Tokashiki Shima Surrender Document (file attached)

[Rod G]

I acquired this document over twenty years ago from one of the large Militaria auction houses. It is a period mimeographed adjutants copy of the original. I've only recently started to investigate it and this is what I have on it so far.

Tokashiki Shima is the largest island in the Kerama Retto off Okinawa. The Japanese force occupying the island at the time of the invasion was the 3rd Sea Raiding Regiment (Akatsuki Regt no. 16779) Commanded by Yo****sugu Akamatsu (variously Captain, Major or Colonel depending on the source). There was a post war court case over his part in the 400 or so civilian suicides that took place on Tokashiki at the time of the American landings.

The 24th Infantry who accepted the Japanese surrender on Tokashiki had, a few weeks earlier, accepted the surrender of Japanese forces on Aka Shima, which was the first formal surrender of an Imperial Army garrison in World War 2.

The 24th Infantry was organized in 1869 as an African American Regiment (the men known as Buffalo Soldiers) and remained so until desegregation after the second world war.

There is a small strip with no further material information missing from the bottom of the image. I would very much appreciate any help with the translation of the written Japanese on this document. Thanks so much in advance!

[Mike39]

What a fantastic historical document to have. I'm sure one of the experts here will help with translation although it might take some time.

I would advise you to get this document framed and placed between ( both sides ) UV protected glass. That way you can view both sides of the document without touching it & potentially harming it as well as saving it from UV damage.

Thanks for showing
Mike

[GHP]

The hand-written Japanese notes are by a non-native Japanese writer. Probably one of the interpreter/translators trained at the Army's Military Intelligence Service School. {Before it was established at Presidio of Monterey}

I met a few times Dr. Benjamin Hazard who was trained in Japanese in the 1940s at the first Defense Language School at Camp Savage, MN. He was fluent in written and spoken Japanese (later Chinese and Korean), and was a professor at San Jose State University in his after-army years. So, I have no doubt these notes could have been done by a "haku-jin".

--Guy

[Nick Komiya]

There is no need to translate the Japanese, as it is only a translation of what is written above in English for the benefit of the surrendering Japanese, who naturally could not read English. As Guy said, it is rather bad and incorrect Japanese written by an American. Some of the characters are so badly written that they are unrecognizable. Without the English, I would still be battling to read the Japanese. I'm sure that the Japanese officer reading this scowlled at the very first word, which is a misspelling of "Emperor". It should have been 天皇陛下, but the last Kanji is missing.

[Rod G]

I'm grateful to you guys for the excellent replies!

Nick, thank you for clearing up the "Japanese" content, as you say no translation necessary. It's interesting to discover that someone's ignorance has becomes part of the historical record.

Guy, that was a wonderfully astute observation. You suddenly made everything clear after years of wondering what I was missing. Thanks so much for the great answer!

Mike, the UV glass is an excellent idea. When I got the document it was framed in an archival meat grinder. I'd removed it and kept it stored away from light for almost its entire time with me. Since discovering the African American connection (my web searches didn't reveal the 24th Regt. was a Black unit until I knew that's what I was looking for) I feel it has even greater value.

Rod

[Nick Komiya]

If you want to read Major Akamatsu's own account of events leading up to his surrender, here is his article from 1971 in which he insists that he did not give any order that led to the mass suicides of the civilian population of that island, which he was long accused of. A native of the island had also admitted after the war that there was no such army order. This article by Akamatsu was in response to the allegations of him being a mass murderer raised by the islanders on the occasion of his visit in 1970 to honor the war dead. Of course it is in Japanese, unfortunately, but you might get the gist by using an auto translator. http://www.google.de/imgres?imgurl=h...ed=0CGYQrQMwBQ

In the article, he explains that in '71 he had a daughter in university, who had heard of the atrocities attributed to her father and she had asked him "Dad you were a soldier. Was it not your duty to protect those people?" He says he could not bear the idea of his own daughter mistaking him as the cold-blooded killer of Tokashiki and he was shocked by the riot that his visit initiated, which caused him to give his detailed account.

[Rod G]

Thanks so much for the link and attention to my post Nick. I will run the article through Google translator as you suggest, it would be great to know more of the story. Wonderful to have so many questions answered so fast. I hope the inormation here is of some benefit to the research of others.

[Ryukyutunnelrat]

Rod, Excellent post and information. Nick thanks for the link...very interesting. I have had the chance to visit the island many times living on Okinawa. Thanks for the education

David.