1,010 Yanks Thought Held by Japanese
WASHINGTON, (AP) – The navy department released Thursday a list of 1,010 navy and marine corps officers and enlisted men presumed to have been taken prisoner by the Japanese on the islands of Wake and Guam and at Peiping, Tientsin and Shanghai, China.
Lieut. Commander John T. Tuthill, Jr., public relations officer of the third naval district, also made public a roster of 1,200 civilians who were employed in defense construction work on the two Pacific islands and who also are presumed to be prisoners of war.
The navy department statement pointed out that “because of the interruption of communications and the eliminating of contact entirely when the various outposts were overwhelmed, the navy department cannot have absolute information of the exact status of all individuals who were serving in the armed forces and of civilians who were engaged on public works undertakings.
“However, from information that had been available up to the time or near the time of the capture of some of the groups, and from the rosters of personnel serving at the different places, it is presumed that those not otherwise accounted for are prisoners of the Japanese.”
Source: The Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa, Thursday, February 19, 1942
Transcribed by Sharon R. Becker, Jan 2013
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