TOKYO AREA PRISONER OF WAR CAMP # 2, KAWASAKI, JAPAN

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Approximately 350 American prisoners of war arrived at
Osaka on the Tottori Maru and transported to Toky Area
POW Camp #2, Kawasaki, Japan. 275 of these were from
Mindanao and were part of the 19th Bomb Grp on that
Island. A photo of the area taken by a B-29 (photo 1) in early
July 1945 shows the location of our camp and the areas where we worked. (1) is the Showa Denko area, a large chemical
manufacturing plant (2) is a dock area where we unloaded
coal boats (3) shows the buildings of our camp---the photo
(2) to the right of this show (3) where our camp buildings
had been---they were destroyed by B-29s during an air
raid on July 25, 1945 and 22 POWs killed.( Photo 3) is the
Nishin Flour Mill camp that we used as our quarters after
the July 25 bombing raid. We were on the dock area
awaiting naval transport to a hospital ship nearby.

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Photos of POWs in
Tokyo Area POW
Camp No. 2 Taken
during October 1943.
Included were the
Japanese personnel
that mistreated us so
savagely during our
time in this camp.

At Showa Denko, we assisted in manufacturing chemcals, including ammonium
nitrate. At the coal docks we shoveled coal into nets to unload the ships, sometime working 24 continuous hours on the job. At the Mitsui company warehouses, we carried all types of material on our shoulder in and out of the warehouses to railroad cars nearby. On many occasions we carried rice back and forth to the box cars. Here, we had the opportunity to pilfer the rice from the sacks into our pant legs which we tied up near the shoe area. This rice assisted us in keeping down our hunger and starvation. During the year 1945, B-29 bombing raids were contiuous in our area, causing much mental anxiety.