Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-04-26
Eight DooIittIe Flyers Executed,
Diplomats in Japan Believe
Former Argentine Attoche Tells Of Seeing
American Airmen's Roid on Toxic

American AIrmen S
| 1.-THE following story Was OBJ
tanned from returned former
commercial attache of the Ar
gentine Embassy in Toxic, ,Dho
witnessed the American raid on
the japanese capttal)
1t is the belief of the remaining
members Of the diplomatic corps in
Toxic that the worst execution
has happened to all the eight
members Of Maj. Gen. James H
Doolittle's squadron who crashed in
Japanese occupied China after
bombing Japan on April 10, 1912.
This revelation was made by Ra-
mon Muniz Lavalle, former CONNER
cial attache of the Argentine En-
bassy in Toxic, who was the last
known Latin-American to leave ia
pan. He was able to get out of the
country on January 10 only because
his government threatened reprisals
on the Japanese diplomats in Ar
gentina.
Since he arrived in this country
on April 2, Senior Lavalle has been in
consultation with the War, Navy and
State Departments, giving them
what information he gathered dur
ing his 10-month stay after war was
declared
The story that Senior Lavalle has
to tell is one OF almost unbelievable
barbarity, for he served in Hong
Kong four months after the Japa-
nese invaded and occupied the
island. He was told of japanese SOL
diers bayoneting invalided and
wounded British soldiers in their
beds in the Stanley Hospital, and he
himself saw British women, their
hands tied behind them, being raped
on the street, and then left there.
Confirms Jap Cruelties.
Senior Lavelle's story of his stay in
Toxic from April /. 1912, to January
8, 1913, confirms the tales of Jap
anese inhuman cruelty to foreigners
He not only saw white men beaten
on the streets of Toxic, but was him
self compelled to carry a revolver at
all times. He is one of the few
foreigners who saw the Doolittle
raid. Eighteen days after he ar
rived in Toxic he was startled to
hear three long air raid alarms.
ut was Saturday noon," he re-
lated. II was working in the En-
bassy. When I heard the alarm I
ran to our roof. saw four of Gen.
Doolittle's planes flying over the
roof tops. They couldn't have been
more than 100 feet off the ground.
Il looked down the streets. All
Toxic seemed to be in panic. Japs
were running everywhere, pushing
shouting, screaming. There were no
AFRAID shelters in the city. There
still aren't any. Japanese homes
have no cellars or Easements. I
could see fires starting near the port.
Our two Japanese interpreters In
the Embassy were frightened out of
their skins. I sent down to get them,
but they wouldn't come up to the
roof. After the raid, a japanese
scrub woman who worked for us
came up to me and said, if these
raids go on, we'll all go mad
Cracked Jap Confidence.
THAT raid by Doolittle was one of
the greatest psychological tricks ever
used. 1t caught the Japs by sur
prise. Their unbounded confidence
began to crack.
The day after the raid the Toxic
newspapers said nine American
planes had been shot down. didn't
even see nine American planes over
Toxic. The people knew such a
statement was lie. The officer
in charge of the Japanese anti
aircraft defenses was compelled to
commit suicide. I know for a fact
that the anti-aircraft force was re-
moved.
The results of Doolittle's raid are
still evident in Japan. They are
stamped into the daily living habits
of the Japanese people. Where be-
fore they imagined themselves safe
from aerial aggression. they now
search the skies each morning and
each night.
japanese newspapers carry pic
lures of American planes and say
these planes are practicing in Texas
on how to bomb Toxic. Fire bri-
gades have been organized. Fire
drills are practiced. Fearlessness
has turned to fear.
Despite this. however, the Japa-
nese people will not crack. Their
morale Is excellent. Tokio's average
citizen may begin to doubt the accu-
racy OF the communicates, but to him
they make no difference. He is
reconcied to a hundred-year war"
Had Trouble Leaving Japan.
Senior Lavalle had some difIiculty
getting out of Japan. He knew too
much of what had happened in
Hong Kong. too much Of what went
on In Toxic.
IF 1t hadn't been for the strong
attitude taken by the Argentine
Embassy. my wife, my baby and I
never would have got out" he said.
1T was only when we threatened re-
prisals on Japanes diplomats in
Buenos Aires that they would let me
leave. You see, they take very good
care Of Japanese diplomats in Ar
gentina. These men are the people
who notify Toxic of what is going on
in the United States"
Senior Lavalle said one Japanese
Army man told me, "Once we have
defeated the Americans and the
British, we will attack Russia II she
Is still at war with Germany. And