Marine POWs after their liberation from Fukuoka 3-B in Japan. Cpl. Kirkpatrick is in the next to last row in barracks cover (second from right, partially obscured by the man to his front).
Photo, taken at the gate to Fukuoka 3-B, is of a group of Marines, and apparently some civilians, which was hiding weapons in the last months of the war. They had heard they were all going to be killed when the Americans landed in Japan. The weapons were to defend the POWs.
When the Japanese surrendered this group took charge of security for the camp. The clean uniforms came from B-29 air drops and uniforms they had found in a storage room where the Japanese had put them when they took them away from the prisoners when they arrived in November 1942.
Some of the men look healthy. The photo was taken just before they left in mid-September. By that time they had been eating all they could eat from the B-29 food drops for three to four weeks. Documented cases show they gained as much as 1 to 2 pounds a day. It was not healthy weight but it made them look that way.
This information came from conversations with Joel Jones and James King. Joel said he does not like this picture. He said they were asked to smile and they could not - it had been too long.
