In the mailbag item How did WWII propaganda broadcaster Tokyo Rose get info on Allied ship movements?, SDSTAFF Bruce says that she was convicted of the crime that on a day during October, 1944, the exact date being to the Grand Jurors unknown, said defendant, at Tokyo, Japan, in a broadcasting studio of The Broadcasting Corporation of Japan, did speak into a microphone concerning the loss of ships.
But then it also says that Iva Toguri D’Aquino was a prisoner of war of the Japanese.
Is it just me, or does it seem harsh that a prisoner of war would be convicted of treason? Who thinks that she was operating of her own free will? Are there any other World War II prisoners of war that were convicted of treason by the US government?
La franchise ne consiste pas à dire tout ce que l’on pense, mais à penser tout ce que l’on dit.
H. de Livry
"the destruction of Japanese naval forces during the battle of the Coral Sea. ". My bet is you were actually refering to the Battle of Midway when intel allowed the US to sink four Japenese carriers with the loss of only the Yorktown. The Coral Sea engagement is generally considered to be a tactical draw, and a slight strategic victory for the US.
“…the Marines sitting in foxholes on Iwo Jima had no way to verify what they heard.”
They also had no reason to be there, since Leyte Gulf and the Tokyo Rose broadcast in question took place in October 1944 while marines were not on Iwo Jima until February 1945
The myth that Tokyo Rose seemed to know more about American naval movements than the sailors themselves has been perpetuated in several movies, notably “Run Silent, Run Deep”. In that movie she recieved her intelligence from the garbage jetisoned from American warships!
Weren’t some Vietman POWs given at least dishonorable discharges for signing confessions or other things they were tortured into?
I think (though without much if any evidence) that the view that POWs could be pressures into things and it wasn’t a comment on their strength of will or loyalty is a fairly recent development.
Now hostages are heroes, and the media portrays them as such even when they protect their captors or show other signs of intense emotional distress. But, when I asked my dad, he says he ‘thinks’ POWs were seen as a little weak. (But he admits he doesn’t really remember.)
Argos_ is entirely correct. My internal note to the Editor was apparently overlooked:
And although Ms. Toguri did work “alongside” both British and American prisoners of war, she herself was not a captive except in the figurative sense. That sentence is also in error.