User:Ed Poor/My Hitch in Hell (book)

My Hitch in Hell is a book about Japanese war atrocities, told in the first person by a survivor of the Bataan Death March. The author, Lester Tenney, recounts numerous anecdotes of Japanese war crimes which he personally witnessed.

Tenney offers an explanation for the unexpectedly harsh 4-day march:
 * The Japanese expected only 1/4 as many prisoners
 * They thought the Americans would be in good condition
 * "The third assumption by the Japanese was that all details of the evacuation of the prisoners was planned to perfection; that they knew what had to be done and how to do it. In fact, the Japanese soldiers didn't know what they were supposed to do. No sooner had one group of Japanese lined us up and told us to start walking than another group of Japanese told us to wait. All of these orders were issued in Japanese, and if we didn't respond immediately we would be hit, spat upon, shoved or in some cases shot for not obeying orders."

He also accuses the Japanese soldiers of having fun taking revenge on the helpless prisoners:


 * The officer had his Samurai sword out of the scabbard, and he was prancing around the other soldiers, showing off his skills in moving around the kneeling American, swinging his sword in every direction. Up went the blade, then with great artistry, and a loud "Banzai," the officer brought the blade down. The sound of a dull thud, and the American was decapitated. The officer then kicked the body of the American soldier over into the field, and all of the Japanese soldiers laughed merrily and walked away.