| When the guard and I came to the front of the neighboring house burned in the air raid, we saw a group of about thirty policemen named SHINSEN-GUMI, who were surrounded by soldiers with machine guns and were trapped inside the burned house. The officer who was small but looked quite healthy stood erect beside the machine gun. It was found out later, the commander of the attacking team was Military Policeman Captain Sasaki. I found Grandfather Iida staring at Captain Sasaki, inflamed with indignation. That was very impressive. Grandfather was aged but he was quite a gentleman. He seemed to be regarded as a man on the inside and he was questioned closely his name and the place to which Kiichiro Hiranuma had evacuated. Since Grandfather Iida was a devoted former navy man of the Imperial navy who joined the Japanese Russian War, he just glared back at Captain Sasaki and never yielded to their rude behavior. Sasaki became so impatient with Iida's attitude that he stabbed Grandfather Iida in the abdomen with a Japanese sword. Fortunately, he had put his metal cigarette case in his inner pocket, which saved his life. I kept that cigarette case, with the sword point marks left on its surface vividly, as a commemoration of the day of the end of the war. And when Grandfather Iida who liked cigarette passed away, I put it in his coffin. Grandfather Iida's vigor overpowered these soldiers and they could not do him any further violence. Captain Sasaki cried in a shrill loud voice excitedly, "Listen. Japan has lost. Kiichiro Hiranuma is "a cat's- paw" of the Allied countries and he sold Japan to the enemy. You are also traitors because you protected Kiichiro who worked on the side of the enemy. Shame on you!" |
