Page 138 - Unit 731 Testimony

weeks at a time. Sometimes we stayed over at another unit and could get a
hot bath.

At one place, an army doctor pulled out a test tube with a kind of
bacteria that looked something like mold, added water, shook it, and threw
it into a sample of water we had taken from a well. I saw that happen two or
three times. Later, we tested the water and took photos. Water sampling is a
simple way to describe our work, but actually we were field tacticians.

There was a Mongolian settlement we came to. They were all happy to
see us, and the little girls picked flowers for presents. We exchanged things
with them for dried fish and meat. We conducted field strategy there two or
three times, then everyone in the settlement suffered from diarrhea and

came down with sickness. The last time we went there, they didn't bring
flowers and they didn't want anything of ours. Our interpreter told us that
they said we had thrown something into the well and made everyone sick.
Our officer in command joked about it and told the Mongolians, "You're the
ones who threw it into the well."

I had some creosote and gave it to the Mongolians. They were glad to
get it. The officer saw that and told me not to give them any medicine, but
he didn't press the issue any further. He just said, "Better stay away from
them," and later he told us never to go back there again.

One of our members drank that well water by mistake. He had been
near the Mongolian settlement, he was thirsty, and his canteen was empty.
The army doctor had told us not to drink any water except what was in our
canteens. The soldier said that the well water was all right, why not drink
it? The answer was, "Never mind. Just don't drink it."

But he did drink it, and when the officer heard that he screamed,
"You're going to die!" The soldier said, "But I don't feel sick."

I found out later about our team throwing bacteria into the well. I don't
know what happened to that soldier after that.
Around 1942, I came to realize that what we were doing was not field
tactics, but biological warfare. But not everything that we did was bad. The
Hailar unit treated illness in some villages, giving injections.

In the autumn of 1943, Warrant Officer Murakami committed suicide.

He had come to Manchuria with his young wife. He had thrown bacteria
into the water supply near a Special Forces detachment, and several people