Cast of Characters

Note: Karafuto Island and Toro Airfield became Sakhalin Oblast and Shakhtyorsk Airfield, respectively, after the Soviets captured them in August–September 1945.

U.S. Navy

USS Maxwell (DD 525) (Crackerjack), attached to DESRON 77

       Cdr. Alton C. (Todd) Ingram, commanding officer

       Lt. Cdr. Eldon P. (Tubby) White, executive officer

       Lt. Thomas F. (Woody) Woodruff, operations officer

       Lt. Julian Falco, gunnery officer, main battery director

DESRON 77

Maxwell (flag); DesDiv 77.1, Maxwell (flag), Shaler, Bertea, and Geiler; DesDiv 77.2, Wallace (flag), Cheffer, Beaulieu, and Truax

       Capt. Jeremiah T. (Boom Boom) Landa, commodore, Destroyer Squadron 77

Eleventh Naval District, Long Beach, California

       Cdr. Oliver P. (Ollie) Toliver III, case officer, Office of Naval Intelligence (ONI)

       Cdr. Walter (Walt) Hodges, supply officer, Long Beach Naval Station

Other U.S. Navy Personnel

       Adm. William F. Halsey Jr., commander, Third Fleet

       Vice Adm. John S. McCain Sr., commander, Task Force 38 under Admiral Halsey

       Lt. Larry M. O’Toole, attached as Japanese-language interpreter to Manila peace talks and first Karafuto expedition

U.S. Army

SCAP Staff, Manila and Tokyo

       Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur, supreme commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP)

       Gen. Richard K. Sutherland, General MacArthur’s chief of staff

       Brig. Gen. Otis (n) DeWitt, aide to General Sutherland

       Col. Sydney Mashbir, Japanese-language expert and chief negotiator, Manila

       Maj. Clive W. Neidemeier, State Department liaison, Ie Shima Air Base/Atsugi Air Base

Karafuto (Sakhalin) Expeditions

       First expedition: USAAF C-54, tail number 626384 (Hot Rod 384)

       Second expedition: USAAF C-54 744326 (Apprentice 26)

       Maj. Marvin F. (Bucky) Radcliff, pilot and aircraft commander, first expedition

       1st Lt. Leroy Telford K. Peoples, copilot, first expedition; pilot and aircraft commander, second expedition

       Capt. Jonathan L. (Jon) Berne, navigator, first and second expeditions

       2nd Lt. Richard W. Lassiter, copilot, second expedition

       Sgt. Leonard (n) Hammer, flight sergeant, engineer, first and second expeditions

       GySgt. Ulysses Gaylord (Ugly) Harper, USMC, squad leader of thirteen Marines, first expedition

       GySgt. Horace T. Boland, USMC, squad leader of thirteen Marines, second expedition

       Colin Blinde, agent, Office of Strategic Services (OSS)

San Pedro, California

       Maj. Helen Durand Ingram, U.S. Army, Todd Ingram’s wife; floor nurse, Ward 6, Fort MacArthur Infirmary

       Emma Peabody, Todd and Helen Ingram’s next-door neighbor on South Alma Street

       Maj. Julian T. Raduga, MD, U.S. Army, psychiatrist, Fort MacArthur Infirmary

       Cpl. Eddie Bergen, patient, Ward 6, Fort MacArthur Infirmary; previously U.S. Army M-4 tanker on Okinawa

Hollywood, California

       Laura West, pianist, NBC Symphony Orchestra, West Coast Division

       Maestro Arturo Toscanini, conductor, NBC Symphony Orchestra, West Coast Division

       Roberta Thatcher, business manager, NBC Symphony Orchestra

       Anoushka Dezhnev, Russian film star; mother of Eduard Dezhnev

Soviets

USSR Navy

       Captain Third Rank Eduard Ianovich Dezhnev, garrison commander, 21st Naval Regiment, Shakhtyorsk Airfield, Sakhalin Island

       Captain First Rank Gennady Kulibin, Dezhnev’s immediate superior at Shakhtyorsk Airfield, Sakhalin; later, commanding officer of the cruiser Admiral Volshkov

NKVD (Narodnyi Kommissariat Vnutrennikh del), Soviet Secret Service, predecessor of the MGB and KGB

       Karol Dudek, Polish assassin

       Oleg Lepechn, agent, Shakhtyorsk Airfield, Sakhalin

       Matvie Borzakov, agent, Shakhtyorsk Airfield, Sakhalin

Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN)

       Captain Shiroku Fujimoto, commander minefields of Tokyo Bay and environs

       Major Kotoku Fujimoto, commander Toro Airfield, Karafuto (Sakhalin), Imperial Japanese Marines

International Red Cross

       Walter Frederick Boring, Geneva, Switzerland; representative assigned to the northeast Asia sector