Page:Military Occupation and Military Relations of the Allied Forces, Dossier 1, November 1945.pdf/17

 GENERAL HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES ARMY FORCES, PACIFIC PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE

12 Sept 1945

Jorge B. Vargas, former puppet ambassador from the Phillippines [sic] to Japan, and his two sons, Edwardo R. and Gregario M., were taking into custody at 0500 today and taken to the customs building in Yokohama for interrogation.

Mark L. Streeter, American civilian captured at Wake Island who took part in Japanese propaganda broadcasts, was taken off the hospital ship Marigold at 0900 by 11th Corps Provost Marshal.

Hienrich [sic] Stahmer, German ambassador to Japan, was placed in protective custody in Fujiya Hotel at Miyarioshita by 27th Division troops.

The Vargas and Streeter have been placed in the custody of the 11th Corps Provost Marshal in one wing of the Yokohama Jail four miles south of Yokohama.

First troops of the 43d Inf. Division (New England) will land 13 Sept. Maj. Gen. Leonard Wing, Commanding General will come ashore at main dock at Yokohama in afternoon of 13th. Brig. Gen. Cleland, Assistant Division Commander is in Yokohama now near the 11th Corps Command Post and will make available any required information. He also will arrange for meeting of correspondents with General Wing if desired.

Ex-Prime Minister Hideki Tojo's condition this afternoon was reported as unchanged from this morning when it was reported as good and the prognosis as fair, after a blood transfusion at 1430. The transfusion was given by Sgt. John Archinal, mess sergeant at the 98th Evacuation Hospital in Yokohama, one of several volunteers. The sergeant, on of the original cadre of 20 enlisted men who helped activate the hospital in 1942, is from Allentown, Pa., where his wife, Miriam, resides at 17 N. Penn St. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.A. Archinal, live at Hampton Rds., Upper Darby, Pa.

When he was asked why he volunteered to give a pint of blood to the Japanese ex-prime minister, Sgt. Archinal said, "I think he ought to live an meet the real justice that's coming to him."

GENERAL HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES ARMY FORCES, PACIFIC PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE


 * The Supreme Commander has ordered the entire suspension of the Domei News Agency.


 * The following statement was issued today by General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers:


 * I have noticed some impatience in the press based upon the assumption of a so-called soft policy in Japan. This can only arise from an erroneous concept of what is occurring.


 * The first phase of the occupation must of necessity be based upon military considerations which involve the deployment forward of our troops and the disarming and demobilization of the enemy. This is coupled with the paramount consideration of withdrawing our former prisoners of war and war internees from the internment camps and evacuating them to their homes. Safety and security require that these steps shall proceed with precision and completeness lest calamity may be precipitated. The military phase is proceeding in an entirely satisfactory way. Over half of the enemy's force in Japan proper is no demobilized and the entire program will be practically complete by the middle of October. During this interval of time safety and complete security must be assured.


 * When the first phase is complete the other phases as provided in the surrender terms will infallibly follow. No one need have any doubt about the prompt, complete and entire fulfillment of the terms of surrender. The process, however, takes time. It is well understandable in the face of atrocities committed by the enemy that there should be impatience. This natural impulse, however, should be tempered by the fact that security and military expediency still require and exercise of some restraint. The surrender terms are not soft and they will not be applied in kid gloved fashion.


 * Economically and industrially, as well as militarily, Japan is completely exhausted and depleted. She is in a condition of utter collapse.