393.1123 Nyhus, Phoebe/68
The Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs (Arita) to the American Ambassador in Japan (Grew)
Excellency: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Your Excellency’s note no. 1105, dated October 31, 1938, stating that on October 24 of this year the American Lutheran Brethren Mission at Tungpeh, Honan Province, was bombed by Japanese planes and that as a result of this action one American citizen was killed, two were injured and the property of the mission was damaged.
[Page 633]The contents of Your Excellency’s note were promptly forwarded to the front and an investigation in the premises was requested. Tungpeh is outside of the territory occupied by the Japanese forces and, although it is impossible to carry out a complete investigation, a report to the following effect has been received. Since it is a fact that on October 24, the date mentioned in Your Excellency’s note, the Imperial army carried out bombing operations under conditions as set forth in a separate report herewith attached,69 against enemy positions at Tungpeh, it was surmised that the incident which Your Excellency mentioned might be an accidental, unfortunate occurrence resulting from these bombing operations. Accordingly the Japanese Consul General and the appropriate authorities of the Imperial army at Shanghai expressed to the American authorities regret for the occurrence of the incident and stated that appropriate measures would be taken when the circumstances became clear. Although it is expected that this incident will be satisfactorily settled locally in the near future, the Imperial Government also expresses regret for the occurrence of the incident in which the life of an American citizen was lost.
I avail myself [etc.]
- Not attached to file copy.↩