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I could die, the bombardier realized, falling in the dark. He had been raised in a Christian home, but had not accepted Christ. He just couldn't believe that Jesus was anything more than a good man. Now, it seemed dishonest to yell for God at the last minute. So he didn't. Across the Pacific, his mother, awakened from her sleep, was praying for him at that moment.

DeShazer landed hard in a Chinese graveyard, breaking some ribs. He was alone. After walking for several hours, he was taken prisoner by ten Japanese soldiers. After marching to a Japanese field camp, DeShazer was questioned endlessly. He told them nothing.

(Only much later did he learn that of the sixteen planes, one bomber diverted to Russia where the crew was interned; eleven crews bailed out, and four crash-landed.)

Four other American prisoners and DeShazer were flown to Nanjing (Nanking), China, to a prison camp. There was more interrogation before a judge. Finally, the judge said in English, "In Japan it is a great honor for a judge to cut off a prisoner's head. Tomorrow at sunrise, I will have the honor of cutting off your head."

The next morning, without breakfast, blindfolded and handcuffed, DeShazer was removed from his cell. When his blindfold was removed, the prisoner saw a camera instead of a sword. Instead of executing him, the Japanese put DeShazer and seven other flyers on another plane. After being airborne for hours, the bombardier peeked through his blind-fold in time to see Mount Fuji.

In Tokyo, DeShazer and the other captives awaited trial.

Their captors tortured them, trying to get information. They put DeShazer on his knees and beat him. They handcuffed one prisoner, Lt. Nielsen, hanging him for eight hours by his hands on a peg, his toes barely touching the floor while others were stretched out on boards for hours. The Japanese strapped others to chairs and beat them. They put towels over their faces and had water poured into their noses and mouths until they nearly drowned.

But within the Japanese military hierarchy, another battle was taking place. General Sugiyama, Chief of the General Staff, was insisting on the death penalty for the Americans. Since the war in the Pacific had just started, General Tojo, then premier, felt the sentence was too severe.

After two months, the flyers were sent back to a Shanghai prison without a trial. Enduring filth and a meager water and food supply, the Americans suffered brutal treatment for seventy days. Each day, rumors of their impending execution filtered back to them. Finally, in a mock trial they were all condemned to death, and each man was placed in solitary confinement.

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