C3 - Murder of 4 RAAF airmen - Scott, King, Wallace, Wright at Tantui PW camp

In March 1944, four Royal Australian Air Force airmen—Squadron Leader Scott and Flight Sergeants King, Wallace and Wright—were captured after their bomber crashed near Ambon. They were taken to the prisoner of war compound at Tantui after initially being held on an outlying island.

Senior Japanese officers subsequently ordered that the four prisoners be executed. Katayama and Takahashi received these orders from a senior staff officer, while Uemura, the platoon commander responsible for the compound guards, was instructed by Katayama to make the necessary preparations. Guards were detailed, transport was arranged, and the prisoners were taken by truck from Tantui Camp to an execution site on Ambon.

There, the four Australian airmen were beheaded by Katayama, Takahashi and another Japanese participant. The executions were carried out without trial or any form of judicial process. As prisoners of war, the airmen were protected under the laws and customs of war and could not lawfully be executed without trial before a properly constituted military court.

Following Japan's surrender, Australian war crimes investigators examined the killings and identified those responsible. The evidence formed the basis of proceedings before an Australian War Crimes Court, where the accused were prosecuted for the murder of the four RAAF prisoners of war.