Ex-Powsaid Defense in Tri Alof"Tokyo Rose" Declares Mrs
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PACIFIC CITIZEN 8. SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, |VOL29;NO. SATURDAY, AUGUST 20, 1949. Price: Ten cent* Reigns OverL.A.'s Nisei Week Two Ex-POWsAid Defense In Tri alof"Tokyo Rose" Declares Mrs. cTAquino Took Part i n Conspiracy Against Propaganda on Radio Tokyo By MARION TAJIRI SAN FRANCISCO Two prisoners of Japan, wh o were plucked — from out of POW ranks to broadcast on Radio Tokyo dur- i ng the war, thi s week came to the defenseof Iva Toguri d'Aquino, on trial for treason as the alleged "Tokyo Rose" of Japan's war- time radio. Th ey were Ch arles H. Cousens, formerly*i major with the Australian army, and Major Wallace E. Ince of the U. S. Army, wh o with the defendant and Lt. Norman Reyes, a Filipino POW, produced much of the Zero H»>ur, . the Radio Tokyo program over wh i ch the defendant i s accused of Tamba paved the way for i ntro- maki ng treasonable broadcasts to duction of the serious, greying demoralize American figh ting men. Australian as the first and major Th e h ushed defense witness. courtroom vibrated Cousens said h e was with stifled emotion as the two born i n witnesses, India, j oined the Australian forces CHARLES COUSENS, former the first for the defense, i n June of 1940 and went told their stories to the overseas Australian Army officer, was the court. i n January of the following year. first witness as the defense open- Both said the Zero Hour, though He h ad been, h o designed by the Japanese as i s now, a radio ed i ts presentation i n the "Tokyo as a announcer for Station, 2 TV i n Rose" trial i n San Francisco. "homesicky" program to demoral- Sydney. i ze the efforts of the American He was captured with h i s, bat- figh ting1 men, was i n actuality a taken aboard shi p, h e added. talion during the fall of Mal.iya (hose program to entertain nnd k eep up and to "We could h ave broken the sent Ch angi j ail i n Burma. Japanese to small pieces," the morale ofthe troops. During h i s stay there, h e said, Both formerAustralian major said, said that Mrs. d'Aquino aid- h e was asked three times by the messy ed American and prison- Japaneseto "but i t would h ave been the allied broadcast for them but for our boys." ers of war with purchases on the refused, h i s refusal causing h i s con- black market of fruits and vege- finement i n solitary on two oc- Fifteen h undred prisoners were tables and medicines. casions. aboardthe Arabia Maru wh i ch took Both denied that the Nisei h ad In May h e was sent with other them to their next prison stop at ever made any of the morale- POWs to Burma. Merg-oy i n Burma, h e continued. damaging statements attributed to Eii i route, wh i le the men were at "We were packed shoulder to h er by government witnesses. Singapore docks, h e related, they shoulder i n three h oles," h e said. In most i nstances their testimony witnessed the murder of two men He broke dcwn again as h e fitted together the defense picture by the Japanese Kempeitai. described Ihe maintenance of ofthe Nisei as an American citi- A coolie wh o h ad tried to steal morale among the men despite zen wh o, through out the war, h elp- food was beaten, h e said, and h i s their crude food rations and the ed to sabotage the Japanese. h ead forced under a water tap i n lack of sanitary facilities. Major Ince said, as did Cousens, a version of the old "water tor- "All lived," h e said, "but a lot Miss Reik o Inouye, queen of the last Nisei Week Festival wh i ch prisoners of of them lost their reason." that the Zero Hour ture." (hi s wis h eld i n 1941, crowns Terri Hokoda, queen of the 1949 Los Angeles war tried consistently to thwart Cousens, wh o h ad maintained Th e prosecution objected to (riebrjtion, at the coronation ball on Airg. 13. the purpose ofthe program. h i s calm, serious composure up to line of testimony but Wayne —.Ph oto by Toyo Miyatake. Los Angeles. He said that one script written thi s point broke down wh en ask- Collins, defense attorney, said that on Washi ngton's birthday and con- ed to relate the details of the thi s evidence of military rule and taining the "Once again the second murder. brutality h ad been related to the line, and Plan to old h orse cavalry comes i nto i ts His voice faltered, then stop- defendant was part of the Initiate Case for New own, i f only i n music, 'Sabers and ped completely as h e fough t to coercive forces under wh i ch Mrs. Spurs,'" was a tribute to Gen. tell the story of the murder of d'Aquino broadcast. Supreme Court Test of State Jonathon Wainwrigh t, under wh om a fellow Australian. Some twenty James Knapp, prosecution con- h e served and wh o was also cap- feet away Mrs. d'Aquino, sitting sultant, i nsisted that coercion, tured at Corregidor. at the defense table, sobbed to extirpate the crime of treason, Ali en Land Law i n Cali fornia that h e and two quietly i nto a wh i teh andkerchi ef. must be force. He alsosaid Monday SAN other prisoners wf war at Bunka, It was the first emotional Th e witness afternoon FRANCISCO—A new test case of the California anti- breakdown cf the wan, thi n- told h ow h e and Mrs. d'Aquino alien land by George A. Henshaw and Frederick law, wh i ch proh i bits the purchase of real property Ferguson Smith, wrote a broadcast cheeked defendant, wh o h ad re- came to broadcast over the Radio aliens of Japanese ancestry, will be i nitiated by the Civil Righ ts upon the death of President Roose- mained poker-faced through out Tokyo airwaves for the Japanese. Defense Union of cooperation with the velt wh i ch was broadcast over six strenuous weeks of damaging From Ch angi prison, h e related, Northern California i n testimony from prosecution wit- h o was taken to Hiroshi ma. Th en, JACL, the ADC Legal of Southern Radio Tokyo. and the JACL Defense Fund In one i mportant i nstance, h ow- nesses. blindfolded, h e was taken by mili- California. and Major Ince fail- Struggling for h i s words, tary escort to Tokyo by train.. ever, Oousens July Decision of the Civil Righ ts Defense Union to i nitiate the to agree. Cousens described h ow an Aus- Th i s was 81, 1942. ed was beaten, about His escorts straigh t case was made by CRDU board Cousens described the Zero Hour tralian comrade h eaded h i m Th ursday afternoon, Aug. 19, the Major Ince, the back by a Kempei man wh i le for Kempei h eadquarters, wh tre h e of directors and foursome—Lt. Reyes, other officials. h i mself and the defendant—as a two others h eld h i m. Th o man was told by a "little Japanese, a board members pointed closely and trusting group was beatem to the ground, h e said, plainclothesman," that h e was a k nit upon prisoner of the Japanese and must «t that the Oyama case, decided National JACL wh i ch worked together to outwit forced to h i s feet by blows the ankles, then beaten downagain, obey orders. k the U.S. Supreme court, h as Donation the Japanese. morning, Receives Ince, h owever, declared wh i le h i s anguished fellow POWs In the lie related, h o ruled on validity of Major was taken, to army h eadquarters, JW the the flatly that h e h i mself never trust- looked on. Uh fornia state law but merely From Ch i lean Th e man died as h e was, being ('Continued on page 4) Mcd out ed Iva d'Aquino, that h e h ad pro- the "presumption of week use on the Zero Pit clause i n cases Th e National JACL thi s tested against h er i my wh erein prop- a donation of $100 i n that h e suspected h er was purchased by an alien received Hov.r and Japa- Parent for h i s United States currency from Dr. of being an agent of the citizen chi ld. Kawaguchi , chi ro- , Defense to Paul Saburo a nese. , _ , Judge Roche Denies J?or, the Oyama case, Caii - practor of 218 Calle San Enrique, Both Cousens and Ince broKe escheated property be- Villa Alemana, Ch i ls. upon the stand as they testi- k "& hto f«" down the r®W citizens of Japanese an- A letter accompanying the fied to their treatment dining Moti on forAcquittalVerdict purchase Kawa- »,. ""Srouncs that donation noted that Dr. Federal because the Japanese were losing mad« by their alien guchi h ad learned of Ihe work of For the defendant, too, the ap- SAN FRANCISCO 2LW&Wh i le the Oyama persons on the stand Judge Michael J. Roche —on Aug.