The Daily Alaska Empire

2 Japanese Leaders On Okinawa Commit Honorable Suicide
By Al Dopking and Robert Geiger

(AP War Correspondents)

TENTH ARMY HEADQUARTERS, OKINAWA, June 27.—The bodies of the Japanese Commanding General on Okinawa and his Chief of Staff, who had slit their stomachs in hara kari ceremonies, have been found in shallow rock graves at the southeastern tip of the American-won island.

Col. Cecil W. Nist, of Salem, Ore., 24th Army Corps Staff officer, said the bodies, in full field uniforms with medals and insignia, have been identified positively as those of Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima, Commander of the 32nd Japanese Army, and Lt. Gen. Isamu Cho, his Chief of Staff.

The hara kari ceremony for Ushijima and Cho was held at the entrance to a huge headquarters cave on Hill 89 while 10th Army soldiers were in foxholes 100 yards away. The 200-foot hill is between Mabuni Town and the ocean.

The bodies were found at the base of a cliff 75 yards from the cave entrance, which opened onto a narrow ledge six feet wide and 20 feet long.

Their stomachs had been slit crosswise and their heads virtually severed.

Buried with Cho was a heavy comforter and white silk mattress cover. On it he had written his own epitaph:

"Twenty-second day, Sixth month, 20th year of Showa Era. I depart without regret, fear, shame or obligation. Army Chief of Staff Cho Isamu. Age of departure 51 years."

Cho's epitaph indicated he and Ushijima fulfilled the Samurai code on June 22—four days after Lt. Gen. Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., commanding the U. S. 10th Army, was killed by an enemy artillery shell.

Several days before, Ushijima had rejected Buckner's appeal to accept honorable surrender. By the thousands, however, other Japanese officers and men have been giving up.

The story of the hara kari cere-

(Continued on Page Five)
NOTICE!

Not responsible for any debts

contracted only personally by our-

selves.

MR. & MRS. CHAS JOHNSON,

Tenakee, Alaska