During his 8 Oct. 1945 arraignment, LtGen Y
amashita, seated at the table to the left, facing the
court, listens to U.S. Army MAJ Robert Kerr, chief
of the prosecution staff.
raced back to San Diego to find I”d been
reassigned as Platoon Leader, 81 mm Mor-
tar Platoon. I”d never fired that one!”
Word swept through his regiment that it
would sail to Wake to reinforce the em-battled 1st Defense Battalion. “By the time
enoughshippingwasfound,”Prattrecalled,
“Wake was gone, and we were ordered to
American Samoa” to protect the supply
lifeline to Australia and New Zealand from
the Japanese advance. “We [Second Marine Brigade] were loaded on three Mat-son passenger liners unchanged from cruise
service,” Pratt gloated. “Imagine two second lieutenants assigned to a ‘B’ deck
stateroom with lanai—great way to start
a war!” The ships had not been stripped
of their comforts. Cabins had beds, stewards waited on the Marines, and food was
served civilian style, not chow-line specials
Shortly after arriving in Samoa, the b
gade started a Japanese language
in response to an urgent requir
interrogators and translators
teered. “I became a full
Japanese for the next
Ferdinand Bishop
formal Tokyo E
established th
under the
ficers
ten
bet-
ure
s, which
e government.
d respond, ‘Don’t do
you whatyouwanttoknow.’
w that if information about their
at.
Marines left the
ecuperation in New
accompanied “about 30
at were embarked aboard our
p. My group of six interpreters provided all the communications between
the ship and the POWs. Upon arrival in
Wellington, we accompanied them to a
campinthehillsabovethecityand worked
with the New Zealand staff until they felt
comfortable handling the Japanese.”
After months of refitting and training
ratt
stMarDiv
d interrogation
e prisoners of war.
nemy surrendered,” Pratt
owever, a number of downed avi-
Pratt was understandably ill at ease talking to the
two senior enemy officers. “Like all of us who went
through the Pacific operations against the Japanese,
