A downed B-29 crew member being taken by Japanese troops in Nigata, Japan (July 20, 1945)

A downed B-29 crew member being taken by Japanese troops in Nigata, Japan (July 20, 1945)

Japanese soldiers rescue a B-29 crew.

Japanese Troops rescue a U.S. B-29 crew member who was being lynched by Japanese civilians.

Many downed air crew members in captivity at the time of the Japanese surrender were actually executed by their guards in the confusion because of the guards' anger over having to feed and care for the enemy.

Thousands of Allied prisoners were killed throughout the war, especially towards the end, as they were being put (packed) into transport ships that were then attacked by US airplanes and submarines.

Propaganda is insane. The Japanese

government committed unspeakable

atrocities and raped like half of China and the Pacific Islands, but they go ballistic when given a small taste of their own medicine

As a B-29 bomber, he was probably tortured to death. Bomber crewmen were absolutely despised by the

population of the Axis countries, for obvious reasons.

He most likely didn't survive. The Japanese were already brutal towards normal POWS, but towards American pilots who bomnbed their home country and killed a ton of their friends and family? They would either beaten to death if found by the angry mob that would descend on the crash site or captured by the Kempeitei/ Japanese Military Police and tortured in the worst ways possible before exec

Many American pilots were eaten by the Japanese, as were Australian and Indian soldiers, Papuan and Filipino civilians.

When the Americans were 'island hopping' their way through the South-Pacific and just cut off the

supply lines of many Japanese held islands rather than trying to take them by force. Lots of soldiers stuck there without food or water resorted to extremes.

As I understand it...fighter pilots were rarely executed by the Japanese soldiers in the homeland. This was because fighter pilots did not usually target civilians and were considered members of an honourable profession. Which was one of the primary reasons men like Pappy Boyington. (of Black Sheep sqdn fame) survived the war after being shot down and becoming a pow.

B-29 crewm, n on the other ha, d were hated by the Japanese because they often bombed civilian targets. B-29 crews were almost always routinely executed as war crimminals whenever they were forced to bail out over Japan. I often wondered if these B-29 crewmen knew what was in store for them if they were captured? Or did 9th AF Commanders, such as Curtis LeMay, withhold this information. Just as well  suppose. Many crewmen may have refused to fly if they

had known a horrific death (usually torture and beheading) awaited them if captured. I have also wondered how many B-29 crewmen bailed out of their dying bombers over Japan vs. how many of these same crewmen were repatriated at war's end. Seems odd | have never seen these numbers anywhere.

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