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CHOLERA EPIDEMIC THAILAND AND SOUTH BURMA
JUNE/SEPTEMBER
1943
By Colonel Wild
I had always had a suspicion, that the cholera which came to the prisoner of war camps along the Bangkok to Rangoon railway, during the period June to September 1943, was not a natural phenomena. Its appearance was so sudden and the fact that it did not travel inland effecting the local people.
I now know but cannot yet prove, that the cholera bacteria was manufactured by unit 731 and tested on prisoners of war in southern Burma.
Unit 731 was producing bacteriological material from early 1936 and had perfected the method of creating cultures for the production of many bacteria through lice, chickens, rats,foul,rabbits and other small creatures.
Tamura Roshio, was a student at Tokyo epidemic prevention and research laboratory, when he was sixteen, he joined General Ishii Shiro's unit 731 in 1939 and worked on experiments there until 1944.
two years ago he gave an interview , in which he admitted his involvements in this barbaric study of bacterial warfare. He admitted also to being involved in the dropping of plague bacteria over Burma in the early stages of the war. This man is still alive today, he also knows the names and whereabouts of others who were involved in this.
In his interview he stated that -Quote"The first thing that shocked me most was the rabbits.They were given injections of cyanide, nitric acid,strychnine nitrate. We were told not to look away from the rabbits. Observing the killing of animals was the first step , gradually we came not to think anything of it when killing humans"
Q "Did the Chinese man you worked on have the plague"
A "Yes he did, it was done in a way resembling natural infection.
Q "How many days did it take for him to develop the Black Death"
A "It is said that the incubation period is one week
Q"Was the man young"
A"Yes all of them were,most were men,very few women"
Q "Were you involved with many of these people"
A "I was not involved with that many, although I saw them I actually did it to just one person"
Q "How did you view these people?Didnt you have any feelings of pity"
A No none at all, I had already got to the point where I lacked pity"
Q "Did you extract the bacteria from these people before they died"
A "Yes as near to the point of death as possible"
Q "Did you ever do it while they were alive"
A " Yeah but at the time while he was still breathing, because as time passes it reduces the effect of the experiment
These are just one or two of the questions asked of Tamura.
It is my belief that cholera was introduced to the prisoners of war at Thanbazayat at the end of May beginning of June 1943. This was the time when 1600 men had marched 350 miles through the Thai jungle. They were in no condition to be able to fight any form of bacterial infection, and I am of the opinion that the bacteria was introduced via lice introduced to infected chickens and other fowl.
It seems very peculiar that no Japanese , Korean guard or local people went down with cholera, that the epidemic started at Thanbazayat and followed the river south, but never crossed the river into Kanchanaburi or Bampong.
Colonel Wild
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