They Deserted in 1944

Two Japs Found In Manus

CAPTAIN R. C. CLAMMER, an inspec tor of the Royal Papuan Constabu lary, who is visiting Brisbane on vacation, exploded the belief that Japanese soldiers, rather than desert, would commit hari-kari.

Two Japanese deserters, he said, had hidden in tabu country on Manus Island for five years, living like Robinson Crusoe until thev were cantured recently bv six natives from Mali Bay. The natives were on a pig hunting expedition.

The deserters were brought to police district headquarters at Lorengau, where they were interrogated, and were being held in the Japanese war criminals’ com pound until they could be returned to Japan.

Captain Crammer said the men, when captured, were in perfect health, shaven, and appeared to register little surprise when they learned the war had ended.

They had deserted from the Army in February, 1944, when the Allies landed at Los Negros. “The Americans were too strong,” the deserters declared, so they fled inland for threel days and reached a fertile area where coconut trees and other signs of cultivation were evident. Overgrown gardens contained kau kau and taro.

From scraps of iron found, one of the Japanese, who was a blacksmith by trade, had made knives, razors and spearheads.

The other Jan was a farmer.

Food was obtained by hunting wild pigs and other game, and in order to over come the absence of mineral salt, the Japanese had burnt a species of tree and used the ash.

When the deserters were captured in March, 1949, they were wearing ragged shirts, trousers made of pigskin sewn with gut, and pigskin sandals. Pieskin was also used for making water bags.