The Japanese soldiers’ attitude towards the medical treatment of POWs ranged from indifference to disgust. It was the same attitude the Japanese soldiers held for their own sick and wounded. A visiting Japanese medical officer told one POW that Japanese soldiers did not get sick.[1] Although this sounded like an absurd statement to make, it was true that most Japanese soldiers if not all did not seek medical attention from their doctors. Therefore, if few or no Japanese soldiers sought medical treatment, it would not be unreasonable for the Japanese medical officers to think that their soldiers never got sick. However, sick Japanese soldiers who sought medical treatment from their medical officers received severe beatings after which they may or may not have received treatment.  Colonel Irvin Alexander, an ex-POW concurred, “The doctors (Japanese) were so greatly feared that they were called upon only in cases of last resort.” [2]  Another Ex-POW, Charles Hugh while being transferred to another POW camp in Thailand, observed that the sick and wounded Japanese soldiers were treated with disgust by their fellow countrymen.

 

"Although we did not think that anything would make us feel sorry for the Japanese, the condition of these Japanese casualties appalled us. They were crowded into the trucks, where the heat as we had cause to know, was dreadful. Advanced malaria, battle casualties with their first field dressings still unchanged, officers and men alike, they lay in their own filth with no bedding, no water, no cigarettes and no attention. After all, the poor devils were fighting soldiers, wounded and sick through fighting for their Emperor, yet the back-line scum in charge of us (POWs) not only would do nothing for them, but shouted and kicked them out of the way. [3]"

The amazing part about this story was that a few compassionate POWs gave the injured and sick Japanese soldiers what little food and water they had without being coerced.[4]

Japanese medical officers’ attitudes, with few exceptions, showed little regard for human life. They often killed their wounded and sick who had become a burden on the army. Yuki Tanaka, a Japanese historian cited a report issued by the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section, Southwest Pacific Area Infringement of the Laws of War and Ethics (January 1945) as saying, “Many incapacitated soldiers, with a good chance of recovery, have been disposed of on the grounds that they are useless to the Emperor. A-17 Division Order commands medical officers to dispose of any sick and wounded who become a liability.”[5]  These practices greatly deterred Japanese soldiers from seeking medical attention through their facilities. Instead, they often approached POW doctors for treatment even though this was explicitly forbidden. The POW doctors used the opportunity for their own advantage. In exchange for treatment, the doctors received extra food and medical supplies for their hospital.  With the deal, came a dilemma. Drugs were in short supply. To give the Japanese guards medicine would take away from the sick POWs. The solution was to manufacture placebo pills to sell to the Japanese. [6] It, in affect, was a way to get back at the Japanese and in turn uplifted the morale of those POWs involved and all those POWs who knew about the con. 

 

Japanese soldiers routinely beat POWs which naturally affected the POWs’ attitude by lowering their morale and self esteem. It was no consolation to the prisoners that beatings were standard discipline in the Japanese military.  According to the Japanese historian, Yuki Tanaka, “Punishment of POWs was based on the same regulations as applied to Japanese soldiers under military law.”[7] Japanese officers felt it their duty to beat their own men. They truly believed it built character and reinforced the power structure of the military. [8] Japanese officers reprimanded their men by slapping them across the face. The soldier accepted the slap with a bow and a sincere thank you.[9] Likewise, POWs quickly learned how to take a beating to avoid prolonging the agony by keeping an impassive stare and avoiding eye contact.[10] POWs learned not to scream because doing so resulted in being hit much harder. [11] Most importantly, POWs learned not to duck or otherwise dodge a blow because this too resulted in a more severe and prolonged beating.[12]  They, also, learned to roll with the punches.[13] It was not so easy to avoid a beating all together. Ex-POW Forrest Knox explained, “We all learned to do a good job of reading minds, facial expressions and actions … our little joke was, we went to the Far East University and majored in psychology. If you got beaten, you flunked.” [14]

The beatings of POWs by Japanese soldiers became attitude adjustments. POWs adjusted their attitude to reflect the expectations of their Japanese captors in order to survive. The expectations of the Japanese captors were dictated by the power structure of the Japanese military which worked in a hierarchy. This power structure was reinforced by the beatings dealt out by Japanese of superior military rank. One ex-POW, who often witnessed the proceedings recalled, “If for any reason the commandant lost his temper, the results were like a stone thrown in a pond. The commandant slapped the sergeant. The sergeant slap the corporal …”[15] This would continue down the ranks until they would reach the bottom of the line which was the POW. To the Japanese, POWs were the lowest form of life on earth. Japanese soldiers thought surrender to be a disgrace. If capture became imminent, the Japanese soldier often committed suicide.[16] This ideology was reflected in the way the Japanese treated the POWs. In the Japanese mind, POWs had disgraced their uniform and country. Therefore, the POW did not deserve to live.[17] The attitude of the Japanese soldier towards the POW can be summed up in the first few lines of the famous speech by Colonel Nagatomo, commanding officer over the Burma Railroad project, delivered to new arriving POWs.

""You are only a few remaining skeletons of those who tried to defeat Japan … You are pitiful victims. You have no fighting power left … but the Imperial thoughts are inestimable and the Imperial favors are infinite that your lives have been spared for a great work … and you should weep with gratitude …. We will complete it (Burma railroad) in one year even if we must do it over the white man’s body. [18]

The speech evoked humiliation, hopelessness and despair to all those who heard it.