Hideki Tojo, who was executed with a secret message engraved on his false teeth.
Tojo was the man behind the attack on Pearl Harbor, millions of civilian deaths and war crimes against enemy soldiers.
He was Prime Minister of Japan during WWII, and a proponent of pre-emptive attacks on Japan’s enemies, including America. The wholesale slaughter of Chinese civilians, and the terrible treatment of Allied POWs were carried out on his watch.
Upon his arrest by American GIs he shot himself in the chest, but missed his heart and was revived. Whilst awaiting trial he was issued new dentures by American medical staff. What he didn’t know was that ‘REMEMBER PEARL HARBOR’ had been engraved on the inside of them in Morse code.
During his trial he was unrepentant, claiming Japan was righteous and brave. He did request that the Americans treat the Japanese with dignity and respect in defeat – unusual considering the Japanese treatment of their enemies. They were fans of things like getting people to dig their own grave before burying them alive. Along with the Rape of Nanking (don’t read about it unless you are prepared to hear harrowing accounts) and Unit 731 (just don’t read about that full stop), it is surprising he expected such grace from his adversaries.
Tojo was found guilty of various war crimes and on 23rd December 1948 swung from the rope.
(Edit: a few people are crying because they think I shouldn’t be telling people not to read the accounts. What I am saying is there utterly harrowing and if you don’t want to ruin your day then don’t. But you are all adults and you can make a grown up decision. An example of what went on there follows – trigger warning – captured Chinese prisoners were taken out into the snow and had one limb buried in it. they were left there until that limb became terribly frostbitten.
Then they were taken back in and it was left to go gangrenous. A few useless treatments were tried on it before it was eventually amputated. The patient was given minimal time to recover before being taken back out into the snow to try it on the next limb. No anaesthetic at any point obviously, just a limb pulsating with maggots while they lay moaning in agony for days, begging for food and water.
Eventually they would become a torso and head at which point they were executed, or sometimes to save bullets simply slung outside in the cold to die. Do you see what I mean now?).