Page 157 - Unit 731 Testimony

when I happened to meet her again much later and asked her about it, she
didn't remember. She was handling so many vivisections it was routine.
People who repeat evil acts do not remember them. There is no sense of

doing wrong.
War means this, also. War is not just shooting. In order for Japan to
win, all the Chinese were made prisoners, women's bellies were cut open,
homes were burned. If you couldn't do this, then you weren't a loyal soldier
of the emperor.

The scene in the room was not a typical one of preparing for an
operation, but a clamor. It was practice for army doctors for winning a war.
If you made a disagreeable face, when you returned home you would be

called a traitor or turncoat. If it were just me alone, I could tolerate it; but
the insulting looks would be cast on parents and siblings. Even if one
despises an act, one must bear it. From there, a person becomes accustomed
to it.
We all received practice. It was normal to smile at this. The crimes

committed during our aggressive wars are forgotten, gone from memory. At
the time they were "right." If you are praised, you must go ahead and
perform.

Surgery began. The man was given ether and dissected. His appendix
was so small that it was like looking for a burrowing worm. I had to cut and
search repeatedly. The blood flow was stopped, nerves were cut, bones were
cut with a saw, and a tracheotomy was performed. Blood and air escaped
from his body, and blood came foaming up. Practice time was two hours.
The man died, and his body was thrown into a hole and buried. The burial
area near the operating room was full, so we had to dig a hole farther away.

We had received a request from a Japanese pharmaceutical manufacturer; I
scraped samples from the outer covering of his brain, placed them into ten
500-cc bottles with alcohol, and sent them to the company for rheumatism
research.

The other man, the soldier, was still panting. The hospital head used
him for hypodermic practice and injected air into him. Then, to kill him, he
injected the same liquid used for anesthesia.
That was my first crime. After that, it was easy. Eventually I dissected

fourteen Chinese.