33, in army from 1939 to 1942, lecturer at KIU from 1942 to January 1945, recalled in army from January 1945 to September 1945, as captain, then returned to the University to the Anatomy Section, lecturing mainly on digestive organs and arteries, was formerly under Hirako, was under him 3 1/2 years. In February 1946 Takeshige heard students say that American PWs had been operated on in the autopsy dissection room. While Hirako was in prison he wrote Takeshige about 6 letters, the first one in August 1946 and the last in June 1947. In the first letter he asked Takeshige to look in the University crematory ashpile to see if he could find the ashes of some American PWs, that if he could find them he should keep them. Takeshige went to the crematory but could not find the ashes in the cellar where they were kept, then wrote Hirako, thought the ashes might have been destroyed. Shortly after Hirako wrote as to what he had found out, then wrote several more concerning the same thing. In one of his letters he mentioned that they might have been placed in a room next to the lecture hall in the Anatomy Section, this being the room of Nomiyama. Takeshige searched the office, asked Nomiyama, could find nothing. The reason Takeshige was sent the letter was that he worked under Hirako, was in charge of the tools used by the crematory section-- such as coffins, ashes boxes, firewood. The night before Hirako left for Sugamo he requested Takeshige to look for the ashes, said that there ashes of 4 flyers, each in speparate box, that these boxes did not have the number or name information on them. The next day Takeshige asked Uriyu for the key to the place where the ashes were kept, that he was looking for the ashes of PWs that Hirako had told him about. Uriyu said the lock was broken, said he knew nothing about them. About a month previous. (June 1947??) Mori and Wasano called "us" in, asked that they do what they could to find the ashes. Takeshige asked Sakai, who was a Hirako assistant who made specimen slides. She just said that, just before the American Forces were ready to land, much of the University equipment was moved, that she had done something with the ashes at the time; that she emptied them in a newspaper, burned the envelopes, left the newspaper on the desk of Hirako. She burned 4 envelopes. Takeshige doesn't know which person to believe. Many of Anatomy Section personnel have made a search for the ashes. |