Dear Friends;

I regret having to send you a form letter, but it is necessary due to the number of videos being mailed. The video was taped from the CBS Special featuring Louis Zamperini ( 1936 Olympic runner and a POW at Omori and Naoetsu ) which was shown in tha States on Sunday evening (2/22/98) as part of CBS's broadcast of the closing ceremonies of the winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. Some of you will receive a copy of my tape, which includes my interview for a local TV station, and others will receive copies of only the CBS Special as provided by friends. I would appreciate your sharing it , or copies , with other X-POWs in your area.


The 1 1/2 hour interview was made while the roofers were repairing the roof on my townhouse apartment. The noise made nearly all of the tape unusable. If you wish to see how I looked while in Omori notice the photo of the men on the pier . I am the youth standing near the end of the pier wearing a short sleeve white shirt ( which cost me a can of food from a Red Cross parcel ), hands on hips and with the unruly mop of hair ( I wish I still had that much).

I have several comments about the CBS Special which may be of interest to you. Most of the still photos of Omori came from my collection or from my book. The photo of Watanabe was provided by Yuichi Hatto, who was a former Japanese Pay Sergeant at Omori. He used to come by the room I shared with Commander Maher. Maher helped him with his English and told him more about the United States. He was nice to us. Tom Wade was sent to Naoetsu in my place. Watanabe wanted me to be his Camp Work Officer at Naoetsu when he came back to Omori for a visit. Fortunately, I was down with a infection in each ear and could barely hear The Bird as he expressed his condolences because he thought he had broken my ears drums some of the beating he had given me. I did not explain otherwise. He then selected Wade as my replacement.

My best wishes to each of you.


Sincerely
Bob
Robert R.Martindale

(Note: The actual running time of the interview and CBS Special is about 40 minutes.)
Bob Simon, the CBS Senior Correspondent for the Middle East, did the narration and the interview with Watanabe in March ,1997.