Page 48 - Unit 731 Testimony

and Kyoto University held the highest grades. (The Tama Unit in Nanjing,
in particular, had deep ties with Tokyo University.) Each university
researcher had his own lab when he was at the unit, and directed the course

of the project he was working on.
Medical professionals were not the only civilians to be called into duty
with Unit 731. The wartime militarization of Japan extended even down to
the level of children in grade school. For instance, teachers were ordered to
scan students' compositions for signs of anti-war sentiments among the

parents. If any such tendencies surfaced, they would be reported to the
school principal, and from there to the police, who would investigate the
parents. Teachers were also used to whip up patriotic feelings in their
students, and encourage them to join the Youth Corps.

Young and impressionable, inculcated with the values of obedience to
authority and emperor worship, the Youth Corps served an important role in
Ishii's organization. Boys from fifteen through seventeen years of age who
eventually ended up at Unit 731 usually had no idea of what they were
headed for. Many were sidetracked from their intended fields of activity to
serve in Pingfang as assistants to researchers. They were put through a

tough, accelerated schedule of study in biology, math, bacteriology, and
foreign languages. Their work at the unit included carrying organs freshly
removed from victims from the dissection rooms to labs where preservation
or further research would take place. These services made the Youth Corps
members important witnesses in later years. While they had not yet
acquired the wisdom to comprehend the full significance or extent of the

experiments in progress, they understood a great deal for their age. They
were looked to as disciples to carry on Japan's future scientific and military
adventures. They were the youngest members to witness the happenings,
and many of them are still here today and have provided crucial testimony.
How was it possible for someone to bring together so large a number

of scientific researchers, as Ishii did? Some critics say that the demand from
the medical community was there, and Ishii answered it. The data traffic
was organized so that when a researcher completed an experiment, its
results were announced to Ishii. If a new substance were developed, for
example, that report would be brought to him in his capacity as the

representative of the Epidemic Prevention Research Laboratory. The report
or substance (in the case of a vaccine, etc.) would then be sent to another
Ishii unit for testing. If a professor were in Japan and his student were