Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

As a relatively new member I hope this topic is not taboo, if so I can delete it if inappropriate.

As with most war crimes and atrocities committed by the Nazis, Imperial Japan or "others" Chichi-Jima is not a very pretty picture and a horrendous story of unbridled brutality that was the Japanese military and perhaps their civilian population as a whole from the 1930s to late-1945. Another self adjudicated "superior" race determined to impose their will on neighboring countries and territories by armed force.

Last week I was contacted by my friend Don Farrell, resident Tinian Island Historian. Don had been contacted by another friend about this topic which was new to Don and me too initially. The initial introduction from Don's friend was from this source

https://www.factinate.com/things/42-...sting-facts/4/ specifically 27. Cannibalized airmen but extremely lacking in detail.

A simple Google search for Chi Chi Jima yields a plethora of results including President H W Bush narrowly escaping being on the Chichi-Jima menu. Some of those initial search results here

http://www.rockymountainwingcaf.org/...=7~7~8~8~10~10

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017...se-pow-guards/

Even Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chichijima_incident with a couple of documents.

Searching a little deeper this page was found which named some of the victims

https://blog.togetherweserved.com/20...jima-incident/

It was only later found that Pacific Wrecks had nearly the same aircrew "menu" casualties but in better chronological order here

https://www.pacificwrecks.com/provin...-chi-jima.html

However initially to aid Don I started with the "together we served" airman list later augmented with some Pacific Wrecks content. So off down this Chi Chi Jima trail we go where my goal is to remember and honor these airman who gave their last full measure under most brutal conditions before and after death.

Navy Aviation Radioman Jimmy Dye, from Mount Ephraim, New Jersey; ARM3c James Wesley Dye, Jr., crew of TBM-3 Avenger Bu No. 22904 of VT-82, from USS Bennington (CV-20) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9207275 & http://www.dvrbs.com/Monuments/mte/M...esleyDyeJr.htm

Navy Pilot Floyd Hall from Sedalia, Missouri; Ensign Floyd Ewing Hall, flying TBM-3 Avenger Bu No. 23637 of VT-12, from USS Randolph (CV-15) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...oyd-ewing-hall “Sorties Into Hell: The Hidden War on Chichi Jima” by Chester G. Hearn; Ens. Hall excerpt: https://books.google.com/books?id=2W...page&q&f=false

Navy Aviation Radioman Marve Mershon from Los Angeles, California; ARM3c Marvelle "Marvie" William Mershon, crew of TBM-3, Avenger Bu No. 23637 of VT-12, from USS Randolph (CV-15) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9206627

Marine Pilot Warren Earl Vaughn from Childress, Texas; 2nd Lt Warren Earl Vaughn, USMC S/N 0-029620, flying F4U-1D Corsair Bu No. 82356 of VMF-123, from USS Bennington (CV-20) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...en-earl-vaughn

Navy Aviation Radioman Dick Woellhof from Clay Center, Kansas; ARM2c Lloyd Richard “Dick” Woellhof, USNR S/N 6286511, crew of SB2C-1 Helldiver Bu No. 01169 of VB-1 from USS Yorktown (CV-10) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/9204905

Aviation Gunners Grady York from Jacksonville, Florida; AOM3c Grady Alvah York, Jr., USN S/N 5568232, crew of TBM-3 Avenger Bu No. 22904 of VT-82 from USS Bennington CV-20 https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...ady-alvah-york

Navy Aviation Gunner Glenn Frazier from Athol, Kansas; AOM2c Glenn Chester Frazier, Jr. crew of TBM-3 Avenger Bu No. 23637 of VT-12, from USS Randolph (CV-15) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...lenn-c-frazier - there are some errors here; have requested edits by F-A-G page contributor.

Navy Pilot Warren Hindenlang of Foxboro, Massachusetts. [This one is a little more different to track] Ensign Warren A “Hindy” Hindenlang USN S/N 306200. It appears he was the co-pilot aboard a US Navy Liberator (PB4Y-1) downed at Chichi Jima 5 August 1944 operating with Patrol Bombing Squadron (VPB-109) [unknown what happened to the rest of this crew, likely 9 other crew members]; during this period (apparently?) operating from Isley Field, Saipan; https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...ren-hindenlang , http://www.naval-history.net/WW2USca...NBPbyNameH.htm & https://foxboroughmemorialsquares.wo...lang-warren-a/

The Pacific Wrecks Chi Chi Jima registry is slightly different; for those who did not visit the link provided earlier but worth recording again here:

ARM2c Lloyd Richard Woellhof, gunner SB2C 01169 POW 7-4-44, executed 8-7-44
Unknown, radioman POW 7-4-44, executed 8-7-44
AOM3c Grady Alvan York, gunner TBM Avenger 22904 POW 2-18-45, executed 2-23-45
ARM3c James Wesley Dye, Jr., radio TBM Avenger 22904 POW 2-18-45, executed 2-25-45
AOM2c Glenn J. Frazier, Jr. gunner TBM 23637 POW 2-18-45, executed 2-18-45
ARM3c Marvelle "Marvie" William Mershon radio TBM 23637 POW 2-18-45, executed 2-22-45
Ensign Floyd Ewing Hall, pilot TBM 23637 POW 2-18-45, executed 3-9-45
2nd Lt Warren Earl Vaughn, pilot F4U 82356 POW 2-23-45, executed 3-15-45

The War Crimes trial record of Yoshio Tachibana et al., 1946 (154578) starts here on fold3 for those with access https://www.fold3.com/image/1/27437847 821 pages (many in Japanese) if one has the stomach to read them all. The consumption of Ensign Hall, and ARM3c Mershon is detailed “vividly” early on Page 6 (attached).

I am not certain there is a proper epitaph for this type of war atrocities accounting beyond "Know the Past....Shape the Future" in hopes of prevention in generations to come, following the adage "history does not repeat itself but it often rhymes".

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Hintz and Woellhof were the only crew of SB2c 01169. The Helldiver had a crew of 2, the Avenger geneally 3.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Thank you, Frank.

Concur Ensign Owen M. Hintz, O-290489, USNR was the pilot and his enlisted RO/Gunner was Woellhof

Sources (for those interested in such mundane detail)

https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/sb2c/01169.html

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...-marsten-hintz

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...-marsten-hintz

Owen M Hintz may have received a posthumous promotion to Lt (jg).

Enjoy and Cheers

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Scott, the crew associated with Warren Hindenlang from VBP-109 can be found starting on this page and continuing on the next:

https://www.fold3.com/image/302040440

Hindenlang was the copilot and Elmer H Kasperson was the pilot. There was a crew of 11. All are still missing and listed in Honolulu except for Frye who is buried in Honolulu.
For some reason Frye does not come up on the abmc website, but is on findagrave here:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/...ard-dewey-frye

The plane was lost the night of August 4/5 1944.

There is a book by Norman M Miller and and Hugh B Cave called "I took the Sky Road". Miller was the commanding officer of VBP-109. The crew is mentioned in the appendix but unfortunately the Google preview does not show the pages when the incident occurred. Click the blue "Page 212" to see the entire crew list on this link:

https://books.google.com/books?id=vG...q=frye&f=false

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

According to US Navy records Hintz was flying SB2C-1C BuNo 18547. BuNo 01169 was another VB-1 loss that same day (Wright/Pryor).

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Thank you, Rolland.

The USN war diaries are still new territory for me on fold3, your aid is much appreciated. It is sad however that this content is sorely lacking compared to the detail that can be found in "some" AAF MACRs offering much more specific crew and event content.

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Thank you, George.

Might you offer a specific source reference for this content beyond "Navy Records"

Hmmm, is this a contrary record here

https://books.google.com/books?id=s1...0Hintz&f=false

Or is this reference in error?

Respectfully,

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

VB-1 lost 3 SB2C-1c Helldivers in the morning mission at Chi Chi Jima. The losses are covered in VB-1 ACA-1 report #23 which does not give the aircraft BuNos. Crew losses were Hintz/Woellhof, Wright/Pryor, and Drysdale/Dalton. Two sources give further information, including BuNos. In Record Group 24, Bureau of Naval Personnel (I do not know the Entry Number), in Box 45 and 46 are four folders of losses by name, mostly covering 1944-45, but incomplete for that period. In addition, in box 46 there are four folders of aircraft losses by aircraft type and date. Both of these RG 24 sources give the BuNos, respectively 01169, 18547, and 18548 (to match the above names). Finally, Yorktown's Deck Log for July 4, 1944 lists these losses with BuNos, which agrees with the above.

Campbell's three World War 2 loss books are basically a copy of the aircraft losses in Box 46 (Naval Aircraft Losses Outside the Zone of the Interior). No additional research in the losses was done for the books, so errors in the Box 46 material are duplicated in Campbell's books.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

An error rate sufficiently high to make the data a source of absolute last resort in my opinion.

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

My source for the statement that Hintz was flying 18547 is a loss list obtained form the National Archives Record Group 24. Wright was in 01169 and Drysdale in 18548.

I have lists for most USN WWII types and have found them to be generally accurate, when used in conjunction with other sources such as diaries and action reports. However, they appear to be less trustworthy for the Solomons campaign era.

Going back to the main topic, a good book on the subject is James Bradley's FLYBOYS.

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Thank you gentlemen for all your aid and responses.

George, I also ran across the "Flyboys: A True Story of Courage" by James Bradley source in searches and referenced on some of the F-A-G memorial pages. I have already orderer a copy, very reasonably price here

https://www.amazon.com/Flyboys-Story.../dp/0316105848

Good review by Pacific Wrecks
https://www.pacificwrecks.com/reviews/flyboys.html

It will be interesting to see if Bradley details the aircraft involved as well as the crews. I have read about other incidents of Japanese cannibalism however those were of a sustenance nature at by-passed islands. This Chi Chi Jima cannibalism is my first exposure to this ritualistic form with Japanese officers eating parts of their enemy captives.

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Frank,

Hope you would help me understand this a little better. Can you share a document related to RG 24 sources giving the BuNos, respectively 01169, 18547, and 18548. And, as important the Yorktown's Deck Log.

Here is where some of my confusion (ignorance) begins (on this topic). The Yorktown war diary for action on 4 July 1944 starts here on fold3, 3 pages attached.

https://www.fold3.com/image/279786711

There must be some error here by me or in this record as I do not see Bombing Squadron One (VB-1) even represented here coming from the deck of Yorktown during this action. Perhaps even worse this record shows three SB2C lost (FTR) offering abbreviated BuNos #53, #48, and #64; where "maybe" #48 correlates to 18548

Was able to find an image of Ensign Owen M Hintz in the NAS Corpus Christi, TX cruise book "The Slipstream" 3 June 1943, appears to be a graduate of Battalion 3, likely trained at Cuddihy, Field. Back row 8th from the left. Always good to put faces with these MIA names when possible.

https://www.fold3.com/image/30318432...en%20M%20Hintz

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Scott,
PM me your email address, and I will send some pages from NARA II. I have no way to post them, and no time to find out how to post them.

48, 53, and 64 are unrelated to the BuNos. They are the aircraft squadron numbers, usually assigned permanently to the aircraft for its time with the squadron. Number might change when the aircraft moved to a different squadron.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

A war diary and a deck log are not the same thing. A war diary is a generalized description of events and movements, some maddeningly vague, others in excruciating detail as I'm sure you've discovered at Fold3. A deck log, which btw are not found in Fold3 to my knowledge, is usually a watch by watch accounting of shipboard activity signed off by the OOW at the end of each watch. In the carrier world there is a flight deck log which amongst other things is a detail of launches and recoveries. A really well maintained flight deck long includes bunos.

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

To expand on what Rich has said. A deck log has two kinds of pages. Each day has one "columnar sheet", which has hourly data on the ship: average revolutions of the screws, distance travelled (by revs and by log), course, wind direction and force, barometric pressure, air temperature wet and dry bulb, water temperature at induction, weather code, clouds, visibility, ship's position (at 0800, 1200 and 2000; sometimes only 1200), fuel and water status. A lot of detail. Then several pages, initially blank, filled in by the Officers of the Deck, for each watch. These pages have two types of entries: Administrative matters, and Operational matters. Administrative matters are things like people leaving or going aboard ship, court martials (few details) and captain's mast with their results, injuries and deaths aboard ship. Operational matters are ship movements (change of course and speed) for each occurrence, drills and exercises, gun firings, aircraft launchings and landings (but usually only the number of aircraft, and times), damage, aircraft losses at the boat and sometimes in combat.

A lot of detail. Which is why the pages are about 12 by 15 inches. The deck logs for the period 1941 to 1950 are in over 10,000 boxes. Enterprise's deck log is in 11 boxes. I doubt that the deck logs will end up on Fold3, although NARA has started putting some of them online. War Diaries and submarine patrol reports are typically in Fold3.

A War Diary is an extract (ie, not all) of the operational matters in the deck log.

In addition to the above, each ship could prepare an Action Report covering a period of time in combat. This has combat details beyond those found in a deck log. There are over 1700 boxes of Action Reports.

Enjoy!

Frank.

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Thank you, Rich.
Frank has been tutoring me off forum related to CV operations and documents from this Chichi Jima attack related to Yorktown (CV-10) on 4 July 1944. I believe it is okay to share, no prohibition was noted. Understand I've cropped these pages down to just the document (likely removing document provenance) and greatly reduced them in size for posting here.

Frankly, I'm an AAF student originally. It is painfully obvious to me my USN aviation understanding has a long road ahead. To be perfectly candid my post 18 confusion related to the Yorktown War Diary I mistook the number of aircraft by type being launched i.e. Flight #2. 15 VF, 8 VT, 15 VB with "Group" identifiers such as VF-15, VT-8; feeling pretty stupid presently. Time to withdraw and study harder in silence.

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Frank described the log much better than I did or could.

Not to worry about being AAF centric. Start talking about the AAF and my eyes start to glaze over. Mention Europe and my usual response is "there was a war in Europe?"

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Rich,
Thanks for the pass on me being AAF centric. It gets worse, my primary focus is the Manhattan Project (MP) weapon(s) development and delivery. Searching this forum it appears this material is not a very popular topic without digressing toward the "use" subject which is polarizing to many. Likely my contribution to this forum on that topic will be limited. Might post a test thread data / history only to judge acceptability or if it leads to the same dark alley, We'll see.

Presently am enjoying this "new" to me Navy experience related to CV with fleet and air operations; old dog new bone, life is good! The USN played a far more significant role in the MP than normally offer to the public it seems, from Los Alamos weapons design/development to Naval Construction Battalion building the operational base at Tinian. All too often overlooked because the AAF dropped the bombs.

All way off topic to this thread.

This Chichi Jima thread appears to be drawing to a close. Thanks again to all those who contributed. This was an unknown topic to me until contacted by Don Farrell on 28 Dec 2017. Interesting how some of these topics are hiding in plain sight until someone brings them up to the top of the search queue.

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Not mention Deke Parsons and, as he was forever known in US naval aviation circles, "Nagasaki Fred" Ashworth, the "weaponeers" upon whom so much depended.

For CV ops, you may wish to take a look at Clark Reynolds' The Fast Carriers as a starting point. Can't say I always agree with him and sometimes he hauls too close to the S E Morison party line, not to mention an outrageous error or two, but for the most part a reasonable treatment of the subject. Gives a good background, anyway.

Re: Chi Chi Jima incident, Japanese War Crimes
 

Thank you for the book recommendation.

As to Captain Parsons and Commander Ashworth both were so much more to the project than mission weaponeers, in brief,

https://history.aip.org/phn/manhatta...tml#losalamos2

https://www.atomicheritage.org/profi...m-deak-parsons

https://www.atomicheritage.org/profi...erick-ashworth