On September 5, 1945 — three days after the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri — 20 Japanese soldiers and 2 American guards were injured on US 71 by Clearmont when a POW transport truck from the Camp Clarinda POW Camp was transporting the prisoners to do farm work in Missouri overturned — making them among the last casualties of World War II.
Nobody died at the scene, but it is not clear if anybody succumbed to their injuries since names were not released. When the prisoner of war camp closed, there was still one Japanese soldier whose reports indicated could not be transported from Iowa.
The reports are also not clear about exactly where the incident on US 71 occurred. Some reports said just south of the Missouri-Iowa line below Braddyville, while other reports said south of Clearmont (including the Maryville Forum).
The reports indicate two transports were involved and they had been racing down 71 when one sideswiped the other and sent it into the ditch. It is not 100 percent clear who was on the second transport. One article said it was German POW’s but I thought that Germans had moved to a different POW prison in 1945 to make way for the Japanese coming to Clarinda.
Des Moines Tribune coverage on September 6, 1945
Jap Prisoners Hurt in Wreck (The Tribune’s Iowa News Service) CLARINDA, IA.- Twenty Japanese prisoners of war were injured, two seriously, when two civilian trucks, driven by civilian drivers, sideswiped each other on Highway 71 south of Braddyville, Iowa, just across the Missouri-Iowa line, on Wednesday. All the prisoners were from Camp Clarinda, bound for work on Missouri farms. W. H. Green, of Clearmont, Mo., an eyewitness, said the trucks were southward when the truck carrying German prisoners sideswiped the truck with the Japanese, causing the latter truck to roll over in a ditch. Names of the individuals were withheld by camp officials pending investigation and possible charges by the Missouri Highway Patrol. Guards Pvt. Eldo R. Baker and Pfc. Charles D. Byrd were slightly injured.
Council Bluffs The Daily Nonpareil Coverage of September 5, 1945
Twenty Prisoners of War Injured Special to The Nonpareil. CLARINDA- Twenty Japanese prisoners of war were injured, two seriously, south of Clearmont, Mo., on Wednesday. Two trucks from the Clarinda prisoner of war camp, driven by civilians, were going south on Highway 71. According to a witness, the trucks were racing. One bumped the other, causing the latter to roll over into the ditch. No guards were seriously injured. Missouri state patrolmen are expected to file reckless driving charges against the drivers, or manslaughter charges if any injured prisoners die.
The State Teachers College (Northwest Missouri State University) and the prison had significant interactions, including Navy cadets from the college regularly playing sports with prison guards. Barracks from the prison would be moved to Maryville to form the basis of the “Vet Village” for married veterans, which was built on the north side of the campus by the Administration Building.