Matsuhiro Watanabe

Mutsuhiro Watanabe (died April 2003) was a Japanese sergeant in World War II. He was classified as a Class-A war criminal following the war for his abuse of prisoners of war (POWs) held by the Japanese military.^[1]

In 1945, General Douglas MacArthur included Watanabe on his list of the 40 most wanted war criminals in Japan. He was listed as No. 23, alias "the Bird".

Laura Hillenbrand, author of Seabiscuit: An American Legend, wrote a biography of Louis Zamperini, a World War II POW who was repeatedly assaulted by Watanabe.^[2] The book, titled Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption, details the multiple accounts of similar abuse by Watanabe.

References

1. ^ Gustkey, Earl (19 February 1998). "Former Track Star, POW, Doesn't Get Closure at 81 in His Return to Japan". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1998/feb/19/sports/sp-20790. Retrieved 27 July 2011. 
2. ^ "Laura Hillenbrand". SeaBiscuitOnline.com bio. http://www.seabiscuitonline.com/author.asp. Retrieved 27 July 2011.