Attention!

It was hot and sticky in Manila, but by 1 :30 in the afternoon crowds had completely jammed the big ballroom of the High Commissioner's residence. Outside, the MPs fingered their Tommy guns. Inside, the spectators coughed, shuffled their feet.

After a long time there was a stir. Japan's General Tomoyuki Yamashita entered, walked to the desk at which he had sat all during his 32-day war-crimes trial. He stole glances at the crowd. A resplendent colonel of MPs roared: "Attention!"

The five U.S. generals of the trial commission filed to their places. Major General R. B. Reynolds immediately began to read aloud. He turned a page, another, two more. Yamashita licked his lips, blinked, moved uneasily. Finally Reynolds paused. "The accused," he directed, "will take his position before the commission."

Yamashita rose and marched forward. At his side an interpreter rustled a paper, read a statement which the General had prepared:

"I wish to state that I stand here today with [a] clear conscience. I want to thank the United States of America for a fair trial.* I swear before my Creator that I am innocent of the charges brought against me."

Then General Reynolds read the verdict: "The commission finds you guilty as charged and sentences you to death by hanging."

* In Tokyo, Yamashita's wife rejected a suggestion that she appeal to Mrs. Douglas MacArthur. Said she: "The American method of justice is admirably fair. I am pleased with it. I thought my husband should be put on trial . . . because he took command ... in the front." This did not mean that Mrs. Yamashita, too, condemned her husband; she was merely answering a question politely, like a Japanese lady.

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