* One soldier who survived the bombardment was Sergeant Morita Masura, of the 144th Regiment. He recalled being strafed as they walked along the ridgeline; he fell off one side of the ridge. Only eight of his 40-man unit survived the attack. He was captured later in the war, at Oivi, and imprisoned at Cowra, New South Wales. On his return to Japan, he became president of the Kochi New Guinea Association (whose reunions some veterans still refuse to attend because they disapprove of Morita’s failure to commit suicide while in captivity).