Hiroshima students publish book on mass escape by Japanese soldiers from World War II prison camp in Australia
Aug. 25, 2014
by Hidetoshi Arioka, Staff Writer
Seventy years after the tragedy of the Cowra Breakout, students at the Hiroshima University of Economics (HUE) have published a book which contains interviews with Cowra survivors. Many lives were lost during this mass escape of Japanese soldiers from a prison camp in Cowra, Australia, during World War II.
The title of the A5-size book is Students Listen to Accounts of Japanese Soldiers’ Escape from Cowra Prison Camp. The 158-page book was compiled by 120 students enrolled in a course taught by Professor Sadao Okamoto in HUE’s department of economics between the 2001 academic year and now. Professor Okamoto specializes in religious studies.
Students in the course compiled a collection of accounts in 2004 after conducting interviews with 10 survivors and family members of the dead. The accounts convey the survivors’ inner conflict over living as prisoners of war and their feelings toward fellow soldiers who were shot to death or committed suicide.
The newly published book contains the survivors’ accounts along with photos and maps so that the facts can be clearly grasped. In addition, the book contains speeches made by Seiichiro Tachibana, 93, a survivor of the incident, and Masayoshi Yamada, former leader of the Australia Cowra Association. Mr. Yamada died this past March at the age of 94.
Hirokazu Miura, 22, a senior at HUE, helped edit the book. He said, “The soldiers involved in the escape were determined to protect Japan and keep the country safe. We should maintain a record of this so people will understand what happened.”
Professor Okamoto, who has been studying the history of war between Japan and Australia, first thought of compiling a book about the Cowra Breakout when he met Shiro Asada, former leader of the association, in 2000. (Mr. Asada died in 2002 at 82.)
Professor Okamoto, Mr. Miura, and seven other students attended a memorial ceremony held by the association in Hiroshima earlier this month. They told Keiko Asada, 63, the daughter of Shiro Asada, that the book was completed. Ms. Asada expressed her appreciation and said, “It is significant that young people have published a book about this.”
The book, priced at 1,296 yen, is sold at major bookstores in Hiroshima.
Keywords
The Cowra Breakout
The Cowra Breakout, a mass escape by Japanese soldiers from a prison camp located in Cowra, Australia, occurred on August 5, 1944. About 1,100 Japanese soldiers, armed with table knives and baseball bats, fled from the prison camp. In all, 231 Japanese soldiers died in machine-gun fire or by suicide. Four Australian soldiers were also killed in the incident.
(Originally published on August 18, 2014)
Seventy years after the tragedy of the Cowra Breakout, students at the Hiroshima University of Economics (HUE) have published a book which contains interviews with Cowra survivors. Many lives were lost during this mass escape of Japanese soldiers from a prison camp in Cowra, Australia, during World War II.
The title of the A5-size book is Students Listen to Accounts of Japanese Soldiers’ Escape from Cowra Prison Camp. The 158-page book was compiled by 120 students enrolled in a course taught by Professor Sadao Okamoto in HUE’s department of economics between the 2001 academic year and now. Professor Okamoto specializes in religious studies.
Students in the course compiled a collection of accounts in 2004 after conducting interviews with 10 survivors and family members of the dead. The accounts convey the survivors’ inner conflict over living as prisoners of war and their feelings toward fellow soldiers who were shot to death or committed suicide.
The newly published book contains the survivors’ accounts along with photos and maps so that the facts can be clearly grasped. In addition, the book contains speeches made by Seiichiro Tachibana, 93, a survivor of the incident, and Masayoshi Yamada, former leader of the Australia Cowra Association. Mr. Yamada died this past March at the age of 94.
Hirokazu Miura, 22, a senior at HUE, helped edit the book. He said, “The soldiers involved in the escape were determined to protect Japan and keep the country safe. We should maintain a record of this so people will understand what happened.”
Professor Okamoto, who has been studying the history of war between Japan and Australia, first thought of compiling a book about the Cowra Breakout when he met Shiro Asada, former leader of the association, in 2000. (Mr. Asada died in 2002 at 82.)
Professor Okamoto, Mr. Miura, and seven other students attended a memorial ceremony held by the association in Hiroshima earlier this month. They told Keiko Asada, 63, the daughter of Shiro Asada, that the book was completed. Ms. Asada expressed her appreciation and said, “It is significant that young people have published a book about this.”
The book, priced at 1,296 yen, is sold at major bookstores in Hiroshima.
Keywords
The Cowra Breakout
The Cowra Breakout, a mass escape by Japanese soldiers from a prison camp located in Cowra, Australia, occurred on August 5, 1944. About 1,100 Japanese soldiers, armed with table knives and baseball bats, fled from the prison camp. In all, 231 Japanese soldiers died in machine-gun fire or by suicide. Four Australian soldiers were also killed in the incident.
(Originally published on August 18, 2014)
