CHARLES T. BROWN, M.D. © 832 MEDICAL ARTS BUILDING « SAN ANTONIO 5, TEXAS ¢ CApitol 7-6331

15 August 1957
Colonel Edmund J.Lilly, USA
508 Oakridge Avenue
Fayetteville, North Carolina

Fd
SR RE Ri mI Serpe on

Dear Colonel Lilly:

Thank you for your nice letter of some days ago, which
has been impossible for me to answer inasmuch as I have
been out of town. I am indeed sorry that I missed you
on your visit to San Antonio last April; however, let us
hope that you will again visit us. s 5

I am enclosing a more "generous" piece of the rope for
your collection of memorablia (pleasant and otherwise),
of our experiences on Bataan and subsequent imprisonment,
I now relate to you the story as it was given to me, and
how the piece of rope came into my possession:

Sometime in 1947, I had the occasion to meet a Major
Covington who had just returned from occupation duty

.in the Philippines. He was a member of the Corps of Military
Police, and in the course of his duties with the Provost
Martial of Manila he had the pleasure, dubious or other

(in the parti¢ipetion of hanging of General Yamashita, the

‘ erstwhile self-styled "Tiger of Malaya". Following the
trial of Yamashita in Manila, he was confined at the New

' Bilibid Prison at Muntinlupa, to await execution. The
night before, he was given the usual privilege of the
condemned, of some last favor. He asked for writing materials
and a ease of American beer, which was granted him. He
sat up all night drinking beer and pursuing his correspondence
in a rather dilatory fashion, to the end that when daylight
came, he had almost finished the beer but had but few...
letters written. He was taken from his cell protesting that
"he must have more time to finish his letters", however,
the Americans seemed to prefer to get along with the
business at hand, Accordingly, he was marched to a seaffold
nearby, clothed in an old suit of G.I. fatigues, and
summarily the trap was sprung.

When the old gentleman was cut down, the hanging detail

cut up the "one-inch" Manila hemp rope into small seetions

of approximately six inches each in length and kept them -

for souvenirs, Apparently, the Major, thought that I having
suffered more at the hands of Yamashita than he had, presented
me with the piece of rope.

i consider it a most appropriate souvenir for you.

Sincerely your friend,

Charles T,. Brown
Lt.Colonel USA (Ret.)

 
‘ sarcomas tsa marten ae ir
Ropers renee omens

(pr gies ane cyano areansnnetit

=

i ’

ANGED FOR ATROCI-|
\TIES —- Japanese Lt. Gen.
Tomoyuki Yamashita, above,
*teonvicted of atrocities in con-|
Xinection with the “rape of Ma-}
* sy February, 1945, and|
r| ther war crimes, Was ignobly

+ hanged as a common crimina
‘iby American military author

|
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ti
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5

earn,
eae
ithades
eee Raat

aera!
AOU

fst

0 we OD

ms oO
@ ev

a

th

 
@xecution, Tegerare WY OPA OOT em
'eponorable,” ~ awaits Yamas rita’s |)
age ssoy in the Philippines, Lit. 7
. Masaharu Homma. h
Height Of Shame :
| Death on the gallows—regarded ||
lin Japan as the height of shame—};
i meted out for the stocky offi |
for condoning such atrocities |:
2 | his men in the later days of the |)
i |war-as.the February, 1949, Tape of §
zr | Manila. b
| Two other Japanese were execut-— .
led with him.
The hanging of Yamashita, §
‘ei stripped of all military appurte-)
& imances on orders of General Mac-
Arthur, who branded his former
foe a disgrace to the military pro-{
fession, took place southeast of Ma-{
| nila near Los Banos, in Laguna)
| province.
2 Executed Near Torture Scene
~, The end for Yamashita thus cam
yy not far from the Los Banos camp |
|where his soldiers had held an
' Gy | wortured thousands of . allied pris
| oners.
“| Death was at dawn
Final Statement
General Yamashita, Wi
é “| fought put failed to stop s
+ |General MacArthur reinv
al Philippines, commented in
‘©! statement:
a | “as I said in Manila supreme|
# | court that I have done with all my
gf capacity. No, I ee ‘t ashame in front
yn of God for what I have done when
it-!I have died. ne “if you say to me
#e-| “You do not have any ability to}
‘qi command Japanese army, eal should |
Bye|s say nothing for it, for it is my own
#¢,| nature.”
ie] MacArthur had branded Yama-}
I shita, for his condoning of at roci-|
|

'
}
{
j
2
|

€o

dona |
E Al ties, as a blot on military history.
Ets Others Executed
q He was followed to the scaffold,
I”; py Lt, Col, Seichi Ohta, former head}
of the Japanese kempei tai (thought |
| police) in the Philippines, and Ta-|

a _kuma Higashigi, Japanese civilian ;

‘interpreter. !
jo. ony were convicted of torturing ;
ox/ and killing Filipino ¢iv rilians,

A ; Yamashita’s final statement spoke |
Bs of “good treatment, kindful attitude §
“\from your gcod- natured officers »

4 who all the time protect me.” it

tp | BS “I never forget for what th ey h are

| done for me even if I have died,”

{ 4. ihe said.

Pir, | “tT don’t blame my executioners.

3H} 'y will pray God bless them.’ i

, Bie. Three generals of MacArthur's;

eo [1 | staff came to Manila from Tokyo §

fa Wve| in connection with the execution.

02) ¢,; They included Brig. Gen. Legrande

M1} | '-| Diller, of MacArthur’s public rela-

Si tions section.

Stolid Yamashita was one of Ja~-

INS} pan’s. ablest ee hy pemaers

Fe Bis brilliant tactics in Malayaf

ar. d Singa pore e in the early days of §

‘the war rocketed him fr ‘om obscur~

se os foes called him “The ae

'

&

allied counteroffensive |4
olf

 
scure division commander, Of
ing in North China, coping
eguerrillas.
- Karly in 1
‘mnany to see
“chine operated.
© When Japan
war on Dec. ie
Yamashita and se
the citadel of British
Orient—-Singapore.
On that date-
Orient) shock troops ot Yama-}
‘shita’s fifth infantry division land-
‘ed at Kota Bharu, on Malaya’s |
‘eastern coast about 320 miles north |
of Singapore.
This was a diversion. The main |
reinforced by the Imperial) d.
{Guards division, swept across the| 8

tporder from Thailand and began}
4 4gg-odd miles down |

the 40

coast. lw

week, 40 per cent of | 5
; im Malaya Was) %
‘knocked OU unorthodox |
ishore-to-shore operations were py-| &
passing P spared allied defense on | &
the road to Singapore. iA
‘ Controlled Peninsula lo
€ By Jan. 31, 1942, Yamashita con-| 4
itrolled all the Malaya peninsula| 5
tand, on Feb. 16 he accepted the; 3.

15,
isurrender of &&,

941 he was sent to Ger- 15
how the Nazi war ma- |}?

formally went
1941,

nt him age
power in

(Dec. 8 in

ee oe

\
- 3force,

Singapore from Brit- | ™*
4sh Lt. Gen. A. E. Percival. =|
: 7

» Yamashita testified at his Manila} ch
trial that he had long been out of| |
favor with Premiier-Dictator Hideki! Re
‘Tojo beeause he had said war with! ,,
ithe United States was “undesirable” | =
iand that after Singapore he Was| op
exiled” to Manchuria. |e
© “In early October of 1944, he ar-| Al
fuves in the Philippines to take over iM

ea. Bight} al

i
the Japanese 14th army ar Bi
the. Americans. invaded | of

‘days later
‘Leyte.
' He met with one military disaster |
‘after another until on Sept. 2, 1945,| 3
the came ct of his mountain hide-'
waway and surrendered at Baguio. 13
;> Japanese troops captured about j 2
the same time compiained that the),
general was well supplied with w ris-| 2
had 100 head of cattle to| &
f in beefsteak while they |?
1

3
i

On Trial Oct. 29 4
| on Oct. 29, 1945, the six-foot,; ¥
'200-pound pullet-headed general,| @
swearing a green uniform, his dec~|.&
torations and polished brown boots |
ywith spurs, went on ,trial for nis | y
Wife before the American commis-

10N.
The prosecution paraded witnesses

\P
/¥
|

ack of Manila,| G

‘who testified to the sé

‘the rape and murder of thousands!
of innocents, and the ruthless exe-|
gution of American prisoners of war. | x
_ On the stand, Yamashita assert~ | hs
‘sd he had ordered his own troops | ie

ss

 
Vky aad had ee pend: of yaar
keep himself in beefsteak while they
tart ved

the six-foot
IU headed general, |
penyitiz a dren. uniform, his dec-

rations and polished brown boots |

spurs,; went. on ,trial for nis!

before the American commis- {pl

The prosecution paraded witne Ses |

PWi0 testified to the sack of Man “ila,

ithe rape and murder of thousa vnds |

of innocents, and the ruthl

ycution of American prisoners far.) 9

' On the stand, Yamashita ie rt| c

red he had acer ed his own ee lo.

iout of Manila and that it w: k=} ne

s by naval fo eee ia
Yamashita denied that he had) w;j

oe wipe out all Fili-| th-
he had boasted he! }

ecarthoe into a room iJ.

him to sign articles of} re.

| DF
B surrender. me .¢

On Dec. 7, 1945, the commission's
<{condemnec him to be hanged. iR
‘| - On Feb, 4 the U. S. supreme court! ®
|) turned down his plea to intervene. |
‘| Later r MacArthur from Tokyo af-|
wifirmed the death sentence with a
j scathing denunciation of Yama-}
i shita.

Jos MacArthur ordered Yamashita

BSARESUO.

be hanged in secrecy shee
“stripped of uniform,

and other appurtenances y
fing membership in the military ae
Senn * He said the acts of Yama-}
shita’s men “are a stain upon Civili-|°
L pation and constitute a memory. of,
#shame and dishonor that can never;
be forgotten.”

Yamashita’s last hope was that

| bib eres Truman might act, but)
,on Feb, 8 the president sent a sec-|
| retary to tell newspapermen he
would not intervene.

bes)

rt

Shh Pare BB to

or

/which at least half probably still are |
‘in the army. But my would be |
uf in demobilization centers, no longe1
| assigned to fighting formation.

4 There was little fear of troub
with the Indian army.” the fede
‘| mainly are of the hardy, Northern)

"| tribes. Technical and administration |

ij jobs are held largely by the South-j sl

tern, non-fighting races. The North-

}

ferners regard themse slves as ores

|| fessionals and display no interest in| aa

, +e
it politics. 1
“ui In addition, one battali

‘three in every Indian

es

£

[battalions

otites