"Beysebarru" Interrogation

Navy Pilot Joseph G. Nason '42 was shot down over the Solomon Islands during World War II and remained a prisoner of war (horio in Japanese) for two years. Of 63 Allied prisoners in his compound at Rabaul, New Britain, 56 died. Now a retired corporate attorney and Peace Corps volunteer, Nason has published a war memoir, "Horio You Next Die!", with writer Robert Lawrence Holt (Pacific Rim Press). In this excerpt, Nason recounts his second interrogation by the Japanese. During the first questioning the wounded, unwashed prisoner had been beaten.

The next day, with Joe sitting in the hotseat before Major Fujima, the line of questioning took a new twist. Lt. Matsui interpreted, "What work you do before war?"

Surprise registering on his face, Joe remembered the vocation he'd tentatively considered while attending Dartmouth. "I was a sports writer." Matsui repeated the American's words to Fujima. "Beysebarru?" grinned Fujima, holding a cloth over his nose. Joe nodded, returning the grin. Fujima hissed, "Babo Luth . . . Refty O'Dooru—numba won."

Thank God, Joe thought, what a lucky guess. Fujima rattled off a torrent of Japanese to Matsui, who explained, "Majah see Amerlican alo-stars in Tokyo. Babo Luth his favolite. Who you favolite?"