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Brings to mind something about leopards and spots!Well ... umm ... not exactly
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Bataan Barb
- Thread starter Barbaria1
- Start date
Rias
Neko Girl
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Another great chapter. The impending doom is frightening!
Is is that said by Olsen or Moore?
Did she notice those abs!!!!“Well, I’m not a sucker for a dumb-ass line like that, Lieutenant. These canteens are full now. Let’s get back, shall we?”
Scunnersome! - as Jessie would say.
5. Bataan Peninsula, an open field by the side of the road, not far from Cabcaben, daybreak, April 12, 1942.
Barb stirred. A staccato rush of orders, delivered in Japanese, had disturbed her sleep. It had been followed by a cry of alarm, calling out to Barb by name ... a female voice ... a frightened voice ... one of her girls!
Propping herself on an elbow she peered into the half-lit swirling mists of daybreak. The night had been warm and sticky, leaving a ground-hugging blanket of fog that had swept in off Manila Bay to envelope the low-lying field where the POWs had bedded down.
Through the shifting grayness, she made out the familiar figures of Kubo and his three men. Two of them could be seen pulling a pair of her nurses to their feet.
“What’s going on” murmured Kristin, sitting up abruptly on Barb’s left.
“Dunno ... trouble, I suspect. Stay here and pass the word to the others. Everyone is to stay put. I’m going to go investigate.”
Rising to her feet, Barb set off, threading her way between and around the still sleeping forms of the half dozen nurses separating her from the point of disturbance. And, as she got closer, she recognized the two nurses. They were Ginny Price, the youngest and most petite of her girls, and Maisie Jones, Ginny’s closest friend. As everyone knew, the two were more or less inseparable ... a bonding that Barb had often knowingly indulged by assigning them to nursing duties that allowed them to be together. So long as they did their jobs, Barb had nothing against their affections for one another.
Two of the Japanese soldiers had positioned themselves directly behind Ginny and Maisie, holding them in place with a firm grip on their upper arms. Kubo was standing before the nurses, feet planted apart, hands on his hips, regarding them thoughtfully.
“Hey!” called Barb, emerging suddenly out of a swirl of heavier fog. “What’s going on here!”
A third soldier, whose back had been to her, spun about in surprise. But recovering quickly, he stepped directly in front of her, pointing his bayonet-tipped rifle threateningly at her midsection, scaring her half to death and stopping her dead in her tracks.
Craning her neck to look past him, she watched as the soldier behind Ginny tightened his grip, allowing Kubo to rip open the front of her blouse, and strip it away. Then grabbing the shoulder straps of her brassiere, he pulled down sharply, baring her small breasts, after which he began to grope around inside the cups of the sagging undergarment as though he might find something hidden in them.
Coming up with nothing, he began to turn the large pockets of her wrap-around uniform skirt inside out, and when that yielded nothing, he loosened the skirt, allowing it to fall and gather around her ankles. Yanking her cotton briefs half-way down her thighs, he checked inside them, and gave a cursory glance at her dark triangle of pubic hair, but did nothing beyond that.
Turning his attention to Maisie, he began to repeat the process with her. She struggled when he went to bare her chest, which earned her a slap across the face, reminding Barb of when Kubo had done the same to her.
“What does he think he’s doing?” breathed Kristin in Barb’s ear, having come up silently behind her.
“Conducting some kind of search, so it appears,” replied Barb. “I thought I told you to stay put and pass the word to the others to do likewise?”
“After what happened to you yesterday, I figured you needed some protection.” retorted Kristin.
Having stripped Maisie bare to the waist, and found nothing, Kubo moved on to ransacking her skirt pockets.
“He’s looking for contraband,” concluded Barb, remembering Tanaka’s warning from the day before. “You did tell everyone yesterday to ditch anything they had on them that was Japanese, right?”
But before Kristin could answer, Kubo let out a sudden whoop of triumph, holding up a small wad of greenish-yellow ‘JYM’ (Japanese Military Yen), the currency issued to soldiers of the Imperial Army. He had found the contraband tucked into one of Maisie’s skirt pockets.
“Uh oh,” groaned Kristin. “Now what?”
Grinning broadly, Kubo issued new orders to the soldiers holding Ginny and Maisie. They responded by promptly stripping the two nurses of any remaining clothing, save for their ID tags, anklets and shoes.
“Listen!” Barb called out, thinking she might try to intervene, “Those two are nurses, not soldiers! I know that Maisie is innocent. She didn't steal that money. Somebody probably gave it to her. Why don’t you just let them go, okay?”
“They don’t understand English, Lieutenant,” said someone from directly behind. Most of the other nurses had, by then, come up to and gathered around Barb and Kristin.
“I thought I said they were to stay put,” muttered Barb, glancing reproachfully at Kristen.
But Kubo was just getting started. He ordered his men to seize two more nurses, pointing specifically at Barb and Kristin, who were both promptly seized, dragged forward and strip-searched in the same fashion as Ginny and Maisie ... although, much to Kubo’s obvious annoyance, no additional contraband was found.
Undeterred, he made a snap decision. He would make an example of all four, which had the added benefit of wreaking vengeance on Barb.
So, as the other nurses watched, held in check so as not to intervene by Kubo’s man with the bayonet-tipped rifle, the four prisoners were herded away and over towards the broken remains of a fence that once lined the very edge of the field. There, Ginny and Maisie were brusquely back-pedaled up to the fence line where, using strips of seersucker cloth torn from discarded blouses, their wrists were bound behind their backs and to a pair of still-standing fence posts. Additional seersucker strips were used to blindfold them.
Barb and Kristin were made to stand off to one side, under the watchful eye of Kubo himself.
Having secured Ginny and Maisie, Kubo’s men stepped back twenty paces where, standing side-by-side, they worked the bolt actions on their rifles, raised them to their shoulders, and took aim.
“My God! They’re going to shoot them ... Ginny, Maisie, Kristen, and the Lieutenant too!” wailed Patty from amid the cluster of onlooking nurses.
*************
On the other side of the field, it was Norm Kowalski who first happened to notice that something was happening.
Nudging Whitaker, he whispered, “Lieutenant ... wake up ... there’s trouble brewing over there ... trouble with the nurses.”
Rising to their feet, the pair made their way to the edge of the nurses' part of the field.
“That nasty little Nip is a mean bastard!” hissed Norm, peering through the mist at the soldiers as they strip-searched two nurses, and then turned their attentions to two more. “Hey, Lieutenant, isn’t one of the second two the one you’ve been going all gaga over?”
“Yeah, kinda looks like her. And I thought that might have been my shirt that that Jap took off her. Damned fog makes it difficult to make faces out clearly, but I think it’s gotta be her.
“Nothing much we can do about it, though, is there?”
Whitaker didn’t reply ... working his jaw and clenching and unclenching his fists instead, and watching helplessly as the Japanese soldiers appeared to be binding two of the nurses to some posts.
“Shit! Those bastards are gonna execute them poah girls! An’ buck nekid too!” drawled Clem, who had just joined his friends. “‘An what the hell for? What could they have possibly done to deserve that?”
************
Captain Tanaka had been sound asleep, slouched in the seat of his ‘Type 95’ when the sharp crack of gunfire startled him to wakefulness.
“What was that?” he called to his driver, who had left the vehicle and was standing out on the road, peering into the fog.
“Rifle shots ... a pair of them,” came the reply.
“Can you tell from where?”
“Off to the left, best I can tell ... somewhere out in the far left corner of the field.”
“We’d better go investigate,” muttered Tanaka, pulling on his boots. He knew that was roughly where the American ANC nurses were bivouacked.
“Yessir!”
He and his driver were soon threading their way through the American POWs, many of whom were on their feet, attempting to peer through the shifting swirls of fog in the direction from which the gunfire had come. The going was irritably slow. Visibility was poor and they frequently had to shoulder their way past stationary knots of curious Americans. But eventually they emerged on the far side ... just as the dense low-hanging mist seem to part and lift, illuminating the scene that opened before them in bright morning light.
What they saw was a cluster of white-uniformed nurses, who appeared to be in a state of agitated distress ... many of them weeping and wailing. They were guarded and kept in place by a lone Japanese soldier.
A short distance farther on stood bandy-legged little Sergeant Kubo, striking a gallant pose, arms akimbo, his back to Tanaka and his driver.
Beyond him, two of his men stood side-by-side, at the ready, weapons raised to their shoulders ... prepared to fire on command.
And beyond them, at the very edge of the field, were two nurses ... stripped of their clothing, blindfolded, backed up to and bound, arms behind their backs, to a pair of wooden posts. They were fully lit in the emerging sunlight, its bright rays glinting off ID tags hanging against bare pale chests.
In the dewy grass directly before them sprawled the bodies of two more nurses, also naked and blindfolded. One of them ... the smaller of the two ... lay on her back, motionless, mouth agape as in shock. The other one lay face down and appeared to be in the final throes of dying, legs twitching spasmodically, a bloody bullet exit-wound visible in the middle of her back.
***********
Barb's mind was spinning. How could this have happened? She knew she was about to die, and in the most dreadful manner imaginable too!
Her mind raced back to her home town, conjuring up an image of her family, especially her parents, receiving word of her death. They'd likely never know how she had met her death. It would be a standardized message of regret that they would receive from the War Department. No details, just the condolences of the service and the Nation. So sad. So unfair!
Then her thoughts morphed into a string of spiteful feelings toward Kubo, before pivoting to remorse over having been foolish enough to have stepped forward to protest his strip-searching of poor Ginny and Maisie, both of whom ended up lying dead on the ground despite her intervention. The sight of them twitching and thrashing about in their death throes, as she and Kristen had been led to the vacated posts, to which they were to be bound and blindfolded, had been truly unnerving. Damn that monster, Kubo!
And it was then that she was struck with the sudden realization that she had unwittingly played into Kubo's trap. Had the cunning bastard planned this from the very beginning? She'd not put that past him. If so, he had succeeded. He must have known she would needlessly put herself in peril.
Self-pity soon followed. She couldn’t help but hear the click-clack of the bolt actions on the soldiers’ rifles as the they ejected spent cartridges and jammed fresh ones into the breech. Although she was blindfolded and could see nothing, she sensed that aim was being taken and that in a matter of seconds Kubo would give the order to send bullets tearing into her and Kristin's bodies.
She began to tremble uncontrollably. Try as she might, she could not stop the shaking.
To her right, she heard Kristin reciting a prayer. Was it the Lord's Prayer? Of course, that was it ... something out of her past ... a childhood memory ... long left behind ... but suddenly, in that moment, relevant once again.
A warm trickle of pee ran down her legs. In her terror, she had lost control of her bladder. She thought she heard a snort of derision coming from Kubo, who undoubtedly had observed it. She could well imagine his delight in witnessing what he would regard as a shameful display of fear and weakness.
Barb stirred. A staccato rush of orders, delivered in Japanese, had disturbed her sleep. It had been followed by a cry of alarm, calling out to Barb by name ... a female voice ... a frightened voice ... one of her girls!
Propping herself on an elbow she peered into the half-lit swirling mists of daybreak. The night had been warm and sticky, leaving a ground-hugging blanket of fog that had swept in off Manila Bay to envelope the low-lying field where the POWs had bedded down.
Through the shifting grayness, she made out the familiar figures of Kubo and his three men. Two of them could be seen pulling a pair of her nurses to their feet.
“What’s going on” murmured Kristin, sitting up abruptly on Barb’s left.
“Dunno ... trouble, I suspect. Stay here and pass the word to the others. Everyone is to stay put. I’m going to go investigate.”
Rising to her feet, Barb set off, threading her way between and around the still sleeping forms of the half dozen nurses separating her from the point of disturbance. And, as she got closer, she recognized the two nurses. They were Ginny Price, the youngest and most petite of her girls, and Maisie Jones, Ginny’s closest friend. As everyone knew, the two were more or less inseparable ... a bonding that Barb had often knowingly indulged by assigning them to nursing duties that allowed them to be together. So long as they did their jobs, Barb had nothing against their affections for one another.
Two of the Japanese soldiers had positioned themselves directly behind Ginny and Maisie, holding them in place with a firm grip on their upper arms. Kubo was standing before the nurses, feet planted apart, hands on his hips, regarding them thoughtfully.
“Hey!” called Barb, emerging suddenly out of a swirl of heavier fog. “What’s going on here!”
A third soldier, whose back had been to her, spun about in surprise. But recovering quickly, he stepped directly in front of her, pointing his bayonet-tipped rifle threateningly at her midsection, scaring her half to death and stopping her dead in her tracks.
Craning her neck to look past him, she watched as the soldier behind Ginny tightened his grip, allowing Kubo to rip open the front of her blouse, and strip it away. Then grabbing the shoulder straps of her brassiere, he pulled down sharply, baring her small breasts, after which he began to grope around inside the cups of the sagging undergarment as though he might find something hidden in them.
Coming up with nothing, he began to turn the large pockets of her wrap-around uniform skirt inside out, and when that yielded nothing, he loosened the skirt, allowing it to fall and gather around her ankles. Yanking her cotton briefs half-way down her thighs, he checked inside them, and gave a cursory glance at her dark triangle of pubic hair, but did nothing beyond that.
Turning his attention to Maisie, he began to repeat the process with her. She struggled when he went to bare her chest, which earned her a slap across the face, reminding Barb of when Kubo had done the same to her.
“What does he think he’s doing?” breathed Kristin in Barb’s ear, having come up silently behind her.
“Conducting some kind of search, so it appears,” replied Barb. “I thought I told you to stay put and pass the word to the others to do likewise?”
“After what happened to you yesterday, I figured you needed some protection.” retorted Kristin.
Having stripped Maisie bare to the waist, and found nothing, Kubo moved on to ransacking her skirt pockets.
“He’s looking for contraband,” concluded Barb, remembering Tanaka’s warning from the day before. “You did tell everyone yesterday to ditch anything they had on them that was Japanese, right?”
But before Kristin could answer, Kubo let out a sudden whoop of triumph, holding up a small wad of greenish-yellow ‘JYM’ (Japanese Military Yen), the currency issued to soldiers of the Imperial Army. He had found the contraband tucked into one of Maisie’s skirt pockets.
“Uh oh,” groaned Kristin. “Now what?”
Grinning broadly, Kubo issued new orders to the soldiers holding Ginny and Maisie. They responded by promptly stripping the two nurses of any remaining clothing, save for their ID tags, anklets and shoes.
“Listen!” Barb called out, thinking she might try to intervene, “Those two are nurses, not soldiers! I know that Maisie is innocent. She didn't steal that money. Somebody probably gave it to her. Why don’t you just let them go, okay?”
“They don’t understand English, Lieutenant,” said someone from directly behind. Most of the other nurses had, by then, come up to and gathered around Barb and Kristin.
“I thought I said they were to stay put,” muttered Barb, glancing reproachfully at Kristen.
But Kubo was just getting started. He ordered his men to seize two more nurses, pointing specifically at Barb and Kristin, who were both promptly seized, dragged forward and strip-searched in the same fashion as Ginny and Maisie ... although, much to Kubo’s obvious annoyance, no additional contraband was found.
Undeterred, he made a snap decision. He would make an example of all four, which had the added benefit of wreaking vengeance on Barb.
So, as the other nurses watched, held in check so as not to intervene by Kubo’s man with the bayonet-tipped rifle, the four prisoners were herded away and over towards the broken remains of a fence that once lined the very edge of the field. There, Ginny and Maisie were brusquely back-pedaled up to the fence line where, using strips of seersucker cloth torn from discarded blouses, their wrists were bound behind their backs and to a pair of still-standing fence posts. Additional seersucker strips were used to blindfold them.
Barb and Kristin were made to stand off to one side, under the watchful eye of Kubo himself.
Having secured Ginny and Maisie, Kubo’s men stepped back twenty paces where, standing side-by-side, they worked the bolt actions on their rifles, raised them to their shoulders, and took aim.
“My God! They’re going to shoot them ... Ginny, Maisie, Kristen, and the Lieutenant too!” wailed Patty from amid the cluster of onlooking nurses.
*************
On the other side of the field, it was Norm Kowalski who first happened to notice that something was happening.
Nudging Whitaker, he whispered, “Lieutenant ... wake up ... there’s trouble brewing over there ... trouble with the nurses.”
Rising to their feet, the pair made their way to the edge of the nurses' part of the field.
“That nasty little Nip is a mean bastard!” hissed Norm, peering through the mist at the soldiers as they strip-searched two nurses, and then turned their attentions to two more. “Hey, Lieutenant, isn’t one of the second two the one you’ve been going all gaga over?”
“Yeah, kinda looks like her. And I thought that might have been my shirt that that Jap took off her. Damned fog makes it difficult to make faces out clearly, but I think it’s gotta be her.
“Nothing much we can do about it, though, is there?”
Whitaker didn’t reply ... working his jaw and clenching and unclenching his fists instead, and watching helplessly as the Japanese soldiers appeared to be binding two of the nurses to some posts.
“Shit! Those bastards are gonna execute them poah girls! An’ buck nekid too!” drawled Clem, who had just joined his friends. “‘An what the hell for? What could they have possibly done to deserve that?”
************
Captain Tanaka had been sound asleep, slouched in the seat of his ‘Type 95’ when the sharp crack of gunfire startled him to wakefulness.
“What was that?” he called to his driver, who had left the vehicle and was standing out on the road, peering into the fog.
“Rifle shots ... a pair of them,” came the reply.
“Can you tell from where?”
“Off to the left, best I can tell ... somewhere out in the far left corner of the field.”
“We’d better go investigate,” muttered Tanaka, pulling on his boots. He knew that was roughly where the American ANC nurses were bivouacked.
“Yessir!”
He and his driver were soon threading their way through the American POWs, many of whom were on their feet, attempting to peer through the shifting swirls of fog in the direction from which the gunfire had come. The going was irritably slow. Visibility was poor and they frequently had to shoulder their way past stationary knots of curious Americans. But eventually they emerged on the far side ... just as the dense low-hanging mist seem to part and lift, illuminating the scene that opened before them in bright morning light.
What they saw was a cluster of white-uniformed nurses, who appeared to be in a state of agitated distress ... many of them weeping and wailing. They were guarded and kept in place by a lone Japanese soldier.
A short distance farther on stood bandy-legged little Sergeant Kubo, striking a gallant pose, arms akimbo, his back to Tanaka and his driver.
Beyond him, two of his men stood side-by-side, at the ready, weapons raised to their shoulders ... prepared to fire on command.
And beyond them, at the very edge of the field, were two nurses ... stripped of their clothing, blindfolded, backed up to and bound, arms behind their backs, to a pair of wooden posts. They were fully lit in the emerging sunlight, its bright rays glinting off ID tags hanging against bare pale chests.
In the dewy grass directly before them sprawled the bodies of two more nurses, also naked and blindfolded. One of them ... the smaller of the two ... lay on her back, motionless, mouth agape as in shock. The other one lay face down and appeared to be in the final throes of dying, legs twitching spasmodically, a bloody bullet exit-wound visible in the middle of her back.
***********
Barb's mind was spinning. How could this have happened? She knew she was about to die, and in the most dreadful manner imaginable too!
Her mind raced back to her home town, conjuring up an image of her family, especially her parents, receiving word of her death. They'd likely never know how she had met her death. It would be a standardized message of regret that they would receive from the War Department. No details, just the condolences of the service and the Nation. So sad. So unfair!
Then her thoughts morphed into a string of spiteful feelings toward Kubo, before pivoting to remorse over having been foolish enough to have stepped forward to protest his strip-searching of poor Ginny and Maisie, both of whom ended up lying dead on the ground despite her intervention. The sight of them twitching and thrashing about in their death throes, as she and Kristen had been led to the vacated posts, to which they were to be bound and blindfolded, had been truly unnerving. Damn that monster, Kubo!
And it was then that she was struck with the sudden realization that she had unwittingly played into Kubo's trap. Had the cunning bastard planned this from the very beginning? She'd not put that past him. If so, he had succeeded. He must have known she would needlessly put herself in peril.
Self-pity soon followed. She couldn’t help but hear the click-clack of the bolt actions on the soldiers’ rifles as the they ejected spent cartridges and jammed fresh ones into the breech. Although she was blindfolded and could see nothing, she sensed that aim was being taken and that in a matter of seconds Kubo would give the order to send bullets tearing into her and Kristin's bodies.
She began to tremble uncontrollably. Try as she might, she could not stop the shaking.
To her right, she heard Kristin reciting a prayer. Was it the Lord's Prayer? Of course, that was it ... something out of her past ... a childhood memory ... long left behind ... but suddenly, in that moment, relevant once again.
A warm trickle of pee ran down her legs. In her terror, she had lost control of her bladder. She thought she heard a snort of derision coming from Kubo, who undoubtedly had observed it. She could well imagine his delight in witnessing what he would regard as a shameful display of fear and weakness.
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A third soldier, whose back had been to her, spun about in surprise. But recovering quickly, he stepped directly in front of her, pointing his bayonet-tipped rifle threateningly at her midsection, scaring her half to death and stopping her dead in her tracks.
Rias
Neko Girl
Fossy
SEXPIOGENTUS
A wonderfully written 'shocking' episode. Expecting the nurses to be whipped or raped their execution was a genuine shock! Will Barb and Kristin be saved? Great stuff Barb.
Fossy
SEXPIOGENTUS
A rare find in which we discovered two versions of the same photograph. One is a little more damaged than the other, however the picture clearly shows two ANC Nurses about to be executed. Following a brief period of research it is believed that the one on the right as we look at the photo is Army Nurse Corp (ANC) First Lieutenant Barbara Ann Moore. It is not clear who the other girl is. However, one may assume that the point of execution was close because it appears that First Lieutenant Moore has been unable to control her bladder ...
These original photographs were stolen from the Japanese by the Philippines during Japan's three-year occupation in World War II. (AP Photo/U.S. Marine Corps) ASSOCIATED PRESS.
These original photographs were stolen from the Japanese by the Philippines during Japan's three-year occupation in World War II. (AP Photo/U.S. Marine Corps) ASSOCIATED PRESS.
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
My sincerest compliments on this episode. Rather than the tongue-in-cheek (Yes, I know you don't do THAT!) fearless Barbara of so many light stories here, you have created a REAL person, with strengths AND weaknesses. This is a heroine whom I can believe in, feel sympathy for, and yet lust after too. You have conveyed real emotions of fear and terror exquisitely. Bravo!
I have to confess that I felt a little empathy for Kubo here.
But a strip-search is always fun!
6. Bataan Peninsula, an open field by the side of the road, not far from Cabcaben, daybreak, April 12, 1942.
“Stäp!” shouted Tanaka. “Stop! Don’t fire!”
Kubo, who was just about to give the order, spun about in surprise. And on seeing Captain Tanaka striding resolutely straight for him, a dark scowl crossed his face.
“Report!” demanded Tanaka, his tone sharp. “What is the meaning of this!”
“Administering justice, Sir!” replied Kubo, snapping to attention. “These prisoners were caught in possession of JMY ... likely looted from the bodies of our heroic fallen comrades ... punishable by summary execution, as dictated in operational orders coming from General Homma himself.”
“These are women, Sergeants! Nurses, no less! Surely they ...”
“With all due respect, Captain, they are POWs!” retorted Kubo, boldly cutting off a superior in mid-sentence. “They have no honor, and certainly no rights.”
“Don’t interrupt me, Sergeant!” snapped Tanaka. “What proof do you have?”
“We have this!” Kubo announced, triumphantly pulling the wad of military currency taken from Maisie from his breast pocket and holding it out for Tanaka to examine.
“You found this how?” muttered Tanaka, snatching the scrip away and giving it a cursory inspection.
“We strip-searched them.”
“And which of these nurses was in possession?”
“All of them! They divided the money among themselves to avoid detection,” replied Kubo deceitfully. He had anticipated that question, and was both prepared for it and confident that his men would back him if questioned.
“I see,” said Tanaka slowly as he pondered his next move carefully. “Are any of these nurses officers?”
Kubo was prepared for that one too, and saw in it an opportunity, that hadn’t occurred to him earlier, to perpetuate his personal vendetta against the American nurse Lieutenant as well as her self-appointed protector amongst the male POWs.
“They’re only nurses,” he scoffed dismissively. “But there is one who appears to be in charge ...“
“And she is ...?”
“The dark-haired one ... over there awaiting a bullet,” he replied, pointing at Barb.
A long silence followed before Tanaka spoke.
“You are correct, Sergeant Kubo, Correct in pointing out that it is indeed the policy of the Imperial Army to execute prisoners found to be in possession of such contraband. But, it is also in our interest to maintain order in moving so many thousands of prisoners from Bataan to the camps farther north. Maintaining discipline among their ranks is absolutely necessary and one of the best ways to do that is to secure the cooperation and assistance of their officers. And that is not achieved by executing them. Therefore, as senior officer present at this moment, I order you to spare her life.”
“As you wish!” replied Kubo, saluting crisply before spinning about and issuing orders to his men.
**********
Expecting to die at any moment, Barb was puzzled. She had heard the two-man firing squad ready its weapons. Yet nothing had happened!
The blindfold prevented her from seeing anything, but she could clearly hear that Kubo was engaged in conversation with someone. And although she understood scarcely a word of Japanese, it had been pretty obvious from the tone of the exchange that it was a tense one. Moreover, the voice of whoever Kubo was speaking with sounded vaguely familiar.
“Barb? What’s going on?” whispered Kristin.
“Not sure.”
“God! What they did to poor Ginny and Maisie! Cold blooded murder! And now us too!”
“I know, but something is happening ...”
The conversation that had engaged Kubo appeared to have come to an abrupt end. Kubo was issuing fresh orders to his men. And she could sense them raising their weapons and preparing to shoot.
A moment later Barb heard Kubo shout “Utsu!” ... the order to fire ... followed by the report of rifles, the dull thud of bullets tearing into human flesh ... and Kristin’s ungodly scream. But Barb felt nothing ... nothing at all!
Slowly it came to her. The reason she was conscious of all these things was that they had shot Kristin ... but not her!
With senses on heightened alert, she strained to make sense of what had happened, as well as what was then happening ... the approaching footsteps ... the squishy noises in the wet grass and mud ... the hot breath on her the back of her neck and shoulders ... a tugging at the binding on her wrists behind the post.
Suddenly released and too weak-kneed from confusion and fright to stand, she found herself pitching forward ... landing on hands and knees.
A boot planted firmly against her butt sent her sprawling. A knee pressed down on her back, pinning her face-down to the damp ground. The blindfold was torn away. The knee removed. A boot toe forced under chest, flipping her over on her side.
She opened her eyes. There lay Kristin, no more than an arm’s length away, writhing about, still blindfolded, bloody froth on her lips and under her nose.
Barb screamed.
***********
“Holy crap! Did you see that?” said Norm to Whitaker.
“I saw.”
“I mean, what gives? First that bastard, Kubo, has those two poor nurses, the little blond and her taller, darker friend, tied to posts and shot. And then they proceed to tie the tall blond and your friend, Moore, to those posts to be shot as well. But some Jap officer suddenly appears out of nowhere and nothing happens except Kobo and the officer jawing away at each other. Kobo appears to get his way. The Japs go back to shooting, but only the blonde gets shot. You’re girlfriend is spared, but look at her! Totally hysterical. On her knees now, bent over her friend, wailing like a banshee!”
“I saw.”
**********
By then Tanaka was crossing the road on his way back to his ‘Type 95’. He had done what he could to save a life ... the life of the American army nurse whom he had come to the assistance of the previous day. He had not cared to remain on the scene once it was clear that Kubo had acquiesced to his wishes. At least for now, he was certain that Lieutenant Barbara Moore would survive. But what the future might hold for her was less certain, as he suspected that Kobo had it in for her, and would make it his business to see that she’d eventually pay the price.
Unfortunately, he could not waste any more of his time looking out for her. He was to have reported back to General Homma yet that morning, and now he was going to be late.
“Stäp!” shouted Tanaka. “Stop! Don’t fire!”
Kubo, who was just about to give the order, spun about in surprise. And on seeing Captain Tanaka striding resolutely straight for him, a dark scowl crossed his face.
“Report!” demanded Tanaka, his tone sharp. “What is the meaning of this!”
“Administering justice, Sir!” replied Kubo, snapping to attention. “These prisoners were caught in possession of JMY ... likely looted from the bodies of our heroic fallen comrades ... punishable by summary execution, as dictated in operational orders coming from General Homma himself.”
“These are women, Sergeants! Nurses, no less! Surely they ...”
“With all due respect, Captain, they are POWs!” retorted Kubo, boldly cutting off a superior in mid-sentence. “They have no honor, and certainly no rights.”
“Don’t interrupt me, Sergeant!” snapped Tanaka. “What proof do you have?”
“We have this!” Kubo announced, triumphantly pulling the wad of military currency taken from Maisie from his breast pocket and holding it out for Tanaka to examine.
“You found this how?” muttered Tanaka, snatching the scrip away and giving it a cursory inspection.
“We strip-searched them.”
“And which of these nurses was in possession?”
“All of them! They divided the money among themselves to avoid detection,” replied Kubo deceitfully. He had anticipated that question, and was both prepared for it and confident that his men would back him if questioned.
“I see,” said Tanaka slowly as he pondered his next move carefully. “Are any of these nurses officers?”
Kubo was prepared for that one too, and saw in it an opportunity, that hadn’t occurred to him earlier, to perpetuate his personal vendetta against the American nurse Lieutenant as well as her self-appointed protector amongst the male POWs.
“They’re only nurses,” he scoffed dismissively. “But there is one who appears to be in charge ...“
“And she is ...?”
“The dark-haired one ... over there awaiting a bullet,” he replied, pointing at Barb.
A long silence followed before Tanaka spoke.
“You are correct, Sergeant Kubo, Correct in pointing out that it is indeed the policy of the Imperial Army to execute prisoners found to be in possession of such contraband. But, it is also in our interest to maintain order in moving so many thousands of prisoners from Bataan to the camps farther north. Maintaining discipline among their ranks is absolutely necessary and one of the best ways to do that is to secure the cooperation and assistance of their officers. And that is not achieved by executing them. Therefore, as senior officer present at this moment, I order you to spare her life.”
“As you wish!” replied Kubo, saluting crisply before spinning about and issuing orders to his men.
**********
Expecting to die at any moment, Barb was puzzled. She had heard the two-man firing squad ready its weapons. Yet nothing had happened!
The blindfold prevented her from seeing anything, but she could clearly hear that Kubo was engaged in conversation with someone. And although she understood scarcely a word of Japanese, it had been pretty obvious from the tone of the exchange that it was a tense one. Moreover, the voice of whoever Kubo was speaking with sounded vaguely familiar.
“Barb? What’s going on?” whispered Kristin.
“Not sure.”
“God! What they did to poor Ginny and Maisie! Cold blooded murder! And now us too!”
“I know, but something is happening ...”
The conversation that had engaged Kubo appeared to have come to an abrupt end. Kubo was issuing fresh orders to his men. And she could sense them raising their weapons and preparing to shoot.
A moment later Barb heard Kubo shout “Utsu!” ... the order to fire ... followed by the report of rifles, the dull thud of bullets tearing into human flesh ... and Kristin’s ungodly scream. But Barb felt nothing ... nothing at all!
Slowly it came to her. The reason she was conscious of all these things was that they had shot Kristin ... but not her!
With senses on heightened alert, she strained to make sense of what had happened, as well as what was then happening ... the approaching footsteps ... the squishy noises in the wet grass and mud ... the hot breath on her the back of her neck and shoulders ... a tugging at the binding on her wrists behind the post.
Suddenly released and too weak-kneed from confusion and fright to stand, she found herself pitching forward ... landing on hands and knees.
A boot planted firmly against her butt sent her sprawling. A knee pressed down on her back, pinning her face-down to the damp ground. The blindfold was torn away. The knee removed. A boot toe forced under chest, flipping her over on her side.
She opened her eyes. There lay Kristin, no more than an arm’s length away, writhing about, still blindfolded, bloody froth on her lips and under her nose.
Barb screamed.
***********
“Holy crap! Did you see that?” said Norm to Whitaker.
“I saw.”
“I mean, what gives? First that bastard, Kubo, has those two poor nurses, the little blond and her taller, darker friend, tied to posts and shot. And then they proceed to tie the tall blond and your friend, Moore, to those posts to be shot as well. But some Jap officer suddenly appears out of nowhere and nothing happens except Kobo and the officer jawing away at each other. Kobo appears to get his way. The Japs go back to shooting, but only the blonde gets shot. You’re girlfriend is spared, but look at her! Totally hysterical. On her knees now, bent over her friend, wailing like a banshee!”
“I saw.”
**********
By then Tanaka was crossing the road on his way back to his ‘Type 95’. He had done what he could to save a life ... the life of the American army nurse whom he had come to the assistance of the previous day. He had not cared to remain on the scene once it was clear that Kubo had acquiesced to his wishes. At least for now, he was certain that Lieutenant Barbara Moore would survive. But what the future might hold for her was less certain, as he suspected that Kobo had it in for her, and would make it his business to see that she’d eventually pay the price.
Unfortunately, he could not waste any more of his time looking out for her. He was to have reported back to General Homma yet that morning, and now he was going to be late.
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Fossy
SEXPIOGENTUS
This story is getting under my skin. When Kristen was shot I muttered 'Bastards' to myself - I really thought they would both be spared. Writing of the top echelons Barb!
Praefectus Praetorio
R.I.P. Brother of the Quill
Holy Crap! That episode really go to me also. The brief encounter we had with Kristin made her real and vulnerable to me. Her whispered question, her care for the two murdered nurses. She seemed so sweet! Then to have her die that way!!!
This is a powerfully emotional story.
Fossy
SEXPIOGENTUS
Army Nurse Corp (ANC) First Lieutenant Barbara Ann Moore has her blindfold torn away and sees her friend and colleague writhing on the floor ...
This original photograph was stolen from the Japanese by the Philippines during Japan's three-year occupation in World War II. (AP Photo/U.S. Marine Corps) ASSOCIATED PRESS.
This original photograph was stolen from the Japanese by the Philippines during Japan's three-year occupation in World War II. (AP Photo/U.S. Marine Corps) ASSOCIATED PRESS.
Loxuru
Graf von Kreuzigung
Captain Tanaka clearly has a disciplinary problem with the sergeant. Trouble is, that his stay in the US in the past, could be used against him to undermine his authority.