Many American servicemen and witness accounts confirm that taking souvenirs from the bodies of dead Imperial Japanese troops in the Pacific Theater during World War II was considered normal.
Many historians say this occurrence can be traced to the success of the U.S. media’s dehumanization campaign. They claim that it can also be traced to the numerous racist themes prevalent in American society, the corruption of warfare, the cruelty at the hands of Japanese forces and the quest for vengeance.
Body souvenirs were so typical that by September 1942, the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet commanded that “No part of the enemy’s body may be used as a souvenir”, and any American servicemen caught doing so would face “stern disciplinary action”.
The majority of people in the U.S. saw the Japanese as less human. The surprise attack by the Japanese at Pearl Harbor also fueled this rage. The U.S. media also played a vital role in addressing the Japanese degradingly.
In an official U.S. Navy film, Japanese troops were described as “living, snarling rats” and another time as “yellow vermin”. The average American loathed the Japanese and saw him as equal to an animal, so he butchered his body with no moral conscience.
Naill Ferguson wrote: “To the historian who has specialized in German history, this is one of the most troubling aspects of the Second World War: the fact that Allied troops often regarded the Japanese in the same way Germans regarded Russians — as Untermenschen”.
The Japanese were seen as animals; hence it wasn’t surprising that the American soldiers treated their bodies in the same light.
