have not officially graduated, take these nurse’s licenses with you. When you report to the Unit, show the licenses, saying: ‘Yes, we are from the prefectural hospital.’ You will be treated as full-fledged nurses. If there’s something you’ve learned but do not feel confident about it, express your feelings, by asking: ‘Doctor sir, I learned to do it this way at school, but is this correct?’ It is your duty from here on to ask doctors or the physician in charge of your patients in this way.” Everyone received a diploma, and then we reported to Tama Unit.
■ Two old men executed for spy charges
It was after we went to the Unit in Kochinda thereafter.
Old Okinawan men came here carrying small tubs. One came to sell cooked sweet potatoes, while the other came to sell brown sugar that was sticking to a pan.
The old men who were unable to speak Japanese said to me: “Young woman, please buy these.” I replied: “All right, so how much is it for all you have left?” The price was 10 sen for one sweet potato.
Since I had no money, I said: “I have not received my first pay yet, so I have no money.” Saying so, I requested: “Sergeant Yoneda, if you have some money, please lend me some.” We joked around, saying: “I don’t know when I can pay you back. I don’t even know whether I can pay you back after I go to the other world.” Then, the doctor said: “Buy them, Uekado. I will pay. So, how much are they?” It was 20 sen for two sweet potatoes, and the brown sugar was 10 sen for a piece that was about this size. Thinking that he was an unusual doctor, I ended up borrowing 30 sen, and gave the money to the old men, saying: “Here, please take this.”
Then, the old men who did not know Japanese, said: “We are old men who don’t speak Japanese, the language of mainland Japan.” Since this place was a cafeteria or a kitchen, I started to leave this place. Smiling, I said: “Doctor sir, they are old men who can’t speak Japanese, so they can’t do anything bad.” The doctor said to the old men: “Hey, wait.” I said: “What’s wrong?” The doctor replied: “They are spies who came to sell sweet potatoes and brown sugar.” He said: “They are such old men, but they are wearing good clothes. They are absolutely spies, and that’s why they are dressed like this.”
At that time, I really got down on my knees and begged for mercy. For instance, if these old men were my father, and they were to be killed with the sword that the doctor was carrying, I would have really felt dying together with them. Therefore, I said: “Doctor sir, what do you intend to do with these old men just for coming here to sell me sweet potatoes and brown sugar?” The doctor replied: “I will kill them.”
So, it was decided that Sergeant Yoneda would tie up the old men’s hands behind their backs, and kill not only one but both of them. I spoke to the old men in Okinawan, saying: “You are going to be killed for coming here to sell a sweet potato for 10 sen and sugar for 10 sen. You got into a very terrible situation.” However, my speaking to them in Okinawa turned out to be a very bad thing. The doctor asked me: “What did you say? What were those words?”
I explained to the doctor that the old men came to sell 10 sen worth of goods and they got in trouble, but he would not believe me at all. Eventually, the doctor gave his sword to the sergeant, saying: “Dispose of both of them with this.” So, the old men were both killed right in front of me.”
■ My cousin got carried in
As I was talking about having all injured people come in for treatment, hospitalizing those who cannot walk and sending back those who can walk, a cousin of my sister-in-law married to the second son in my family came in. He was an agriculture and forestry student. As I turned around, I thought to myself: “Oh, this person is from Ota in Gushikawa. He must be the cousin of my sister-in-law who wed into my family.” So, I said: “You’re Hiroshi, aren’t you?” He replied: “Yes, I am.” So, I said: “Please wait a little. I’ll go and talk to have them take care of you later.” Saying, so, I made him wait on the spot.
Then, I asked the doctor: “There’s a vacant bed at such and such a place, so can he be allowed to go there?” The doctor asked me: “Is he your relative?” I replied: “Yes, he is my cousin, doctor sir.” The doctor happened be very nice on that day. He said: “All right, in that case, I will do as you say, Uekado, so take him to wherever you think is good.” It was fine up to that point.
On June 1, the doctor said: “Uekado, there is potassium cyanide dissolved in the bucket. You go and inject it in correct order.
At that time, I said: “Oh, doctor sir, are you going to let everybody die?” He replied: “In the end, you, Sergeant Yoneda, and Corporal Iida will also be injected. You will do the injection, and if they are left over (the potassium cyanide is left over, or if anyone is still surviving), I will do the injection. I will not do it if there are none left over.” So, I said to Sergeant Yoneda: “Sergeant sir, is it all right if I spill it?”
Later, I said: “Doctor sir, I will not do the injection. I will not do the injection even if you hit me or kill me with your sword.” The doctor replied: “Then, let them drink it.” In the end, a medic did the injection – a medic from mainland Japan, just like the doctor.
In the end, the doctor gave the following order for June 1st and 2nd: “Inject potassium cyanide by the morning of the 2nd.” (He) was to go back to the Headquarters by the evening of that day – from Kochinda in Kochinda-town to Tomimori.
■ At the time of dispersal, the doctor handed me a cloth bag
At the time we parted, the doctor, while handing me a cloth bag, said: “There is a picture of my wife and children, and also my resume inside (this bag). I was unable to send the salary I received after I came to Okinawa to my wife and children. That salary is also inside it. It also contains everything like my wife and children’s address. You can either use it (the money) for yourself or send it to my wife and children.”
I asked the doctor: “Where are you from?” That was the first time I asked him such a question. The doctor replied: “Toyama.” Listening to him talk, I pretended that I knew where that was and said: “Oh, Toyama.”
The doctor made comments like the following: “Toyama is a rural area, so I shouldn’t have told you I was from Toyama. I should have said, ‘It’s in the mainland, but I wonder where it was.’ I should have said, ‘I wonder where it was.’” He was saying: “It’s a rural area.”
■ I went out of the air-raid shelter and started retreating
There is a large air-raid shelter located diagonally opposite the current “Shiraume-no-To (White Plum Tower)” in Kuniyoshi.
This air-raid shelter in Kuniyoshi was a large one with top and bottom sections. There reportedly was a natural shelter at the top and a shelter where civilians stayed.
Sergeant Yoneda had given me the following advice: “Kuniyoshi is a place where various units are moving around, so I think you should avoid going there as much as possible.”
So, anyway, I did not walk together with anyone. I just retreated alone, going southward as far as I could go. Rather than going with classmates or people I knew, I just trudged on all alone.
■ I met a middle-aged woman who lived in Asato
I did not know her name at the time, but I met a middle-aged woman named Yamashiro who used to live in Asato. She asked me: “Young woman, where are you going?”
I explained the situation I had gone through so far, and replied: “Right now, there’s nobody I know and I’m retreating, but where are you going?” The woman said: “I’m alone, too, so why don’t we walk together?” From Arakaki in Itoman, we walked together as a pair toward Makabi, and we were finally taken prisoner in Yamashiro (air-raid shelter housing the Japanese Imperial Army Hospital Headquarters).
■ We became prisoners at the air-raid shelter in Yamashiro.
At the time, amazing things were happening at the place below where the memorial tower currently stands.
The reason I got caught was that this air-raid shelter was already full of people, and it was so stuffy in there that I went outside.
I was the first one to go outside because it was so uncomfortable in there.
I went up the steps, saying to Yamashiro-san: “Let’s go outside. If we are going to die, let’s die after we breathe some fresh air. It’s so uncomfortable with so many people in this stuffy place. It’s so uncomfortable that I don’t know what to do.”
Then, Yamashiro-san asked me from below: “How is it out there?” So, I replied: “The air is very fresh.” Then, before we knew, four or five trucks had suddenly surrounded this air-raid shelter in Yamashiro.
Name: Haru Fukuyama (22譜久山ハル)
Date of birth: June 5, 1928
Place of birth: Yonagusuku village
At the time: Member of Girls’ Student Corps (Shiraume Student Nurse Corps)
■ October 1945: Assignment to a field hospital of the Tama Unit (nickname for Independent Mixed Brigades)
I think it was around mid-October. It was somewhere in Ginowan.
We were told to “gather there,” so we all gathered there.
At that time, we were 2nd-year students in secondary school. We received the following order: “Second-year students, report to Tama Unit. Third-year students, report to the Naval Hospital.”
I asked the principal: “Do we go without taking anything with us?”
The principal replied: “The prefectural governor is here. I will give you nurse’s licenses, so even though you have not officially graduated, take these nurse’s licenses with you. When you report to the Unit, show the licenses, saying: ‘Yes, we are from the prefectural hospital.’ You will be treated as full-fledged nurses. If there’s something you’ve learned but do not feel confident about it, express your feelings, by asking: ‘Doctor sir, I learned to do it this way at school, but is this correct?’ It is your duty from here on to ask doctors or the physician in charge of your patients in this way.” Everyone received a diploma, and then we reported to Tama Unit.
■ Two old men executed for spy charges
It was after we went to the Unit in Kochinda thereafter.
Old Okinawan men came here carrying small tubs. One came to sell cooked sweet potatoes, while the other came to sell brown sugar that was sticking to a pan.
The old men who were unable to speak Japanese said to me: “Young woman, please buy these.” I replied: “All right, so how much is it for all you have left?” The price was 10 sen for one sweet potato.
Since I had no money, I said: “I have not received my first pay yet, so I have no money.” Saying so, I requested: “Sergeant Yoneda, if you have some money, please lend me some.” We joked around, saying: “I don’t know when I can pay you back. I don’t even know whether I can pay you back after I go to the other world.” Then, the doctor said: “Buy them, Uekado. I will pay. So, how much are they?” It was 20 sen for two sweet potatoes, and the brown sugar was 10 sen for a piece that was about this size. Thinking that he was an unusual doctor, I ended up borrowing 30 sen, and gave the money to the old men, saying: “Here, please take this.”
Then, the old men who did not know Japanese, said: “We are old men who don’t speak Japanese, the language of mainland Japan.” Since this place was a cafeteria or a kitchen, I started to leave this place. Smiling, I said: “Doctor sir, they are old men who can’t speak Japanese, so they can’t do anything bad.” The doctor said to the old men: “Hey, wait.” I said: “What’s wrong?” The doctor replied: “They are spies who came to sell sweet potatoes and brown sugar.” He said: “They are such old men, but they are wearing good clothes. They are absolutely spies, and that’s why they are dressed like this.”
At that time, I really got down on my knees and begged for mercy. For instance, if these old men were my father, and they were to be killed with the sword that the doctor was carrying, I would have really felt dying together with them. Therefore, I said: “Doctor sir, what do you intend to do with these old men just for coming here to sell me sweet potatoes and brown sugar?” The doctor replied: “I will kill them.”
So, it was decided that Sergeant Yoneda would tie up the old men’s hands behind their backs, and kill not only one but both of them. I spoke to the old men in Okinawan, saying: “You are going to be killed for coming here to sell a sweet potato for 10 sen and sugar for 10 sen. You got into a very terrible situation.” However, my speaking to them in Okinawa turned out to be a very bad thing. The doctor asked me: “What did you say? What were those words?”
I explained to the doctor that the old men came to sell 10 sen worth of goods and they got in trouble, but he would not believe me at all. Eventually, the doctor gave his sword to the sergeant, saying: “Dispose of both of them with this.” So, the old men were both killed right in front of me.”
■ My cousin got carried in
As I was talking about having all injured people come in for treatment, hospitalizing those who cannot walk and sending back those who can walk, a cousin of my sister-in-law married to the second son in my family came in. He was an agriculture and forestry student. As I turned around, I thought to myself: “Oh, this person is from Ota in Gushikawa. He must be the cousin of my sister-in-law who wed into my family.” So, I said: “You’re Hiroshi, aren’t you?” He replied: “Yes, I am.” So, I said: “Please wait a little. I’ll go and talk to have them take care of you later.” Saying, so, I made him wait on the spot.
Then, I asked the doctor: “There’s a vacant bed at such and such a place, so can he be allowed to go there?” The doctor asked me: “Is he your relative?” I replied: “Yes, he is my cousin, doctor sir.” The doctor happened be very nice on that day. He said: “All right, in that case, I will do as you say, Uekado, so take him to wherever you think is good.” It was fine up to that point.
On June 1, the doctor said: “Uekado, there is potassium cyanide dissolved in the bucket. You go and inject it in correct order.
At that time, I said: “Oh, doctor sir, are you going to let everybody die?” He replied: “In the end, you, Sergeant Yoneda, and Corporal Iida will also be injected. You will do the injection, and if they are left over (the potassium cyanide is left over, or if anyone is still surviving), I will do the injection. I will not do it if there are none left over.” So, I said to Sergeant Yoneda: “Sergeant sir, is it all right if I spill it?”
Later, I said: “Doctor sir, I will not do the injection. I will not do the injection even if you hit me or kill me with your sword.” The doctor replied: “Then, let them drink it.” In the end, a medic did the injection – a medic from mainland Japan, just like the doctor.
In the end, the doctor gave the following order for June 1st and 2nd: “Inject potassium cyanide by the morning of the 2nd.” (He) was to go back to the Headquarters by the evening of that day – from Kochinda in Kochinda-town to Tomimori.
■ At the time of dispersal, the doctor handed me a cloth bag
At the time we parted, the doctor, while handing me a cloth bag, said: “There is a picture of my wife and children, and also my resume inside (this bag). I was unable to send the salary I received after I came to Okinawa to my wife and children. That salary is also inside it. It also contains everything like my wife and children’s address. You can either use it (the money) for yourself or send it to my wife and children.”
I asked the doctor: “Where are you from?” That was the first time I asked him such a question. The doctor replied: “Toyama.” Listening to him talk, I pretended that I knew where that was and said: “Oh, Toyama.”
The doctor made comments like the following: “Toyama is a rural area, so I shouldn’t have told you I was from Toyama. I should have said, ‘It’s in the mainland, but I wonder where it was.’ I should have said, ‘I wonder where it was.’” He was saying: “It’s a rural area.”
■ I went out of the air-raid shelter and started retreating
There is a large air-raid shelter located diagonally opposite the current “Shiraume-no-To (White Plum Tower)” in Kuniyoshi.
This air-raid shelter in Kuniyoshi was a large one with top and bottom sections. There reportedly was a natural shelter at the top and a shelter where civilians stayed.
Sergeant Yoneda had given me the following advice: “Kuniyoshi is a place where various units are moving around, so I think you should avoid going there as much as possible.”
So, anyway, I did not walk together with anyone. I just retreated alone, going southward as far as I could go. Rather than going with classmates or people I knew, I just trudged on all alone.
■ I met a middle-aged woman who lived in Asato
I did not know her name at the time, but I met a middle-aged woman named Yamashiro who used to live in Asato. She asked me: “Young woman, where are you going?”
I explained the situation I had gone through so far, and replied: “Right now, there’s nobody I know and I’m retreating, but where are you going?” The woman said: “I’m alone, too, so why don’t we walk together?” From Arakaki in Itoman, we walked together as a pair toward Makabi, and we were finally taken prisoner in Yamashiro (air-raid shelter housing the Japanese Imperial Army Hospital Headquarters).
■ We became prisoners at the air-raid shelter in Yamashiro.
At the time, amazing things were happening at the place below where the memorial tower currently stands.
The reason I got caught was that this air-raid shelter was already full of people, and it was so stuffy in there that I went outside.
I was the first one to go outside because it was so uncomfortable in there.
I went up the steps, saying to Yamashiro-san: “Let’s go outside. If we are going to die, let’s die after we breathe some fresh air. It’s so uncomfortable with so many people in this stuffy place. It’s so uncomfortable that I don’t know what to do.”
Then, Yamashiro-san asked me from below: “How is it out there?” So, I replied: “The air is very fresh.” Then, before we knew, four or five trucks had suddenly surrounded this air-raid shelter in Yamashiro.
