In 1945 the Daily Globe ran this ad for war bonds with the text "American plea from Japanese hell camps."
About the time I started working for the Daily Globe, a reader complained because we’d included a quote with the word "helluva" in it. I don’t know whether we got any complaints about the "Japanese hell camps" in 1945, but it is certainly possible.
Next post at 6 p.m.
The ships used to take prisoners from the Philipines (or other islands) to Japan were called hell ships. There were many, many pows that did not survive the journey.
I can imagine the conditions involved. It’s really amazing anyone survived the trip.