Evening star., 1945-08-26
Three DooIitiIe Flyers
Describe Details Of
3-Year Confinement
BY the Associated Press.

Today from three years dark
silent confinement by the JAP
anese and one said he had beer
sentenced to execution-a fate
met by some of his fellow flyers
The skin of their hollow cheeks
crinkled into smiles as a big C-41
transport landed them at a Chung.
king airdrome. The harness borr
of long imprisonment vanished
from the face of one as he read a
message from his wife.
Free men among free men again
were 1t. Chase j. Nielsen OF Hyrum
Utah; 1t. Robert L. Hite of Earth
Tex, and Sergt. Jacob D. Deshazer
formerly of Madras, Oreg.
Rescued from Peiping, China
camp, the three left a buddy be-
hind. He was 1t. George Barr
formerly of Queens, N. Y. Beri-beri
causing swelling, paralysis and gen.
eral dropsy, made 1t. Barr toe
sick to be moved to Chungking
Death Sentence Recalled.
1t was possible that the four were
the sole survivors of eight flyers
who took part in 1t. Gen. James
H. Doolittle's famous raid on Japan
April 18, 1912, and whose capture
was announced by the War Depart
ment. Presidents Roosevelt said in
1943 that some were known to have
been executed.
1t. Nielsen said he had been SEN
fenced to death at court-martial,
but was told that Emperor Hirohito
had changed the sentence to life
imprisonment with special treat
ment."
All the details of the special
treatment" which the flyers received
at the hands of the Japanese were
not disclosed for security reasons.
But 1t. Nielsen, 1t. Hite and
Sergt. Deshazer told how they all
underwent periods of solitary con-
flnement, how they never were al
lowed to read, received no cor
respondence and no Red Cross par
GELS, and spent up to 120 days with
out bath, shave or haircut.
Plane Landed in Sea.
1t. Nelson said he swan the
turbulent China seas after his plane
made crash-landing in the ocean.
1t. Hite and Sergt. Deshazer told
how they bailed out into Free China
and were taken prisoner by Japanese
troops masquerading as Chinese.
Their arrival in Chungking ended
journey which began from the
aircraft carried Hornet three years
four months and one week ago
The trio-men with staring eyes
were greeted by an officer repre-
senting 1t. Gen. Albert C. Wede-
meyer, United States commander in
China.
They looked weak, but there was
something tough and sturdy In
their inner fiber and all they needed
was some good food, good resi-, good
companionship and good surround
ings.
They looked at first glance as Il
they had never smiled nor ever
would smile again-but they did.
II feel that I'm an American
again" 1t. Nielsen said.
tits good to get some CT food
into your belly after that hollow
feeling" said Sergt. Deshazer.
Nielsen Gets Message.
From Seven Dragons Slope Air
drome the three flyers drove to Gen.
Wedemeyer's headquarters. The
first thing they wanted to do was
to send messages to their families.
1t. Nielsen, the only married man,
found q message from his wife
Thora. He was different man
after he read it.
In little room at headquarters
overlooking the sluggish Chialing
River, the three men told their
stories to correspondents - those
parts which now can be told.
1t. Nielsen was the navigator Of a
plane which attacked Tokyo.
He said they expected a large
force of Zeros, but saw only six
Japanese pursuit planes.
A steel mill in Northern Tokyo
was their target. The crew of his
plane hit the mill and blew it to
hell. We then circled and dropped
our last bomb and left Japan"
I'VE encountered no Japanese
planes other than the six we first
saw he said. Everything was fine
until we approached the China
coast.
The shortage of gasoline forced us
to crash-land in the sea 80 miles
south of Shanghai. Our liferafts, it
seemed, were made in Japan be-
cause they didn't work. But our
lifevests did.
AFTER swimming for 4 hours
made the coast and with what
strength had left walked a few
steps and collapsed"
Cheated Vultures.
The next morning 1t. Nielsen
came to. He saw two large vultures
on a rock looking down at him. He
chuckled at the recollection of how
he cheated the vultures, and con-
tinued:
II staggered into a small fishing
village and tried to get into con-
tact with Chinese troops. Chinese
guerrillas tried to get us to safety
but the Japs had good spy system.
They sent half regiment against
our Is guerrillas and took us over.
They moved us up the coast to
Shanghai. We reached Shanghai
the night of June "a and were flown
to Tokyo the next day."
1t. Nelson was kept Sc days in
Tokyo, was shipped to Shanghai
and installed in q bridge house for
10 days and then was transferred
to a prison in a civic center in
Northern Shanghai. On August
% he appeared before court mar
tial and again on october Is, when
he learned he had been sentenced
to execution but the sentence had
been commuted by Hirohfto.
"Our charge and sentence" 1t.
Nielsen said, was for bombing non-
military objectives and schools and
strafing innocent school children" !"