Page 139 - Unit 731 Testimony

drank that water and died. Strong words came from the Special Forces
officers. Why did he throw that into the water? The main work of the unit
was supposed to be water sampling. Maybe when people came up and

accused us of making them sick, it was too much for him.
A few days after that, the fellow who always worked with Murakami,
Sergeant Maruyama, committed suicide. Maybe he was under pressure from
the officers.

He had killed himself in an army comfort woman brothel. And it was
an officers' brothel. This was a big problem for the army, and I was ordered
to go get the body before news leaked out.

At the time, there were three classes of brothels. Class I was for
officers, Class 2 was for noncoms, and Class 3 was for civilian employees
and enlisted men. But even those who were not officers had a chance to go
to the Class I brothels. Units were given certain days on which their men
could use the officers' brothel. On days when we had no duty and would be
going to the brothel, we would muster in the morning at 8:30. They would

inspect our condoms, and anyone with a condom with a hole in it would not
be allowed off base. Enlisted men were allowed off base from 8:30 until
supper time. We used to line up at the brothel and wait our turn. We would

each be finished in ten to fifteen minutes. Non-coms could stay out until 10
P.M., and officers until the following morning.

The brothels were under civilian management, but some were for the
exclusive use of army personnel. There were almost no Chinese women in
them; almost all were Koreans. The medical unit of the Twenty-third
division used to go in there to perform VD checks, and they issued health
certificates.

There were also brothels for civilian employees of Japanese
corporations like Shimizu and Kajima construction companies, but venereal
disease was more rampant among civilians.

I went to the brothel to get the body. Maruyama had taken potassium
cyanide, and a Korean comfort woman was crying in the room. The
Japanese manager of the brothel was angry at the commotion caused by the
man's suicide. I calmed him down with a few small presents, then I wrapped
the body in a blanket and brought it back to the unit. One of the sergeants

cremated the body and sent the ashes to Maruyama's home town.