Page 19 - Unit 731 Testimony

one evolved, of which Japan may well be proud," Seaman writes, praising
in particular a Japanese-developed portable water testing kit that technicians
carried into the field in advance of the armies.

"The American Army," he wrote, "can never hope to emulate the
Japanese until the time shall have arrived when, through the reorganization
of its Medical Department, the surgeon shall have executive instead of
merely advisory privileges in matters of hygiene and sanitation in barrack
and field; and until the line officer shall display the same courtesy and

respect to the medical expert as does his Japanese brother-in-arms."
Thus, by the turn of the century, Japanese military medicine and
wartime bacteriology were the best in the world. Their standards, according

to the American doctor, were far higher than those maintained by the United
States and Great Britain, and medicine was treated by the Japanese as being
equal in importance to guns and shells in contributing to military
performance.
To address the problem of ingesting bacteria with food, the Japanese

army issued creosote pills, an old standby formerly used in bronchial
troubles, as a prophylactic measure. The army issued them to the soldiers
with instructions to take one pellet after each meal. They tasted bad, though,
and most of the pellets ended up in the fields. Japanese officers were
concerned, and the problem of how to get the soldiers to take the creosote
was sent back to headquarters in Tokyo to be discussed among top leaders.

Sitting in on the conferences as a guest was a young American lieutenant,
Douglas Mac-Arthur, fresh out of West Point and son of the military attaché
to Japan. The American's opinion was that soldiers were soldiers, and that
there was no way to make the soldiers of any nation follow orders to
swallow something that they didn't like.

The solution was found by a Japanese officer who suggested having
the tins carry a message that "it is the will of the emperor that each soldier
take this medicine after each meal." What followed is best described by
MacArthur in his book Reminiscences: "The result was instantaneous. Not a
pill was wasted. Nothing but death itself could stop the soldiers from taking

the medicine."
The creosote was also given a new name which translates directly into
"Subjugate Russia Pellets." It retained its name for a long time after the war,
becoming a popular over-the-counter medicine for intestinal troubles. Then,