Source: NARA, RG 331 Box 942- Nagoya Files
Affidavit of Clayton W. Atwood, PhM 2c, US Naval Hospital, Guam; rescued at Nagoya 10B; 31 March 1948

(State Seal)
STATE OF CALIFORNIA
COUNTY OF SAN BERNADINO

I, CLAYTON W. ATWOOD, being first duly sworn, depose and state that:

My full name is CLAYTON WOODROW ATWOOD and I was born 23 April 1915 at Seattle, Washington. I am married and my permanent address is 934 College Avenue, Redlands, California. I am presently attending the University of Redlands, Redlands, California. On 7 December 1941 I was serving as Pharmacist Mate 2/c, United States Navy, stationed at the United States Naval Hospital on the island of Guam, located in the Pacific. My Navy Serial Number was 3932558. I was taken prisoner by Japanese Army-Navy Forces invading Guam on 10 December 1941. I remained a prisoner from the date of my capture until subsequent to the cessation of hostilities between Japan and the United States, being liberated by the United State Army units on 6 September 1945.

During the course of my confinement as a prisoner of war I was incarcerated at the Nagoya POW Camp 10-B, Honshu, Japan, from 19 June 1934 to 6 September 1945. Shortly after my liberation I was furnished air transportation to the United States via Guam, Kwajalein, Honolulu, arriving at Oakland, California on 27 September 1945.

Reference my confinement at the Nagoya POW Camp, Honshu, Japan, I served in this camp as one of three medical orderlies. This camp was supposed to have been established by the Japanese as a light-duty camp for prisoners of war who were physically unfit for work at other camps. I knew that many of the men at this camp were sent there for such diseases as amoebic dysentery, heart ailments and suspected tuberculosis, upon the strength of affidavits made out and sworn to by American POW doctors at other camps. I recall that seven men out of a total strength of 300 POWs died during my relatively brief stay at this camp.

Instead of being used for light-duty work the men of this camp were forced to work as stevedores loading and unloading ships which, I personally knew, included the handling and carrying of 100-kilo sacks of beans, which is equivalent to 220 pounds.

The medical supplies furnished by the Japanese at this camp consisted of a small portion of aqueous Mercurochrome and about one roll of toilet paper per week as a substitute for gauze or bandages. The foregoing testimony is furnished by me as a background for the camp in connection with a Japanese Army Captain named Nagahara, [Picture] who was known to the men of this camp as the "One-armed Bandit". The Japanese Army Captain was stationed at a neighboring POW Camp and it was rumored that he was responsible for all of the five or six prisoner of war camps which were located within a thirty mile radius of this camp.

About the middle of the morning of a day during the first week of August 1945, I saw Captain Nagahara enter our camp. The only prisoners in camp at the time were men whose physical conditions were such that they had not been sent outside of the camp as members of that day's working party. Nagahara's visit to the camp on this occasion was undoubtedly prompted by his intention of driving some of the sick men in camp out to work because, without provocation, I saw him stride through the camp and strike men right and left with his cased saber. I estimate that on this occasion I witnessed Captain Nagahara strike from eight to ten men on their heads, backs, shoulders and, in so doing, he averaged hitting the men from two to five severe blows. I definitely remember that some of the men struck by Nagahara sustained bruises about their heads. I also recall that he ordered some of the men out of their bunks, after which I saw him strike them.

I am unable to cite the name of a specific person struck by Nagahara during this incident but I am reasonably certain that Chief Boatswain Mate Phillip E. Sanders, United States Navy, was also an eye-witness to the maltreatment of American prisoners meted out by Captain Nagahara on this occasion. Sanders was the enlisted man in charge of this camp. This was the only time I had occasion to see Captain Nagahara inside our camp and I, personally, was not struck by him.

I do know for sure that the majority of men at this camp hated him. A description of Nagahara is as follows: age, approximately 43 years; height, about 5'4"; weight, about 135 to 140 pounds; build, slender to medium; remarks, one of his arms had been amputated between the elbow and the shoulder.

The foregoing testimony by me represents all the pertinent information regarding this matter that I am able to recall at this time.

/S/ Clayton W. Atwood
CLAYTON W. ATWOOD

Subscribed and sworn to before me on this 31st day of March, 1948 at Redlands, California.

/S/ Grace A. Wiley
My Commission Expires January 20, 1951.