Marcus McDilda

Lieutenant Marcus McDilda was an American B-29 pilot who was shot down over Osaka and captured by the Japanese on 8 August 1945, two days after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.

After his capture, McDilda was paraded through the streets of Osaka, where he was blindfolded and beaten by civilians. He then began to be interrogated by the Kempeitai, who tortured McDilda in order to discover how many atomic bombs the Allies had and what the future targets were. McDilda, who knew nothing about the atomic bomb nor the Manhattan Project, initially admitted that he knew nothing about the atomic bombs, but, after a Japanese officer threatened to kill him, McDilda "confessed" that the U.S. had 100 atomic bombs that would be dropped on Tokyo and Kyoto, the only Japanese cities he knew the names of, within "the next few days". McDilda's "testimony" included the following nonsense description of the science behind the A-bomb:

As you know, when atoms are split, there are a lot of pluses and minuses released. Well, we've taken these and put them in a huge container and separated them from each other with a lead shield. When the box is dropped out of a plane, we melt the lead shield and the pluses and minuses come together. When that happens, it causes a tremendous bolt of lightning and all the atmosphere over a city is pushed back! Then when the atmosphere rolls back, it brings about a tremendous thunderclap, which knocks down everything beneath it.

This "confession" led the Japanese to consider McDilda a "Very Important Person" and he was flown to Tokyo the next morning, where he was interrogated by a civilian scientist, and a graduate of the City College of New York. The interrogator quickly realised McDilda knew nothing of nuclear fission and was giving fake testimony. McDilda explained that he had told his Osaka questioners that he knew nothing, but when that was not accepted, he had to "tell the lie to stay alive". McDilda was taken to a cell and fed, and waited for his fate; but he was rescued from Ōmori POW camp nineteen days later, after it was captured by the 4th Marine Regiment. The move to Tokyo had probably saved his life; after the announcement of the Japanese surrender, fifty U.S. soldiers imprisoned in Osaka were beheaded by Japanese soldiers.

McDilda's false confession may have swayed the Japanese leaders' decision to surrender. This case has brought into question the effectiveness of torture, as the "confession" might have been counterproductive to Japan's intelligence-gathering.