The Evening Star (December 15, 1945)
Editorial: Unpleasant spectacle
In an information sheet handed to the press at the court-martial of Capt. Charles B. McVay III the Navy quoted Cmdr. Iko Hashimoto, Japanese submarine skipper, as commenting that his trip to America had been a “pleasant” one. There are many persons, however, who do not regard the spectacle of Hashimoto’s appearance as a witness against Capt. McVay as a pleasant one. And on the basis of this enemy alien’s testimony at the extraordinary Navy Yard proceedings. there are many who will fail to see any justification for affording Hashimoto such a “pleasant” interlude.
The announced purpose of bringing the Japanese officer here was to establish that his submarine had torpedoed Capt. McVay’s ill-fated ship, the USS Indianapolis, thus laying a legal groundwork for the charge that Capt. McVay hazarded his cruiser by failing to zigzag in waters where enemy submarines were believed to be operating. If Hashimoto’s testimony had been necessary to support this premise or if his testimony had been needed to establish any other material fact, his use as a prosecution witness would have been justified. But the consensus of credible American witnesses has been that the cruiser was torpedoed. As a matter of fact, Hashimoto’s testimony failed to establish definitely that his submarine sank the Indianapolis. He said he torpedoed a ship as large or larger than a cruiser, but in a location fifty-five miles from that where the Indianapolis went down. Nor was Japanese testimony necessary to show that Capt. McVay was not steering a zigzag course. All of the witnesses have agreed on this point. Incidentally, Hashimoto testified that he could have sunk the ship whether she was zigzagging or not.
What, then, was accomplished by transporting from Japan a defeated enemy whose credibility, to put it mildly, was subject to questioning?