Search results
Mutsuhiro Watanabe (Japanese: 渡邊睦裕, 18 January 1918 – 1 April 2003), nicknamed "the Bird" by his prisoners was a Imperial Japanese Army soldier in World War II who served in multiple military internment camps.
Mar 29, 2018 · During World War 2, Japan's Mutsuhiro Watanabe was known as a sadistic prison guard who made POW's lives a living hell. Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini was one of the POWs, and his life was forever changed the day he met the man known as "the bird."
Dec 22, 2014 · In 1945, Mutsuhiro Watanabe was ranked number 23 on General Douglas MacArthur's list of the 40 most wanted war criminals in Japan. However, he went into hiding for seven years and never ended up being prosecuted.
Mutsuhiro Watanabe was an Imperial Japanese Army corporal in the Second World War who served at POW (prisoners of war) camps in Omori, Naoetsu (now Jōetsu), Niigata, Mitsushima (now Hiraoka) as well as at Civilian POW Camp at Yamakita.
Dec 23, 2014 · This CBS Sports documentary on Louis Zamperini features the rare Mutsuhiro Watanabe interview (aka "The Bird"). It was produced by CBS Sports as part of their coverage of the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan.
Dec 29, 2014 · Mutsuhiro 'The Bird' Watanabe 60 Minutes Interview. Japanese Prison Guard Who Tortured Unbroken Hero Zamperini Was Once Interviewed by 60 Minutes. Andrew Kirell Dec 29th, 2014, 8:45 am.
Jun 21, 2023 · Mutsuhiro "The Bird" Watanabe targeted and brutally tortured Louie in two of the POW camps he spent time in, just like Unbroken depicts. Watanabe was eventually named a war criminal for his treatment of prisoners, including Zamperini.
Nov 11, 2014 · Zamperini forgave the men who held him prisoner, including the sadistic Japanese corporal, Mutsuhiro Watanabe, who was known as the “Bird.” This saga is chronicled in Hillenbrand’s book,...
Nov 20, 2010 · Watanabe singled Zamperini out for terrible brutality, Hillenbrand says, and eventually Zamperini and his fellow prisoners hatched a murder plot against their captor.
Watanabe vanishes after the atomic bombs are dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and hides around the Japanese countryside for seven years. He either manages to fake his death, or simply gets lucky that a man who looks just like him commits suicide by jumping off a mountain—he only emerges once the arrest order for war criminals is lifted.
