The Geneva Convention: Preventing Atrocities Towards Prisoners of War

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The Geneva Convention: Preventing Atrocities Towards Prisoners of War

The Allied established the Geneva Convention to protect wounded soldiers in 1864. They amended it four times with the fourth time following some of most atrocious acts against prisoners of war during World War II. I will provide evidence of what I believe led to the modifications of the Geneva Convention in 1949 to protect POWs. I will present the reasons behind the amendment and accounts of the 6th Bomb Squadron 29th Bomb Group 314th Wing during World War II. Finally, I will discuss the modifications that resulted from these acts of violence.

Several nations failed to abide by the Geneva Convention during World War II. As a result of this, the convention met for the fourth time to redefine and establish the rules to protect future veterans. (Simpkin) There were 130,000 POWs captured during World War II. Japan killed the most American POWs with a staggering rate at forty percent of 27,465. (Reynolds 10) It was these outrageous events of World War II that led to the Geneva Convention of 1949, which righted the wrongs of the previous conventions. (Geneva Conventions 864) So how bad were POWs treated? I am going to tell the accounts of one of the most severe acts against mankind that occurred during World War II.

An interview by an Army special agent with pilot Marvin S. Watkins revealed the following events that occurred following a bombing run in Japan.

On May 5, 1945, the 6th Bomb Squadron 29th Bomb Group 314th Wing had just completed a bombing run on Tachairai air depot and was returning to our base in Guam. The following crew members were onboard: William R. Fredericks, Co-Pilot; Howard T. Shingledecker, Bombardier; Charles Kearns, Navigator; Dale Plambeck, Radar Navigator; Teddy Poncezki, Engineer; John Colehower, Gunner; Cpl. Johnson, Gunner; Cpl. Oeinck, Gunner; Cpl. Czarnecki, Gunner; Robert Williams, Radio Operator; and myself as pilot.

At 0800, we were ten to twenty miles away from the target when a twin-engine enemy fighter attacked us over the island of Kyushu. One of our engines caught fire, which required the crew to abandon. The engineer and I remained onboard and we continued our flight for another five miles until we lost a wing. We then bailed out and parachuted safely before the plane crashed near the town of Taketa. I evaded capture for eight hours. I was blindfolded, handcuffed, and taken by train to a camp.

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