Accused American War Criminal

Less than twelve hours after receiving his degree in aeronautical engineering, Fiske Hanley was on a train bound for basic training as an Air Force Aviation Cadet. Nine months later he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant. Assigned as a B-29 flight engineer, he was attached to the 504th Bombardment Group (VH). In January 1945, they flew their new B-29 to Tinian Island in the Pacific and began bombing missions over Japan. On the seventh mission their plane was shot down. Lt. Hanley arrived on Japanese soil via parachute and thus began his harrowing experience as an Accused American War Criminal.
        Kept in overcrowded, filthy dungeons cells in Tokyo, they were not treated as Prisoners of War but were designated as Special Prisoners to be tried and executed for the killing of innocent women and children. While awaiting trial they were considered subhuman—starved on half POW rations, issued no clothes or basic hygienic needs, denied medical treatment and allowed to suffer and die from torture.
        Accused American War Criminal is written by one of the few surviving Special Prisoners.