Northeast Asian History Network

Allied POW Lester Tenney | Taken prisoner in 1942 and forced to work at the Miike Coal Mine
The American Lester Tenney was taken prisoner in Bataan in the Philippines in April 1942. He fled the camp and became a guerrilla, but was caught and tortured. He was sent from Manila to the Omuta prison camp via Bataan and Cabanatuan. Those at the Miike Coal Mine were subject to 12 hours of forced labor each day, and were sometimes beaten with shovels, pickaxes, and chains used to transport the coal. They were abused like slaves and lived in misery without proper meals or any medical treatment.

^{- My Hitch in Hell: The Bataan Death March, Japanese translation by Nakinokisha, 2003}

Allied POW Roy Edward Friese | Taken prisoner in 1942 and forced to work at the Miike Coal Mine
The American Roy Edward Friese was captured on the island of Corregidor in the Philippines in May 1942 and sent to the prison camp in Canabatuan. In July 1943 he was sent to Japan on the Clyde Maru ship, where he was made to work at the Mitsui Miike Coal Mine. He was called by his number: #173. To avoid the forced labor he had a coworker break his left finger, and was punished by imprisonment in a room for three days. He says he still remembers the Japanese commands for “to attention!” and “right, face!”.

^{Testimonies from ｢US POW / Family Exchanges｣}

Allied POW Harry Coree | Taken prisoner of the Japanese army in 1942 and forced to work at the Miike Coal Mine
The American Harry Coree was captured in Corregidor in the Philippines in May 1942, and taken to Miike to be forced to work. He worked for 10 days in a row for 10 to 14 hours a day, and had many falls and injuries. He was injured twice from falls and ended up working outside of the pit.

^{- Testimonies from ｢US POW / Family Exchanges｣}

Allied POW Paul Daniel | Taken prisoner of the Japanese army in 1943 and forced to work at the Miike Coal Mine
The Dutchman Paul Daniel was captured on the island of Java and mobilized to work on the construction of the Fukuoka Airfield in December 1943, after which he was sent to the Miike Coal Mine in December 1944. Mr. Paul spoke to his family about the experience and said that being tortured was the worst part: "They would put a hose in your mouth and fill your belly with water and then stand on top of it. Other times they would make you get on your knees with a stick pushed in right behind them, or make you go around holding a full bucket of water over your head. We as POWs did work together with some Japanese miners but it was agonizing work." He often suffered from nightmares even after returning home and shocked his wife by yelling or sweating profusely in his sleep.

^{- ｢Traveling to POW Camp Site in Kyushu with Family of Former Dutch POW (original Japanese title: 蘭元捕虜の家族と九州の捕虜収容所跡地を旅して｣, POW Research Network Japan, 2017}