Pearl: Washington Warned of Japan's Spies in Hawaii Prior to Pearl Harbor Attack
"...they knew all about these spies already, but that they had word from higher-ups in Washington that they were to pay no attention to them."
On December 5, 1944, Cleveland Doctor Harold N. Cole wrote to Michigan Senator Homer Ferguson.
In the letter, Dr. Cole relayed that a friend of his, Dr. A.I. Ludlow was a missionary for many years in both Korea and Hawaii, and ran across a network of Japanese spies in Hawaii prior to Pearl Harbor.
Many of the Koreans he knew were familiar with specific Japanese spies in Hawaii and wanted to report them to the U.S. authorities and also point out exactly where they lived. This information was rebuffed.
This is one small example of what I would call proto-history, where a little tip or little lead like this exists and was not followed up on. It received a bit of a form letter in response from Senator Ferguson. As a consequence, time passed and the tipster involved here passed away naturally, probably with his recollections and insights lost to time and history.
Dr. Alfred Irving Ludlow lived from 1875-1961. He and his wife were apparently Presbyterian missionaries to Korea, as the letter excerpted below also corroborates.
I ran across an interesting biography of the good Doctor Ludlow:
Born in a devout Presbyterian family, Alfred Irving Ludlow graduated magna cum laude from the Medical College of Western Reserve University. At the request of Louis H. Severance who was a wealthy man in Cleveland, he traveled East Asia, including Korea, for 16 months. Impressed with the missionary work in Korea, he volunteered to go on mission to the country, where he worked for 26 years at the Department of Surgery of Severance Union Medical College. He cultivated many outstanding Korean surgeons and laid the foundation for the Surgery in Korea.
Here’s a picture of the wife, Mrs. Theresa Lange Ludlow, who predeceased her husband in 1938, with a bit of a ghostly image to herself.
I was able to find a newspaper record of Dr. Ludlow coming to Hawaii in the January 11, 1939 Honolulu Star-Bulletin. Oddly, Mrs. Ludlow who died in November of 1938 is mentioned as accompanying her husband on the trip. I’m not sure if that’s just misinformation from the time period or perhaps an overactive ghost.
His friend Dr. Harold N. Cole had a junior and a senior, and worked alongside Dr. James R. Driver, as Cleveland dermatologists. These two were active from at least 1940 through 1953. Their mentions highlight the fact their office is in the prestigious Hanna Building in Cleveland.
The Hanna Building in Cleveland is still around, here it is on Google Maps, and has a nice historical page about it and the 375 offices that are within it.
I found a descendent of Dr. Ludlow online and contacted her to see if the family has any additional information to add. I received a nice and thoughtful reply from Dr. Ludlow’s granddaughter Nancy Yahraus.
Nancy relates a few interesting nuggets:
The letter confirmed stories she heard growing up, that her grandfather and uncle unsuccessfully tried to warn the government about Japanese spies and their plans.
A false malpractice claim sadly ended his medical practice, from Nancy: “I did run across some papers from the Presbyterian Mission organization where he did make out ok with the Japanese, although it ended his mission work. He had a reputation for having discovered the cause of a liver disease and a family brought their father in to his clinic for a liver problem. A Chinese doctor looked at him and called Dr. Ludlow to confirm there was nothing to be done for the man. He told the family they were sorry it was too late to help him and that they should take him home and make him comfortable. When the poor man died on the way out the door, the family accused the foreign doctors of killing him. He and his wife were brought home when that happened.The doctors were tried in Tokyo and my uncle never went back to Korea. He lived at the Fenway Hotel (which is still there) until his stroke in the 1950's when he moved in with us in Vermilion.”
Nancy explained the origin of the nickname “Pin” - “When Alfred was born, he was so tiny that his older siblings said he was no bigger than the head of a pin and the name Pin stuck with him all of his life. I have no idea who Dr Cole was. My guess would be that he was affiliated with Western Reserve University. I only know of Dr. Bell and Allen, and Mrs. Prentice.”
Nancy also sent along a few photos of the furniture that Dr. Alfred, aka “Pin”, used while in Korea:
Nancy’s personal family history felt like a detour of sorts, but also a pleasant way in which extra content and context can be given to names on a page.
In any case, here is the letter from Dr. Cole of Cleveland, to Senator Ferguson of Michigan, relaying the facts from his fellow doctor in Cleveland, Dr. Alfred Ludlow, aka “Pin” and his experiences in Hawaii prior to the Pearl Harbor attack:
Contrary to the mainstream denialism that says that there were few, if any, Japanese spies on Hawaii, there were several. And several of different nationalities.
One of which was Richard Kotoshirodo. He spied for the Japanese and was caught, but never tried for espionage. Here is his FBI file.
Another was Takeo Yoshikawa. Yoshikawa made it back to Japan unscathed and lived out the rest of his life.
Notably neither man has a history of years spent in Korea.
There have always been whispers of a Japanese spy network in Hawaii prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, but Washington and its phalanx of court historians have always denied and suppressed that information. Partially, perhaps, to avoid justifying the internment of Japanese citizens during the war, but there seems as though there’s another motive for doing so that, at present, eludes us.
The available texts keep us focused on Yoshikawa. Here is the book he published posthumously in 2020, after passing away in 1993.
The book offers no clarity into what, if any, connection there might be to Japanese in Korea prior to the outbreak of war starting with the Pearl Harbor attack.
If either of the two primary spies discussed had been picked up prior to December 7, 1941, one can only hope that the disclosure of their interest into the names, locations, dates in harbor, of the Pacific Fleet would have been a useful warning to the federal authorities.
Politica | PEARL HARBOR SERIES:
Pt 21 - SecState to FDR: Paper Up the Record Before the Japs Attack so We Look Like the Good Guys
Pt 20 - Even the Poets Knew the Narrative Was Bogus
Pt 19 - Public's Skepticism in 1944 About Official Pearl Harbor Story
Pt 18 - Was Willkie Chosen by Spy Ring to Protect FDR in 1940?
Pt 17 - The Consequential Death of Ralph Williams in 1940
Pt 16 - John T. Flynn Wasn’t the Originator of the ‘Advance Warning’ Thesis
Pt 15 - Surviving Parents Want to Know How and Why
Pt 14 - Senior Soviet Amb. Toured Honolulu day before Pearl Harbor Attack
Pt 13 - No, White Men Probably Weren't Piloting Pearl Harbor Attack Planes
Pt 12 - FDR was Jap Oil 'Appeaser'... Until he Cut it Off a Week Later to Start a War
Pt 11 - A Week Prior to the Pearl Attack, Admirals Discuss "Offensive" Against Jap Fleet on the Move
Pt 10 - Fr. Aloysius Schmitt & John Austin aboard the sinking USS Oklahoma
Pt 9 - Weak Leads-- Pearl Military Judge Drafts Martial Law Before Attack
Pt 8 - Reporter Tells US Japs Will Attack After Midnight on Dec. 6th
Pt 7 - Toward a Taxonomy of Claims about “Advance Knowledge” of the Attack
Pt 6 - Japs Were Trying to Escape Panama on Dec. 2nd
Pt 5 - Yes, there was Warning of the Pearl Harbor Attack
Pt 4 - ‘Very Bitter’ Housewife in ‘45 Notes Flaws in the Official Story
Pt 3 - Lloyd’s of London Cancelled Insurance Policies in August 1941
Pt 2 - Tips About The Pearl Harbor Attack 77 Years Late
Pt 1 - Pearl Harbor Revisionism