MILESTONES: August 31, birthdays for Larry Fitzgerald, Chris Tucker, Joe Budden
ON THIS DAY IN 1945, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “Adm. Badger’s Flagship, Yokosuka, Aug. 31 (U.P.) — Fifty percent of the 1,500 Allied war prisoners already rescued from camps in the Tokyo area were treated so brutally by the Japanese that they need hospital care, Cmdr. Harold E. Stassen revealed today. Most prisoners said they were beaten regularly by Japanese seeking information. Some showed torture scars on their hands, apparently the result of thumb screws or similar devices. Stassen, former governor of Minnesota and a member of Adm. William F. Halsey’s staff, said there were many reports of prisoners dying from beatings and lack of care. No instances of deliberate executions yet have been reported, however, he said.”
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