Page 147 - Unit 731 Testimony

[This an area of disagreement among former members. Other reports of
hush money, however, are convincing, since many payments of huge
amounts were made two to three years after the war.]

K-SAN: The Youth Corps made Anda airfield. It was in a remote area that

had dry fields with a high alkali content, so there were lots of weeds, and
the soil was no good for crops. Unit 731 found that place and made it into
an airfield. More than one hundred Youth Corps boys worked on it,
leveling the ground with shovels. But first we had to burn the dry grass.
That was a scary job. The fire flared up wild. Even the officer in charge
was frightened. He screamed, "Put it out! Put it out!" A hot wind came
blowing at us and burned our eyebrows. When we thought we had the fire

under control, it would flare up in another place and come at us again.
The Manchurians in the area had to run.
K-SAN: We were issued potassium cyanide by the team leader. That's why
Unit 731 members were suspect when the Teigin Incident happened. The
potassium cyanide was given to everyone. Maybe some fourteen-year-
olds would have drunk it if they'd been captured by the Russians. That's

what education does. We had to give the poison back after we reached
Japan.
When we pulled out of Pingfang we were armed, so we were able
to reach Pusan. On the way, we were attacked by Koreans.
T-SAN: After we'd burned the bodies, our next job was to destroy the prison

cells. We chiseled holes in the wall, about as big around as your thumb,
and the explosives experts planted dynamite. But it wouldn't break the
walls down. Those facilities were built strong. Even the windows were
tough to break.

Unit 731 had planes called Donru ["Big Dragon."] that were very
effective in the war. They could launch torpedoes and flare shells, and
they broke down the buildings with aerial torpedoes. At the time, the
tallest building in Japan was the Marunouchi Building. The Pingfang
building was several times higher. And the facilities were the best.
There was a good boiler and heating system because of the cold

winters.
K-SAN: I remember the night they woke us and ordered us to destroy the
buildings and equipment. I had to go in to clean out the cells and there