Justin: [00:00:00] Since the Dawn of civilization, spies of every nation and culture have worked to infiltrate their adversaries and glean the information that will give their side. The advantage the stakes are sky high. The strategies, varied and imaginative. And the ultimate sign of success is that no one ever even knew you were there.
In each episode, we will explore the moral and ethical gray zones of espionage, where treachery and betrayal go hand in hand with cunning and courage. This is the Spycraft 101 podcast. Welcome to your clandestine classroom. This is episode number 52 of the Spycraft 101 podcast. My guest today is Chris Corola, a journalist with the associate press for more than 34 years.
Chris spent more than 30 years working from the APS office in Albany, New York. Although his articles have [00:01:00] appeared all over the world. It was his pursuit of a story about a hometown hero in Saratoga Springs, New York. That brought him to my attention. Chris spent many years trying to get an interview with a former army counterintelligence core agent named Jack Wilpers who grew up nearby.
Knowing from a few earlier news reports that he had taken part in the arrest of Hideki Tojo, one of the most incredible events that occurred in occupied Japan in the immediate aftermath of world war II. I invited Chris on the podcast so that he could share the story that he sought out and finally broke after years of effort.
But first, I wanna say a big thank you to everyone listening. Who's also supporting me on Patreon, including will D and Adam G your monthly contributions there. Help me keep the podcast going week in and week out as a way of thanking my patrons. I offer a lot of great freebees and promotions, including free and discounted books and products from the spycraft 1 0 1 store.
Patrons also get exclusive access to long form articles of mine that aren't available anywhere else. If you haven't signed up for my Patreon yet, but you want to just click the link in the show [00:02:00] notes on whatever podcast platform you're listening to right now. So, Chris, thank you for taking the time to talk to me today.
Chris: Thanks for having me. I'm glad that you're
Justin: here. I first learned about this story over a year ago now, maybe close to two years ago, and I've been wanting to learn more about it ever since then, but I know that it took you a lot longer than a year or two to actually put it all together and get to the bottom of it.
Didn't that?
Chris: Yeah, it took about, 18 years from the time I've learned that Jack Wilpers, who was from Saratoga Springs, played a key role in, in arresting Hideki Tojo to the point where I got him to actually talk to me about that day. But I finally did get him to go into details for the first.
And, you know, 60 something years about his key role in arresting Tojo. That's amazing. That's amazing.
Justin: 18 years from the time you first heard about him until he actually opened up to you. That's I think it was worth the wait, honestly, it's an incredible story as we're about to find out. Yeah. So what was it that kept you coming back for so long?
At what point? Like after say five years, did you not [00:03:00] just, you know, throw in the towel and, and, you know, pursue something.
Chris: Well, I just thought that, he was a fellow, uh, new Yorker, a fellow upstate new Yorker, a guy from a town that I, you know, I, I was living in and still live in, did something pretty amazing that made global headlines at the end of world war II.
And, I really wanted to tell his story and it really hadn't been told, since that fateful day in September, 1945. So I just kept, after him kind of, so I would call him leave messages. He'd hang up on me. I even sent a letter, follow the letter up with a phone call and he did, he did say I got your letter.
Thank you very much, but I'm just not interested in telling this, talking about this. I've been offered a lot of money. Thank you very much. So I started Googling him, you know, I figured if I couldn't write a about him when he is alive, I'd write his obituary for the associated press news because of what he did at the end of world war II.
And that eventually led me to actually getting the interview. I'd been.
Justin: Yeah, there's a really, if I recall correctly from the news [00:04:00] article, I found a really, kind of serendipitous way that you were able to reach him through his son. Is that right? Do I remember that correctly?
Chris: Yeah. like I said, I, I Googled him, and it was the, end of August, 2010.
Because the anniversary of end of world war, war II was coming up. And I thought, I wonder if Jack Wilpers is still around and his name popped up in a Google search. Turns out earlier that year in February, 2010, the Pentagon finally got around to giving him his medal, his bronze star medal. For arresting Tojo.
He was put in for the metal after the, after afterwards, and never got it. He finally did get it and they held a special ceremony at one of the Pentagon offices in suburban Washington, DC, and the Washington post did a story on him. On it, him getting the medal finally. But there were, and they were the only media outlet really that did any kind of story.
The associated press in Washington didn't do their own story. Two things jumped out at me about that story. One, the story, the Washington post story didn't mention that he was a new Yorker or that he was from upstate New York [00:05:00] or any information on his pretty, Kind of interesting background and upbringing.
And it didn't mention really anything about the crazy, stuff that went on that day, that he arrested Tojo, in his own home when Tojo botched his own suicide attempt. So I figured. Let me just see if I can get this guy to talk to me now that he's talked to at least one media outlet. But when I learned about this was this, vet he finally got, I was about to go off on vacation to a place, in Massachusetts, a beach rental I'd been going to for years.
And the last day of my vacation, I'm on a beach. There in Westport, Massachusetts, and a guy walks by carrying his surfboard. He's wearing a Saratoga race, track hat, and I was wearing the same hat and I got chatting with him about Saratoga. I said, is your fam, are you from Saratoga? He said, no, my family used to live there, but it's been a lot of years since anybody, uh, really, uh, came from Saratoga from, from my family.
And I said, what's your family's name? And he said, Wilpers. And I looked at him and I said, [00:06:00] Right to his face. I said, tell your old man, I'm still pissed off at him for not talking to me about capturing Tojo and the guy kinda looked at me and said, yeah, I'm the guy from the associated press. That's been calling your dad for 18 years.
He finally got his medals. He's talked to the Washington post and, and I'm hoping he's gonna talk to, you know, somebody from the associated press finally. And I said, the way we left it is I said, I'm gonna call your dad when I'm back home from vacation. Please let him. A few days later, I called Jack Wilpers, had his home outside of Washington, told him where I was told him that I ran into his son on a beach in Massachusetts.
And Jack Wilpers did not hang up on me. He said, yeah, my son told me about that. And so I just started talking to Jack Wilpers. I eased into the interview by asking about his background growing up. And that's when I learned he was born in Albany new. On November 11th, 19, 19 first anniversary of the end of world war I, and I learned that his father was a bookie.
His father booked bets, at the Saratoga racetrack. And it just went from there that I, [00:07:00] you know, was able to get the story, on Jack's, military career and, details on that just bizarre day in Tojo's house.
Justin: Right that, yeah, it's an incredible story. I mean, and the way that you came to it is fascinating too.
You mentioned that Jack, he was, he must have been a very young guy in the war then if he was born in 1919. So how did he make his way into the counterintelligence core once the war started or was he already, in the army when the war began?
Chris: No, he finished his, college years, June, 1942.
He graduated from St. Michael's college, part of the university of Toronto in Canada. So he, went into the service, end of August, 1942, initially in the army air Corps and was at a base in, in Texas. And then he put in for, Officer candidate school and got through that and was commissioned a second Lieutenant.
So by 1944, he was assigned to the coast, artillery core, which as the war went on, world war II went on. A lot of those [00:08:00] units were, were converted into anti artillery, anti aircraft artillery, battalions, and Jack's particular unit got sent to the Pacific theater. The way I ha it ha the way it happened, I believe.
And I I've been doing research on this. He was recruited into the counterintelligence core, when he, when he got to new Guinea, was known as the CIC was part of the Army's military, intelligence, division. And, as the combat units increased in the Pacific theater. They needed more CIC officers, counterintelligence officers for the various tactical units, the infantry and the, and the air forces.
And the CIC units liked guys that had some sort of investigative background, whether it was a police officer or insurance adjuster, lawyer, they like them to have some sort of some, college education, or at least some years in college. Preferably able to learn another language in Jack Wilber's case.
He was taught Tagalog Filipino language. Oh wow. Because by the time they got to the Pacific general MacArthur was gearing [00:09:00] up for the pending invasion of the Filipino islands. Okay.
Justin: And so they anticipated a need for these counterintelligence guys there in the Philippines, I guess. And, and he's the perfect choice I
Chris: take it.
Yeah. And, and the CIC guys, they served all over in every theater, north Africa, Mediterranean, Europe. And in the Pacific, China, Burma, India, there weren't a lot of 'em maybe about, I just saw a recent number, maybe 5,000 CIC officers overall. So they were kind of a specialized unit within specialized unit sort of thing.
Yeah, I can imagine. Yeah, and their, their job and in the Pacific, part in particular, what Jack Wilpers did was, CIC units provided security for American installations. Looked out for any or tracked down any collaborators, and in the Philippines, they, would try to, track down or would hunt down members of the Japanese campe tie.
And that was the Japanese army secret police kind of like the gustapo mm-hmm and, that's what the CCU and it's in [00:10:00] particular did,By the time they got to the Philippines.
Justin: Wow. Okay. Yeah. Those, the Kim byta have actually come up on a previous episode about Australia during the war, during world war II.
And they were, they were formidable from what I understand, those guys were no joke at all. Did he, do you know much about what he actually did in the Philippines? Was he able to ever capture these guys or interrogate 'em or, or anything like that?
Chris: You know what I've been to been able to find out, from the letters he wrote with a few that survive and his family has provided with me, is that, yeah, that basically that was what, what they were supposed to do, but there's a big gap in his, military career when he was in the Philippines.
He was there eight, nine months during that whole campaign. And he even wrote that at one point, he didn't write a lot of letters home because he was just so busy. He was all over those islands, those Philippine island. Chasing down these collaborators and various Japanese agents. He did tell his children stories over the years about, some of that work.
You know, when they had to hand over collaborators to [00:11:00] the local authorities, the Filipinos, sometimes justice was administered right on the spot, meaning these guys were executed, because the Japanese had, had treated the Filipino so horribly during the occupation. That that bothered Jack Wilpers a lot, because, you know, he had aspirations of being a lawyer after the war.
And growing up the way he did in America, rural law and such, I guess he, he let his children know that seeing some of that stuff was, was kind of tough.
Justin: Yeah. can imagine. I mean, war is brutal, no matter what, but you know, people were these, the, the Filipinos themselves getting revenge or was it the army CIC carrying this stuff out once they caught?
Oh no,
Chris: that , it was, the Filipinos themselves. The CIC guys were basically told, you know, hand these folks over to the. To the local authorities and let them do whatever they're gonna do. And that went on throughout the Philippines, campaign starting in October nine, 1944, pretty much right to the end of the war and, September, 1945.
Dang. Okay. So he [00:12:00] spent.
Justin: Close to a year there in the Philippines. And after, I guess he comes out mostly, mostly unscathed, at least physically. Is his entire unit, do they like go to Japan after the surrender? I mean, how does that work?
Chris: Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Once, once the Emper announced the Japan was, uh, Gonna stop fighting.
He didn't never use the word surrender. That announcement was made in August 15th, 1945. So, all the preparations for the invasion now turned into, preparations for occupation and some of the first units, scheduled to go in where these CIC units and Jack Wilber's unit was, picked to be one of the first ones to go in.
The occupation, the first American forces to land in Japan. Landed on, August 28th, 1945 at an airfield in, outside of Tokyo. The next day, the 11th airborne started landing and transport planes at that airport. Jack Wilpers was on one of those planes. He went in with the 11th, airborne division on August 29th, the next day, general MacArthur lands at the same airport.[00:13:00]
Jack Wilber's beat MacArthur to Japan by a full day.
Justin: Well, I, that, that must have been something surreal to just land in an airplane uncontested, you know, on the enemy territory that you've been gearing up to fire heaven fighting for what's four or five years at this point.
Chris: Right. Right. And they really didn't know how the Japanese were gonna react.
They, they, they, you know, they went in armed. I've heard people say stories. Ah, the Americans went in unarmed. They were told not to no, these guys went unarmed. The story about people going in unarmed comes from MacArthur's plane load of, Where he told them everybody leave your side, arms on the plane.
You know, they'll respect us more, for that. But the ground units that went in, army Marines. Yeah. They were armed cause they didn't know, you know, they just got done fighting a war three and a half, four years against an opponent who was known to pull, a lot of tricks.
Oh, right. Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Jack, Jack Wilpers went in there not knowing. And he was one, like I said, his, uh, CIC unit was, one of the first to step foot on the, on Japan, after the surrender. [00:14:00]
Justin: So was, was there any like active resistance on the main islands there of Japan or did they truly, you know, lay down their arms after the emperor told them to,
Chris: there was very little, very few incidents.
Of resistance. In fact, people were surprised by that, but, people have asked me about why did they, Japanese just sort of just roll over? Well, the, the emperor had said we're done fighting and to the Japanese people, people, the, emperor was emperor here. Heto was like a God. You did what he said and he said stop fighting.
So they did, they didn't and there were about a million Japanese soldiers under arms when the occupation started that and in the home islands, not to mention another million probably in China and who knows how many more scattered across Pacific still had their weapons. And the Japanese eventually said, in the home islands, you know, let us disarm our own guys.
It'll go. And that's basically what happened. They laid down their, their guns.
Justin: Okay. [00:15:00] So the us forces were not really like capturing anyone or occupying strategic locations or anything like that. Is that right?
Chris: No, they, no, they weren't. They occupied, sites, you know, cities, ports, and such. But the handovers were done peacefully.
The Japanese officer, especially the Naval officers, even handed over a map, showing where the harbors had been mined. So, you know, the American ships wouldn't run into 'em. Wow. And they get blown up. So, , there was widespread cooperation on the Japanese part because they were told by their emperor.
We're all done. Wow.
Justin: Wow. That's, that's hard to imagine in that role, you know, I can, I can see it being something very, very eerie at first where like, are they drawing us into a trap? Just like they have on the other islands, we fought through so many times, you know, all these prisoners, you know, pretending to surrender and, and then, you know, shooting or having a grenade or whatever, like, you know, are they waiting for enough of us to land that they can massacre a bunch of us at once or something?
It's, it's really hard to imagine them truly just giving up immediately because the emperor says.
Chris: [00:16:00] Yeah. And, and it was kind of eerie for these guys. Who'd been fighting in the Pacific for, for that long a time just. To land, someplace that Japanese held without facing any kind of opposition, but still at the back of their minds.
And it kept people up at night. You know, what if, yeah. What if they are laying a trap for us, during the surrender ceremony on September 2nd. 1945, you know, that was held on the USS, Missouri, the battleship anchored in Tokyo bay. Every Admiral in general from the Pacific was on that deck of that ship.
So if the Japanese wanted to take out the higher command of the United States, military, and one fell swoop, they could have done it then and there, they didn't, but as a precaution, the us Navy kept an entire fleet out at. On patrol on station in case there was some, treachery on the part of the Japanese.
Hmm. So, and, and, and as the ceremony ended, there was a, a roar from above in about 1500 us bombers and fighters [00:17:00] flew over the Missouri as the Japanese delegation was going back to shore. And that was, that was MacArthur, the showman kind of saying to them, you were never gonna beat us and don't ever think.
Rising up again, basically. Yeah. Wow. What a show of
Justin: force that must have been. Yeah.
Chris: Yeah.
Justin: Oh gosh. So actually, you know, to, to flip it around a little bit, to your knowledge, was there any, like brutality on the part of the Americans or revenge or anything like that? Because, you know, I can imagine so many of these guys coming into Japan had lost friends or had been, you know, wounded themselves or, or seen brutality from the Japanese.
Did any of that get paid back at all on the, on the people of the main island.
Chris: I did not. I have not seen any evidence of that. And I've been, I've been researcher quite ostensibly on the start of the occupation from when Jack Wilpers was there. And there were very few reports of anybody, any Americans, service people going outta their way, the exact revenge.
In fact, I think the Japanese people were surprised when the American GIS. You know, learned that [00:18:00] they weren't gonna be fighting the Japanese on their home island, American GIS were handing out candy, the kids and sharing their food. Cuz so many of the Japanese were starving. So no, I, I saw very little evidence of that happening.
Where, where Americans tried to exact any kind of revenge for, for all that happen for the previous three years. That that's
Justin: good to hear. I mean, it's what an amazing turnaround that was just in a space of days there from, you know, fighting each other to the death and then. Occupying the same islands peacefully and, and somewhat working together.
How much did the Japanese people have to work with the Americans? Did they just go back to trying to open their businesses and rebuilding, you know, bombed out buildings and that sort of thing? Or were they employed by the American government at that point? The occupation forces.
Chris: Yeah. Some people did get hired, you know, because Americans were building, you know, were gonna, you know, be there for a while.
I think their goal by the end of that, September, 1945 was to have 200,000 us troops in end of Japan, home islands. Initially it was gonna be a million for an [00:19:00] invasion, so they toned that down. But yeah, the Japanese immediately got, got put to work, you know, rebuilding their country that we had, United States had bombed.
So extensively and, Japanese people would get hired at the bases and such, and it really, and annals of military history. It's, it's quite remarkable. Like you mentioned, the turnaround, of a conquered people. And the fact that the occupies mostly Americans did not exact. Any kind of retribution or, you know, didn't just strip the country, bear of all its resources.
Right. That didn't happen.
Justin: Yeah. I can imagine that's what the people were expecting. I'm sure there was a lot of propaganda about what would happen once the American invaders landed. I haven't seen it. I can't, you know, quote it off the top of my head, but I would imagine that the people were very fearful when the Americans first started showing.
Chris: Oh, oh, they were, they, the Japanese had their prop prop, propaganda machines that depicted the ally, especially the British and Americans, as devils, as beasts who [00:20:00] were gonna, you know, mutilate and kill and rape everyone, that, you know, the Japanese were no different. They had posters depicting the, you know, Americans as, like I said, devils animals.
So it went both ways, but, they soon found out that, you know, Americans, weren't like that. Hmm. That's
Justin: amazing. Just looking towards the long picture or the long term, I guess. How long did it take to really get back to like a truly peaceful setting? Was it like within five years, you know, things were back to nor life was back to normal for the most part, or was it less than that?
Or.
Chris: From what I know it took, it took several years. I mean, the Japanese people had to, like I said, had to rebuild everything, had to rebuild their, their government, their, their, their infrastructure. You know, MacArthur was in charge of everything. He was the Supreme allied commander, of the occupations, forces.
And he really he got a lot of criticism over the years for, for his handling of, various campaigns and his character. But [00:21:00] he, he really got Japan back on its feet. So it took a while, but by the 1950s, Japan was, as we know is just kind of the, that post-war miracle, of its growing economy.
Yeah, it's truly one of
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So, Chris, it sounds like things were going really well with the occupation overall, but they still had to hunt down a lot of these senior figures in the military and the Japanese government. Right. And that was kind of Wilber's role, you know, among many other individual.
Chris: Correct. Yeah. So like I said, the, the, the, the formal surrender ceremony was September 2nd, 1945.
So now the occupation is kicking in, in full gear. [00:23:00] America, the, uh, allies were building their cases for, war crimes, trials against the, the Japanese, military and civilian leaders. So, I've had people ask me, well, why didn't they do that right away? You know, the first day.
Well, they were still getting logistics down. They were still looking for places to set up headquarters and right. Bombed out Tokyo and Yokohama. So it took a few days to get settled. What wound up happening is on September 11th, the morning of September 11th, MacArthur's headquarters put out a press release saying MacArthur had ordered the, arrest.
Of, 40, uh, Japanese, military and civilian leaders, there might have been one or two. I think there was an Australian in there, a collaborator, who was in, MacArthur's list. These people were all gonna be, arrested, accused of war crimes. And the top of the list was Hideki Tojo, who was prime minister, of, Japan.
When Pearl Harbor was bombed, he became prime minister in October, 1941. The plans to, [00:24:00] bomb Pearl Harbor were already underway. He got blamed for it, but he didn't plan it. That was Admiral Yamamoto, but, was told Joe who signed off on it said, yes, go ahead with this plan. And so I told you was, prime minister.
He was also an army general. He was a career army general. And he was, prime minister until mid July, 1944 when he resigned along with his entire cabinet, because in, by July, 1944 the Americans had taken the island aside pan, which was Japanese held, had a large Japanese, population. So this was a major embarrassment for Tojo, losing CIP.
In July, 1944, he resigns and basically goes off into retirement and, is living in a new house. He had built on the outskirts of, Tokyo when, when the war. Wow. So he's
Justin: just a, basically a private citizen at that point from prime minister down to a individual in a house in
Chris: Tokyo, essentially.
Yeah. And, and he actually called referred to himself as a farmer because the [00:25:00] house at that time was in what was, sort of a suburban, rural area, Tokyo. And, he had some land where he, you know, he wasn't actually doing any farming, but somebody was growing stuff for him. And in fact, on September 10th, 19 45, two correspondence from the associated press, Merlin, Spencer and Russell Bryans found out where he to, to Joe lived.
And got a Japanese, interpreter to go with him. And they got an interview, an exclusive interview with Tojo who was just sitting in his backyard, watching his gardener work so he, AP correspondence got this, scoop you know, sent their story in. I know we, we could, you know, these modern times, we think of that day as being just news got out slowly, well, you know, getting stuff on the associated press wire really didn't take all that much longer than it does now.
The story got out there and, you know, Tojo speaks sort of thing. And that story starts showing up in newspapers in, in the United States back at a time when there were a lot of afternoon newspapers. So, and also [00:26:00] this story would've been read on. Radio broadcast. So people on, in America learning, Hey, that Tojo's
still walking around free, which may or may not have, oh, and then some other correspondence found his house too and, and, and filed stories. But the AP where the first, ones out with the, Tojo interview. It may or may not have prompted MacArthur to act. Quicker than he did on ordering the arrest of these people, including Tojo, I can imagine.
But on September 11th, he, he, he sent out word that these guys were gonna be, arrested. Well, all these correspondence knew now where Tojo lived. So even before, MacArthur's press release came out, they all headed out to, to Joe's house. And, the AP guys, the United press, New York times some magazine writers and also two photographers, one from the associated press.
And another one from yank magazine. Yank magazine was a weekly army publication, put out by active duty soldiers, who had worked in the press business bef before the war, you know, as editors, [00:27:00] reporters and photographers. So they all, they all go out to Tojo. House to cover his arrest.
By the afternoon of September 11th, 1945, there's quite a crowd outside of, to Joe's house. And, earlier in the day, Jack Wilper's CIC detachment got the orders from MacArthur's office. Go arrest to Joe. The only problem was. They didn't know where Tojo lived. so they were getting lost in Tokyo.
Some, one of the AP guys back at the Tokyo office was talking to one of the, uh, soul, officers at MacArthur's headquarters and the officer said we can't find to Joe's house. And one of these reporters says I was there yesterday. I can take you there. So a five man CIC detail pulls up to the AP.
This AP reporter gets in with him and one of the soldiers is Jack Wilpers, so that detachment gets guided to, to Joe's house. And when they get there, all these reporters are outside and the officer in charge, Jack Wilper was a second Lieutenant by then, there was a major in charge of this [00:28:00] detail, the major, bangs on the door announces why he's there to take Tojo into custody for questioning and headquarters.
Tojo won't come out. He goes to a side window. Says something out the window and these two photographers start snapping pictures. He slams the window shut. He's still not coming out. Now this major's getting ticked off. And basically he says, through the door to a Japanese interpreter, you tell that such and such to pack a bag.
We're taking them to headquarters and still nothing. And then they hear a, a, a, a gunshot from inside the house. So this major and, and Jack Wilpers go up and bust in the front door. Now they're in a kind of. A vestibule area and there's another locked door. Jack Wilpers kicks that one open and they go into this room and there's Tojo sitting in the chair.
Tojo had just shot himself in the chest and was bleeding from his chest. And as Jack Wilpers is in his major, go into the room. All those reporters pile in behind them, along with [00:29:00] some Japanese, policemen who were there, supposedly to, to keep Tojo from being assassinated by fellow Japanese. So they all cram into this room, which is basically Tojo's den.
He had a writing desk in there, some furniture, some of his samurai swords, some of his military objects, and they're all piled in there. And just a chaotic scene unfolds like nothing that ever happened during a place else. During world war II, all these reporters are watching Tojo bleed from his chest, waiting for him to die, but turns out Tojo had missed his own heart.
The bullet went through his chest, out, out his back and got lodges in the chair. He was sitting in. In the meantime, the photographers are snapping pictures and the yank magazine photographer, a guy by the name of George Burns, who happened to be from Albany New York. He, uh, snapped a picture that became kind of famous.
It showed. Tojo sitting in his chair, bleeding, wearing a white shirt and there's blood seeping, through the shirt and standing over him pointing, his service revolver at him [00:30:00] is Jack Wilpers and at the same time he's picking up the gun Tojo just used the shot himself. So that picture got widely distributed afterwards and became kind of an iconic photo of, kind of the symbolizing, the fall of the Japanese empire.
Jack Wilpers was identified in the photo, as first Lieutenant Jack Wilpers of Saratoga Springs, New York. Wow.
Justin: What an incredible scene that must have been, I mean, these guys trying to break in and they're the, the CIC agents are outnumbered by the reporters and photographers that are surrounding the place, right?
Chris: Correct. Yeah. I recently found out that two CIC details were sent to find to Joe's. And one of 'em never, never got there. They couldn't find it, but Jack Wilber's detail got there and there was only five of them in the detail. , like I said, they weren't really expecting any resistance, but they, they showed up their armed, like Jack Wilber's had his side arm with him.
They didn't know what was going on in to Joe's house. Who, who was gonna come out to try to defend him, as it turned out, to Joe just sat there. They, they got him, they laid him out in a kind of a futon thing right there in his room. [00:31:00] And. Jack Wilpers learned that to Joe's doctor lived nearby and, ordered the Japanese in the house to get the doctor there.
And the doctor came, he didn't have any medical supplies cuz they were scanned to get in Japan anyway. And Jack Wilpers told his doctor to treat Tojo. And the doctor said, why should I, he wants to die anyway. And Jack Wilpers basically still had his side arm out and this basically kind of gestured to the doctor with it, treat him and treat him now.
And the doctor got the message and he, he did what he could for Tojo and said, well, he's gonna die in a few minutes. Anyway. In the meantime, that major in charge of the detail, contacted an army, medical team, nearby. And they came with a doctor, a couple of, medics. And that that doctor, got some plasma into Tojo.
Some morphine stitched up his wounds got him stabilized. And they transported, Tojo to, eventually to a, army hospital in Tokyo and he wound up surviving, oh man, what
Justin: incredible [00:32:00] scene that was, I mean, we, I'm so glad that we have photos, but it's still kind of hard to put yourself in the place right there.
You know, I'm, I'm just imagining Jack and the other guys on the team and you know, they, they know who Tojo is. Everybody in America knows who Tojo is and has for years. And he's all over propaganda and news reports and all that. And now they're told go to his house and bring him back. It's gotta be amazing.
Actually seeing him standing there at that window here in the shot, you know, rendering first aid, everything, what? That must have been incredible for him.
Chris: Yeah. And, at the same time, these reporters are waiting for Tojo to die. Somebody, one of the AP guys found the only phone in the house got on it, called his office in Tokyo and let them know what happened.
So they, that way the word, the bulletin started going out in the AP wire. So the re the reporters from the competing new services, they would all take turns on that one phone calling in updates and the editors on the other end are the reporters would say, is he dead yet? And the guys at the house would say, no, no, he's still breathing.
He's still, wow. He's still with us. So this went on for a couple hours before that, army medical team got there and, and [00:33:00] got him out of the house. So that story about Tojo's bo tched suicide is now hitting newspapers. At radio stations back in the us and Jack, Jack Wilber's name appeared in a lot of those AP stories and in the New York times stories.
For a guy who didn't want lot of notoriety, being in the army intelligence, he was making headlines and he got credited in some of the stories with being the first to take action, to try to get, you know, try to save Tojo. Oh yeah. Yeah.
Justin: He, I mean, he was a driving force in saving Tojo.
I'm assuming. Tora would've he would've bled out eventually, even if he missed his heart. Right. I mean, it's a bullet through the chest, so he would not have survived without their aid. I take
Chris: it. He probably would've if he was left alone, but as, that army doctor who treated him initially told the reporters.
It was a type of chest wound that, they treated thousands and thousands on the battlefield. The kind of chest wound, if you did get somebody aid quickly, they would survive. Huh? If not, yeah. They, if not, they were eventually gonna die. Wow. But in this case, Tojo [00:34:00] survived it.
Justin: Wow.
So he ended up getting, he didn't want the care, but he ended up getting care from the best possible person to save his life. I guess somebody had seen that many times before. Yep. And I got, I gotta ask you, you, you did mention one thing, you said he got, he received plasma, you know, makes sense with all the blood loss and everything.
Would this have been like American blood from, from the, the age station or the hospital or wherever? Like
Chris: they were. Yep. It was, it was a, it was because the Japanese didn't have any . Right. So this was, this was an American medical supply. And in fact, when he, they got him to the army hospital, and yo it was actually Yokohama where he wound up and, , that he needed more blood, more plasma.
So they went to the hos, the American, army hospital staff to ask for volunteers. And it being the army, they do everything in alphabetical order. So they went down the duty roster and the, the first guy whose name, last name, started with a, they went to him and said, listen, we need, we need some, we need some blood donations, some [00:35:00] plasma right now, will you do it?
And he didn't wanna do it. Cause he knew it was Tojo. And the officer said we'll uh, well, if you do it, we'll give you a bottle of scotch. So he did. And I read a story, found a story about that veteran, who, who years later told that story and it turns out officers never gave him the bottle of scotch.
Oh my gosh. Incredible.
Justin: incredible. Wait, there, there's just some tremendous, tremendous irony there in all the American blood that was shed across the Pacific to get to the home islands there. And then they need more to keep the former prime minister of Japan alive, long enough to put him to trial and maybe sentence him to death after that.
Right. Like I can't hardly wrap my head around it, honestly.
Chris: It's just the way it happened. Yeah. Yeah. Truth is
Justin: stranger than fiction. No doubt about it. So he, he survived this incident and he's in American custody. At that point is Jack's role in this done? Is, does he move on to other tasks and that sort of thing, or is he still involved in the, in the trial and everything?
Chris: His CIC, unit was tasked with taking in [00:36:00] more, accused war criminals. In fact, soon after the Tojo incident, which is what Jack Wilpers would call it, the Tojo incident, they arrested a high ranking Admiral. And that major I mentioned, who busted in the door was involved in, in that arrest.
I think Jack Wilpers was involved with that. The thing is when they showed up at that Admiral's house, this Admiral spoke some English. And so this time the American CIC guys showed up with their guns drawn and the Admiral came to the door and started laughing and said, don't worry. I'm not gonna pull a Tojo.
basically. And surrendered, surrendered, peacefully. Another thing the CIC guys were doing early on, we're trying to track down Tokyo rose. Oh, yeah, the woman, I, I should say the women who did propaganda broadcast in the Pacific and, the CIC and I'm still researching it. I think it might have been Jack Wilpers CIC, unit, might have gotten, might have arrested the main woman known as Tokyo rose with the help of the reporters from yank magazine.
So again, they [00:37:00] were kind of following the, the press guys to to find the people they wanted. Wow.
There was so sorry. Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah, Jack was, by the time told you, I went on trial that didn't start until 1947. Jack Wilpers, was sent home, and, by the summer of 1946, he was, sent back to the us. So, and he did not have to go back to Japan and, uh, and, uh, testified during to Joe's trial.
Those, Japanese war, criminal trials lasted a couple years. So, but by then, Jack Wilpers was back stateside and in 1947, he joined the CIA, the brand new CIA that's right. That's
Justin: right. So do you know much about his career once he joined
Chris: the CIA? I know a little bit from what his children has have told me.
But as you know, the CIA was founded in 1947. And what from his, son, John has told me, he believes his father was one of the first 150. Employees of the CIA. Wow. When it was started, Jack had gone [00:38:00] after the war. He stayed in the army, worked for the war department before he became the department of defense.
As you know, at the, the CIA, basically all the old, OSS guys, anyone with any kind of intelligence background from the army Navy Marines air force got recruited for the CIA. So Jack, Wilpers started his CIA career, in 1947. Wound up working 28 years, with the agency based outta Langley, did various jobs.
He, according to his family, turned down overseas postings cuz by the 1950s he had started a family wound up having five kids. And he settled in Garrett park, Maryland, right outside of Washington. So, do
Justin: you think that his career with the CIA, was it hindered in any way because his, you know, face had been all over the newspapers, you know, a couple of years before, did that have any effect on it at all?
Chris: I don't know, but, I don't think it would, because, he had been in just, you know, in that famous photo and, and, and, and local papers, [00:39:00] published his, his official army portrait. But, I don't know that he'd be that notorious, you know, that well known that it would hinder, anything in his professional career.
And, like I said, he worked 28 years. For the agency. Yeah. I
Justin: guess if he didn't want to go overseas, once he started his family, you know, he's probably not involved in any like clandestine stuff that he's, you know, gonna get picked up at a foreign airport or anything at that point. So it probably doesn't matter if his face is out there in a newspaper report somewhere.
Right. So back to, Tojo for a moment. I mean, how was he treated? I mean, he was kind of like a, was he a prisoner of war or was he a, criminal detainee? Really, I mean,
Chris: how did that affect it? Pretty much. Yeah, pretty much a criminal detainee. He did recover after a few months in a hospital and then he was transferred to the prison, in Tokyo where other accused were criminals were being held.
And for what I know and read, he was pretty much shunned by everybody. The Japanese themselves, [00:40:00] the Japanese public basically blamed him for the war for losing the war since he was prime minister for so much of it. Hmm. Yeah, he was kept in this prison and, and in 19 46, I believe it was may of 46.
The Tokyo war tribunal started and that trial lasted about two years. And in the spring of 1948, they came back with guilty verdicts, of committing war crimes against Tojo and six other, Japanese, military and civilian officials. And they were sentenced to, to. And those executions were carried out, just before Christmas, 1948.
Tojo was hung, a week shy of his, 64th birthday. Oh, wow.
Justin: So they were all, they were all hung together. The six of them
Chris: there, actually a total of seven, seven, separately. Their, uh, bodies were cremated. And the ashes reportedly, according to the army were, were taken up on a plane and the ashes were dumped out over the ocean, cuz they didn't want these ashes to be collected anywhere and putting a [00:41:00] shrine to, to these guys.
So there's stories, there are stories out there that say the guy who ran a crematorium, the Japanese, guy, collected some of these ashes and they were secreted to a place in Japan. But there's variance accounts of whether or not that's true. According to what Jack Wilpers told me, he said, yeah, that these ashes were, were taken out and, and scattered over the ocean.
Hmm
Justin: Hmm. Yeah. That's interesting. I can see what somebody would wanna keep it, I guess, but it sounds more like a fantastic story than anything else. To me, I doubt that the, , army would allow that kind of, or that had that lack of oversight over his ashes. If they've already made that decision.
Chris: They went to great lengths, the army after the execution, to, ensure that didn't happen. So, yeah, I can imagine.
Justin: Yeah. Yeah. So what were the specific war crimes that he was convicted of? I mean, obviously he, he signed off on Pearl Harbor, like you said, and there was a lot of cruelty in the war, but I mean, what was he as the primary minister responsible.
Chris: Well, it was [00:42:00] kinda like an overall thing. He was the guy in charge of the Japanese military in essence. You know, when he was prime minister, he was also, I believe he was minister of finance minister of education. He wore a lot of different hats and so he controlled so much of the Japanese society.
And like I said, he was a general who came up through the officer ranks. And he, basically had put. Writings to the army saying, you know, Japanese soldiers don't surrender ever. There were just, indications that a lot of what he, a lot of his orders, a lot of his policies led to the mistreatment of allied POWs.
Which, you know, they then in turn, got used against him in, in, in the war crimes, trials, mm-hmm , but basically, you know, convicted of, of crimes against humanity. He was prime minister during the, when the, the Baton death March was held, happened when it, when it occurred.
And as those stories came out over the years during the war, cases were built more, more about how Tojo, was ultimately [00:43:00] responsible cuz he was the, he was the head guy in charge. He was given the orders. And these were carried out all across the Pacific, the ill treatment of L I P O Ws. , and by the time Tojo was captured or arrested.
So many of those POWs had been freed and their stories were just coming out, in September, 1945, just, just, just then being published and aired on radio broadcast. So, the American public especially was becoming more enraged and, they wanted Tojo, the army wanted Tojo alive to put on trial, and Jack Wilpers
pretty much made sure that happened. Yeah. Very, very
Justin: understandable. There was certainly a lot to answer for there. Right? No question about it. And you know, you said six other guys was that was that seven total out of the 40 original or were there was seven
Chris: total more, there was seven, including, including Tojo.
Justin: Okay, those other guys that were captured, they just had prison sentences. I mean, were any of them found, not guilty or anything? ,
Chris: you know, I'm not sure in the numbers on that, but I believe most of 'em were found [00:44:00] guilty and served, a prison sentence, of various lengths. And a lot of 'em were eventually pardoned.
A lot of the Japanese war criminals of lower ranks were eventually pardoned. A lot of 'em were, were executed. The guys that were actually carrying out the beatings and the killings. Hmm. A lot of 'em were execut. The rank and file soldiers, but also there was a lot that were eventually pardoned because at that time, the war's over the cold wars started, and Japan is gonna be a key ally, a key staging area for what becomes the, you know, Korean war.
Yeah, it's still controversial, , that a lot of these guys essentially got off. Yeah. That's, that's
Justin: an incredibly delicate thing to balance correctly, trying to turn a former. Into an ally while also holding them accountable for their past actions while also wanting to move on. I'm sure that was very hard to get.
Right. But I mean, we are close allies now, so it, it seems like in the long run anyway, it worked out.
Chris: Yeah.
Justin: So, I do have to ask you one other question, Chris, I've heard a very funny story. I'm not sure if it was [00:45:00] from your article or another one about, this story about Tojo's dentures. Do you recall that one?
Is that something that you wrote up?
Chris: I did not write up, but I've seen that and apparently. When Tojo was being held in prison. Of course he was given the finest, you know, medical and dental treatment. And he had dentures. And I guess an army dentist, I'm sorry. I think it was a Navy dentist when he had his, was fixing his dentures, and graves into the teeth, the back of the teeth in Morse code.
So it read, I think, remember Pearl Harbor so, you know, told you was probably running his teeth and across his dentures feeling these bump. Probably didn't know what the heck it was, but at some point somebody figured this out and that particular Navy dentist got in some trouble.
Justin: yeah. Yeah. It's incredible stuff.
I think it started essentially as a prank really, and it's, it's kind of a harmless prank, but it's got some serious repercussions when you think about it. But every day he's wearing dentures that say, remember Pearl Harbor up until his execution. Anyway, I think right. Incredible stuff. It [00:46:00] makes me laugh.
Honestly, it doesn't really hurt anybody, but, nobody deserved it more than Tojo. I don't think just, you know, something like. Right. Right. So, Chris, this is a fascinating story. I know that you've written articles about it. Have you, are you turning it into a book or have you considered turning
Chris: it into a book?
Yeah, I am. That's what I'm doing now doing research for a book on Jack Wilpers and his role, his key role in arresting Tojo and keeping him alive and, and Tojo was, was just this figure from the war, who still stands out when people. Hear about leaders of that war, you know, Mussolini was killed by Italian grillers.
So we didn't, you know, allies couldn't put him on trial. Mm-hmm he was executed, two days later, Hitler commits suicide and his bunker in Berlin. So we didn't put him on trial, but we put Tojo on trial. That meant a lot to a lot of people. And Jack Wilpers was, was in the middle of all that, and then went on to a, you know, post-war career where he didn't really talk about it to anybody.
What I've found out and learned from my research to do this [00:47:00] book, Is about Jack's upbringing and his early life, which I think really played a role into what he did, not only during the war, but after the war, because, he was, like I said, born in Albany. His father was a bookie father.
Also ran speakeasies during prohibition. And he grew up in Saratoga Springs, which is home to the, you know, the country's most famous race track. And during that era, when Jack was growing up as a kid in the thirties and early forties, everybody came to Saratoga for the racing season. Not only the richest people in America, but also the gangsters and, and gamblers and grifter and conmen and prostitutes, and Jack Wilpers kind of grew up in the middle of that.
And I think kind of shaped his character in one way and that, You weren't gonna pull a fast one on him. He, he kind of has some street smarts, and coming from Saratoga, and being in Saratoga. If you're on a racetrack, there's always somebody trying to separate you from your money. Jack Wilpers, wasn't gonna let that happen.
So I, I think that stood him well. From where, where he came from [00:48:00] and, his upbringing. Let me just add that his mother was the, the calming influence from what I know, she was a devout Catholic and made sure he got educated in Catholic schools, which he did from grade school right up through college.
He was a smart, he was an excellent student, smart guy, witty But he kind of had this sort of, street cred coming from Saratoga. You know, nobody was gonna, pull anything over on him. So I think being an intelligence officer and then going into CIA, that background, that ability to read a character, very quickly.
I think that helped him out, in his career. Yeah, it
Justin: sounds like it, I mean, it just sounds like he was the right man and the right place at the right time to handle that situation. Perfect.
Chris: Exactly. That's fascinating.
Justin: So when do you have a, a timeline for your book yet? I mean, will it be out maybe next year or are you still writing?
Oh,
Chris: yeah, I'm hoping, still researching and writing. Like I said, the, the one gap I've gotta fill, probably with a visit to the national archives to look up, records of his particular unit when it was in the Philippines. Right. Like I said, as you [00:49:00] probably know, there's not a lot out there on the CIC, on their various, movements and such, but stuff is out there.
I know the unit, he was in a 308th CIC detachment. So, yeah, it'll probably be a couple years before, before anything hits print. Okay. Well, I'm looking forward to it.
Justin: It's definitely gonna find a place on my bookshelf once it's. Great. Great. Well, thanks a lot, Chris. This has been really informative.
I love this story and I was glad that everybody gets to hear it from you since you probably know it better than anybody else in the world at this point.
Chris: Right? Yep. Thank you. All
Justin: right, well, thank you so much, Chris. Take care.
Chris: Take care.
Justin: If you're interested in more of spycraft 1 0 1. Look for my pages on Instagram at spycraft 1 0 1 and at cold dot war dot stamps, you can also find more great articles on my website.
Spycraft one oh one.com. Thank you all for listening. And I hope you'll stick around because there's lots more to come.