Aftermath

What happened to the Japanese who were responsible for the crimes committed?

In total 31 Japanese and Koreans had to answer for there crimes at the Temporary Court Marshal at Medan.

1. Lt. general Moritake Tanabe, commander of the 25th Japanese Army in South East Asia from 1943: on 30-12-1948 sentenced to death.

2. Captain Ryohei Miyazaki, responsible for the camps along the railway: on 30-05-1948 sentenced to death.

3. Lt. Isamu Doi: on 30-05-1948 sentenced to live imprisonment.

4. Lt. Susumu Nagai: on 30-05-1948 sentenced to eight years imprisonment.

5. Dr. Haruyoshi Ishi: four years imprisonment.

6. Dr. Keji Kusomoto: fifteen years imprisonment.

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It was difficult to identify many of the guards as their real name was unknown and only known by their nicknames, or had changed their names after the capitulation. In the end they were identified in a line up by their victims.

1. Kiyoshin Kaneki ("Blood hound"): 7 Years imprisonment.

2. Takemitsu Matsuoka: 9 Years.

3. Gido Satayama (Bertus or Ikan Teri): 5 Years.

4. Fukushoku Ohara (Ohara): 10 Years.

5. Takeo Kawamoto (Dikkie  Bigmans or The prize fighter): 12 Years.

6. Moou Kanemoto (Farmer's son): 6 Years.

7. Kaen Yanankigawa: 5 Years.

8. Mitsuo Uramoto: 7 Years.

9. Togen Iizumi (Baby Face): 20 Years.

10. Taizyntu Kamino (Bawal): 7 Years.

11. Eigyoku Iwamoto (Four eyes): 8 Years.

12. Shoseki Tanaka (in charge of the Koean guards): 8 Years.

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14. No punishment is known by the author for the following:

15. Nishimura (Korean Commandant).

16. Kobiashi (King Kong).

17. Fuji (Flowerpot or Napoleon).

18. Takajama ("Cross Eye" Korean guard camp 8.

19. Shimamoto (Korean guard camp 8).

20. Tosaikawa (Korean guard camp 8). 

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22. On 07-08-1948 the following Staff officers were sentenced:

23. Masaji Sukigara: Life imprisonment.

24. Tori Kasamatsu: 8 Years.

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26. A group of semi-military guards were sentenced on 01-08-1948:

27. Kejiu Kaneda: 5 Years.

28. Masao Kanemoto: 12 Years.

29. Eikichi Yoshimoto: 10 Years.

30. Nagao Shimamoto: 6 Years.

31. Zaimei Okamura: 8 Years.

32. Yasukumi Wada: 7 Years.

33. Kunchin Matsui: 8 Years.

34. Kessei Yanagawa: 14 Years.

35. Sumihisa Kaneyama: 5 Years.

36. Yukio Matsuyama: 12 Years.

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Lt. Tohji Miura, commandant of the Atjeh group escaped punishment and returned to Japan on 05-05-1946 from the island Rempang near Singapore. He died in 1975 in Kyoto.

The guard nicknamed "Pig Head", who was hated very much because of his cruelty was mauled by a tiger while he was on duty along the railway and died.

It is the question how many finished their sentence, but both death sentences were executed the last one on 11-10-1919.

How many lost their lives?

From the 6593 prisoners, 176 died in the sinking of the Van Waerwijck (26-06-1944) and 1620 from the Junyo Maru (18-09-1944).  A total of 1796 men.

During the building of the railway 698 POWs died because of sickness, mistreatment or accidents. So a total of 2494 or 37.79% of the 6593 from the POWs shipped to Pakan Baroe lost their lives. 

The exact amount of Romushas will never be known, but 80.000 is estimated.

The names of the POWs who lost their lives have survived, but 41 graves of POWs have never been found. In 1949 the remains from a couple of hundred identified graves were relocated on Java, for instance in the National Cemetery on Ancol near Jakarta.

And the survivors? 

They eventually returned to their homes and families. In most cases their physical scars slowly healed, they resumed their lives as well as they could. What about their mental scars? The problem here was, that mental scars can`t be seen and men thought, that people would soon recover from these horrific experiences. However this proved not to be the case. Many ex-pows. just wanted to forget but would it really be possible to forget these things? Many decided to block it out of their minds by not talking about 
their experiences, because they were afraid, that by talking, they would have had to face their demons again. For many this was an impossibility. With the right counselling this might have been possible but counselling just wasn't heard of then and one didn't wished to be labelled neurotic.
In many cases a complete personality change took place, which caused relationships to break down.

It took my own father more than 10 years to smile again. I actually never heard him laugh. At times he could be very moody and unreasonably angry. Three of his children were born before World War II and we ourselves were victims of the Japanese and were interned as Civilian Prisoners of War. The war for us did not finish in 1945, because we than became victims of the "Aftermath". 

In some cases ex-pows had meetings with their Japanese guards, long after the war and some of their mental anguish was healed in that way. Often this was only possible if one possessed a strong faith.
Others were able to write about their events, or even make sketches about their experiences as pows. Were they the brave ones than, were they more courageous?

"WHO ARE WE TO JUDGE THAT!"