Enemy Airmen's Act

In an operation conducted primarily to raise morale in the United States following the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, 16 B-25 Mitchell medium bombers were carried from San Francisco to within range of Japan on the aircraft carrier USS Hornet.The aircraft then continued to China and the Soviet Union, though several crashed in Japanese-held territory after running out of fuel, resulting in eight airmen being apprehended by Japanese forces.On 13 July 1942, the Japanese Vice Minister of War issued Military Secret Order 2190: An enemy warplane crew who did not violate wartime international law, shall be treated as prisoners of war, and one who acted against the said law shall be punished as a wartime capital crime.Following receipt of that Order, the Assistant Chief of Staff of Imperial Army Headquarters dispatched it to the Chief of Staff of the Japanese Expeditionary Force in China.Worse, the eight airmen were forbidden to give any defense and nonetheless found guilty of "bombing, strafing, and otherwise attacking of civilians with the objective of cowing, intimidating, killing or maiming them" and sentenced to death."[6] On 16/17 March 1945, 331 USAAF B-29 heavy bombers launched a firebombing raid against the Japanese city of Kobe as part of the strategic bombing campaign of Japan.Two B-29 airmen, Sergeant Algy S. Augunas and 2nd Lieutenant Robert W. Nelson, who survived after being downed, were captured by the Japanese and taken to the Osaka military prison where the Central Army had its headquarters.33 American airmen were deliberately killed by IJA personnel at Fukuoka, including 15 who were beheaded shortly after the Japanese Government's intention to surrender was announced on August 15, 1945.