Shigematsu Sakaibara
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Wake_island_1945_surrender.jpg
Wake_island_1945_surrender.jpg
The surrender of the Japanese garrison on Wake island - September 4, 1945. Shigematsu Sakaibara is the Japanese offier in the right-foreground
Rear Admiral Shigematsu Sakaibara (酒井原 繁松; December 28, 1898 - June 18, 1947) was the Japanese garrison commander on Wake Island during World War II.
Anticipating an American invasion, on October 7, 1943 Sakaibara ordered the execution of 98 American civilians on the island (who had been captured when the Island surrendered almost three years earlier).
He was promoted to Rear Admiral a year later, on October 15, 1944.
Following the war, he was convicted of war crimes and hanged on Guam. Until the end, he maintained "I think my trial was entirely unfair and the proceeding unfair, and the sentence too harsh, but I obey with pleasure."
External link
- Career timeline (http://homepage2.nifty.com/nishidah/e/px46.htm#r018)