For those that have visited the Yushukan Museum located adjacent to the highly controversial Yasukuni-jinja Shrine, there is definitely an alternative history of World War II taught in Japan. The majority of people in Japan do believe that the Imperial Japanese militarism was a great folly, but there are people who believe the history taught at the Yushukan Museum that Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor was to preempt an American attack on Japan and liberate Asian people from western colonialism:
World War II era Japanese zero fighter aircraft at the Yushukan Museum in Tokyo.
The Pearl Harbor attack that led the United States into WWII is normally a historical footnote in Japan, rarely discussed on anniversaries or in depth at schools.
That changed when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced he would visit Pearl Harbor with President Barack Obama on Dec. 27 to offer “comfort to the souls of the victims.”
Most Japanese today view the war as a great folly. The clause in Japan’s constitution that renounces the nation’s right to wage war has taken root so deeply that even new, restrictive laws allowing Japan to defend its allies were viewed with suspicion last year.
However, some divergent perspectives over history remain among two of the world’s closest allies.
Americans are taught that the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor was an unprovoked sneak attack.
The view among some Japanese, and particularly among some otherwise pro-U.S. alliance conservatives, is that a Western economic embargo forced Japan’s hand.
By 1941, Japan controlled large parts of China and other parts of Asia. In July, its military occupied parts of Southeast Asia, including a key port in what is now Vietnam.
The U.S., Britain and The Netherlands responded by freezing Japanese assets in their countries, which included access to most of Japan’s oil supply.
“Indeed, the oil embargo cornered Japan,” Emperor Hirohito said in an audio memoir recorded shortly after the 1945 surrender. The memoir was found in 1990 by the Bungei Shunju magazine and then translated by The New York Times.
“Once the situation had come to this point, it was natural that advocacy for going to war became predominant,” Hirohito said. “If, at that time, I suppressed opinions in favor of war, public opinion would have certainly surged, with people asking questions about why Japan should surrender so easily when it had a highly efficient army and navy, well trained over the years.” [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but the best book I have read about the period before the attack on Pearl Harbor is Eri Hotta’s: Japan 1941: Countdown to Infamy. I highly recommend ROK Heads read this book to really understand why Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. The Japanese had opportunities to keep parts of their Chinese and Korean colonies if they would withdraw from other areas of China and Southeast Asia as demanded by the US and its allies. How different would things be today if Japan had been allowed to continue the colonization of Korea and parts of China?
There was actually a lot of dissenting opinions in Japan, but the militarists eventually were able to convince enough people they could replicate the success of the Russo-Japanese War with a decisive naval victory against the US at Pearl Harbor. As history has shown the bombing of Pearl Harbor became one of the great misjudgments in military history.
Regardless of the history involved it is good to see Prime Minister Abe finally make the visit to Pearl Harbor and hopefully put an end to any remaining hard feelings about World War II.
A bit on an interesting document even though according to the report the document was first revealed in the 1990’s:
A local research team said Monday it found a record of the Japanese military killing Korean women forced to serve as sex slaves when the country was under colonial rule (1910-45).
The operation diary for Sept. 15, 1944, recorded by allied forces of the United States and China, says “Night of the (Sept.) 13th, (1944), the Japs shot 30 Korean girls in the city (of Tengchong, China),” according to the Seoul National University (SNU) Human Rights Center.
The record was discovered at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland, during the research team’s monthlong field study from mid-July to August.
Words such as “whores,” “comfort women” and “prostitutes” were used throughout other relevant records, indicating the 30 women mentioned in the page were former sex slaves, said professor Kang Sung-hyun, a member of the research team.
The existence of this record was already revealed to the public in the 1990s, but the latest finding was the first time the exact institution holding the document has been identified, said the professor at the Institute for East Asian Studies under Sungkonghoe University in Seoul. [Yonhap]
You can read more at the link, but Tengchong, China is right across the border from today’s Myanmar:
Of interest is that the document also says that they found two Englishmen were their hands tied behind their backs with their throats cut. It appears the Japanese may have also executed their wounded. In the document it states that 1,000 Japanese soldiers were found dead in one quadrant of the city and that half of them were wounded before being killed. The Japanese may have killed every non-fighting soldier in the city before its fall to limit the intelligence provided to the allied forces if those people were captured.
Over at Mashable they have the story about Lieutenant Hiroo Onada posted who was the Japanese soldier who after Japan surrendered during World War II decided to fight on with his companions. The below article features some great photos that are worth checking out:
After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, on Aug. 15, 1945, Japan announced its surrender, bringing an end to World War II.
But for some, the war was not over.
Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda was 22 years old when he was deployed to Lubang Island in the Philippines in December 1944. As an intelligence officer, he was given orders to disrupt and sabotage enemy efforts — and to never surrender or take his own life.
Allied forces landed on the island in February 1945, and before long Onoda and three others were the only Japanese soldiers who had not surrendered or died. They retreated into the hills, with plans to continue the fight as guerrillas.
The group survived on bananas, coconut milk and stolen cattle while engaging in sporadic shootouts with local police.
In late 1945, the group began encountering air-dropped leaflets announcing that the war was over, and ordering all holdouts to surrender. After careful consideration, they dismissed the leaflets as a trick, and fought on. [Mashable]
You can read the rest at the link, but Lt. Onoda and his companions over the decades would either surrender or be killed leaving him ultimately along until his surrender in 1974. I always thought that Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda should have been hunted down and held accountable for his crimes. His group had to have known that the war was over and yet they continued to kill civilians. I believe the real reason his group did not surrender was not because of honor, but because they did not want to be held accountable for the war crimes they committed.
A group of grandchildren of Koreans who were forcibly taken to work on Russia’s far east island of Sakhalin during the Japanese colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula (1910-45), arrives at Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul, on Aug. 2, 2016. A civic organization in Busan invited the group to a five-day history tour program. Some 43,000 Koreans were sent to the icy island that was a part of the Japanese empire at the time. (Yonhap)
I understand that having a nuclear weapon used against you is a horrible experience, but the two atomic bombs were a key factor in ending World War II which ultimately brought independence to the entire Korean peninsula:
A special monument commemorating Korean victims stands in the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. (Yonhap)
A group of South Korean victims of the U.S. atomic bombs dropped on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Thursday demanded an apology and compensation from both the United States and Japan.
“Nuclear bombs were dropped and Koreans in Japan at the time were victims,” a shelter for bombing victims in Hapcheon, South Gyeongsang Province, said in a press release.
The demand comes as U.S. President Barack Obama will visit Hiroshima later this month, making him the first sitting American president to do so.
The victims pointed out that “Japan has thoroughly hid its own war crimes while only emphasizing the fact that it was victimized by the bombing.” [Yonhap]
You can read the rest at the link, but I recommend readers check out this link to see why I think the US has nothing to apologize for in regards to using nuclear weapons to end World War II.
I have always thought that one of the things that may have motivated some of these World War II hold outs was the fear of being prosecuted for war crimes, not the idea of never surrendering. There was a number of massacres that happened on Guam during the war that makes me wonder of Sergeant Yokoi had anything to do with?:
Cpl. Shoichi Yokoi, center, who held out in the remote jungle of Guam for 28 years after the end of World War II, raises his hands with two other former holdouts of the Japanese army on July 30, 1972, in this photo displayed at the Pacific War Museum, Guam.
For some combat veterans, war lives on in memories of camaraderie, loss, pride and shame.
For a small group of Japanese soldiers who fought in World War II, the war literally did not end for decades.
Referred to as “stragglers” or “holdouts,” these men retreated to remote, mountainous jungles as Allied forces retook dozens of Pacific islands conquered by Japan.
Guam is tiny compared with some other Asian nations, but its small population that clustered mainly along the eastern coastline left much of the interior isolated even 25 years after war’s end in 1945.
Cpl. Shoichi Yokoi was among the last of the stragglers discovered in the Pacific, captured on the eastern side of Guam in 1972 when two local shrimpers were checking traps along the Ugum River abutting the cave he’d lived in for 28 years.
Photographs of Yokoi and other Guam stragglers — Pvt. Bunzo Minagawa and Sgt. Masashi Ito, both captured in 1960 — are on display at the Pacific War Museum in Guam. [Stars & Stripes]
The Korean War featured some heroes that had colorful life stories such as the Frenchman Ralph Monclar & the Turk Tahsin Yazici before finding themselves in the frozen rice paddies of the Korean peninsula. However, probably no American combat hero from the war had as unconventional military career as the legendary Lewis L. Millett.
Millett was born in Mechanic Falls, Maine, on December 15, 1920, but spent the majority of his childhood growing up in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts. He left high school at Dartmouth after his junior year in 1938 to enlist in the state’s National Guard. Millett wanted to fight the fascism he saw threatening the world that was rising from Nazi Germany and thus left his National Guard unit and joined the Army Air Corps in 1940. However, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared that he United States would not enter the war against the Nazis, Millett deserted the US Army and hitchhiked to Canada where he enlisted in the Canadian military.
In the Canadian Army Millett was selected with one other American to attend “Top Secret” training in radio location in what later became known as radar. It was a bit ironic that one US Army deserter and the other American a Marine that was released from service for a bad conduct discharge were now receiving “Top Secret” training in Canada. However, Millett would never serve as a radar operator because of the aerial gunnery training he had received in the Army Air Corps. The Canadian Army decided to put these skills to use by deploying him to England to man an anti-aircraft artillery gun during the bombing blitz of London.
Service During World War II
In the aftermath of the bombing at Pearl Harbor, the United States entered the war against Nazi Germany. In early 1942 as US troops began to flow into England, Millett took this opportunity to leave the Canadian Army and re-enlist in the US Army. In August 1942 Millet was deployed to North Africa where his first combat action ironically enough involved fighting not the Germans, but the French. The Vichy Regime forces that were allied with the Nazis were guarding the French colonial possessions in North Africa. When Millett’s unit conducted an amphibious landing at Oran, Algeria his unit suffered a number of casualties from the fight against the French forces.
Millet would go on in North Africa to be awarded the Silver Star for driving a burning half track filled with ammunition away from his unit and bailing out just before it exploded. Millet would also serve in the invasion of Italy to include the Battle of Anzio. It was here that his prior desertion caught up to him and the then Sergeant Millett was court martial by his command. He was found guilty and ordered to pay a $52 fine. He was angry about the court martial, but his command told him that they conducted the court martial now in order to prevent him from receiving greater punishment in the future. A few weeks later Millet was awarded a battlefield promotion to 2nd Lieutenant.
Combat Actions In Korea
When the war ended Millet left active duty, joined the Maine National Guard, and eventually enrolled at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine. He attended school for three years before being called up for duty in Japan in January 1949. The now Captain Millet was assigned as a battery commander in a field artillery battalion that was part of the 25th Infantry Division.
The 25ID saw heavy combat during the Korean War and Millet was of course in the thick of it. When the company commander of the E company, 27th Infantry Regiment Captain Reginald B. Desiderio was killed on November 27, 1950 he would posthumously be awarded the nation’s highest award for combat valor, the Medal of Honor. The regimental commander needed a new commander to replace the heroic CPT Desiderio and the person he recommended wasn’t even an infantryman, it was the unit’s forward observer, CPT Lewis Millett.
However, Millett couldn’t immediately take command because he had been wounded in the same battle that CPT Desidero had been killed. While he was recovering from his wounds Millett was assigned to fly as an observer in an L-5 observation plane. It was during this time that Millett was awarded his most unusual combat award. The plane was flown by a fearless pilot by the name of Captain James Lawrence who witnessed a South African fighter plan make a crash landing behind enemy lines. Lawrence skillfully landed his plane to evacuate the injured South African pilot by the name of John Davis. The L-5 was only a two seat aircraft and Lawrence asked Millett if he wouldn’t mind jumping out of the plane while he evacuated Davis back to the rear. Most people probably would have minded being left behind enemy lines especially when injured yourself, but Millett jumped out of the plane while Lawrence loaded up Davis and evacuated him to the rear. Lawrence flew back and picked up Millett just in time because they flew out in a hail of bullets from a Chinese patrol that detected his landing. For volunteering to jump out of the plane while Davis was evacuated the South African Air Force awarded Millett a bottle of scotch. Millett would remember years later how ironic it was that Davis a white man of apartheid South Africa would ultimately give his life a few months later flying air support for the all-black US 24th Infantry Regiment.
After recovering from his injuries Millett then took command of E Company. Millett knew he had a tough task on his hand trying to live up to the Medal of Honor bravery of his predecessor, but it didn’t take long for him to prove he was up to the task. On February 7, 1951 Millett’s undersized company of about 100 men were traveling north up an ice covered road near the small hamlet of Soam-ni supported by two tanks. While advancing up the road his unit was engaged by a patrol of Chinese infantrymen located on Hill 180 overlooking the road. One of Millett’s platoons was penned down by automatic weapons fire and Millett could not extract them. This is when Millett made the decision that became one of the most recognized combat actions of the Korean War, he told his men to fix bayonets.
Painting of CPT Millet and his men conducting their famous bayonet charge via the VFW Post 10216 website.
Millett had heard that the Chinese were passing around propaganda leaflets saying that the US soldiers were afraid to fight up close with bayonets and because of this Millett had begun training his men long and hard on close combat fighting. Ironically Millett being an artilleryman never received any bayonet training in the US Army, but during his time in the Canadian Army he did he receive this training and after all this years he was able to put those skills to use training his company. This training ultimately paid off for Millett and his men because he felt that the only way to extract his trapped platoon was to lead the rest of his company up the hill with a bayonet charge that the Chinese would have never expected. Just three days before this engagement Millett had led another bayonet charge against a Chinese ambush that caused them to flee, which Millett was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross for. Millett found himself now in almost the same identical situation and he was betting that the result would be same.
Millet order his men to run across a frozen rice paddy to the base of the hill. From here Millett with his big red handle bar moustache decided to lead the charge himself up the hill. Unlike the bayonet charge three days prior, these Chinese decided to stay and fight. Millett half way up the hill noticed that not everyone was advancing up the hill and that was when he made his now famous quote of, “C’mon you sons of bitches and fight!” Maybe not all of Millett’s American soldiers were following him up the hill, but at least one Korean Augmentee to the US Army (KATUSA) soldier did. Millett directed him to place covering fire at the Chinese while he advanced further up the hill and assaulted a foxhole that had an anti-tank team in it. Millett bayoneted and killed all three men in the foxhole who were so surprised to see him that they had no time to react.
Millet continued to assault through the position and engage more Chinese infantrymen when he was wounded by shrapnel from a grenade blast, however Millett refused to be medically evacuated until his men had secured the hill top and defeated the Chinese attack.
A few weeks later Millett would be removed from his command, but it wasn’t from his grenade shrapnel injuries. His regimental commander told him he was being removed from command because he couldn’t afford to have him get killed when he was going to be awarded the nation’s highest award for gallantry, the Medal of Honor. A few months later on July 5, 1951 Captain Lewis L. Millett was awarded the Medal of Honor at the White House by President Harry Truman. Here is the text of Millett’s Medal of Honor citation:
Capt. Millett, Company E, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action. While personally leading his company in an attack against a strongly held position he noted that the 1st Platoon was pinned down by small-arms, automatic, and antitank fire. Capt. Millett ordered the 3d Platoon forward, placed himself at the head of the 2 platoons, and, with fixed bayonet, led the assault up the fire-swept hill. In the fierce charge Capt. Millett bayoneted 2 enemy soldiers and boldly continued on, throwing grenades, clubbing and bayoneting the enemy, while urging his men forward by shouting encouragement. Despite vicious opposing fire, the whirlwind hand-to-hand assault carried to the crest of the hill. His dauntless leadership and personal courage so inspired his men that they stormed into the hostile position and used their bayonets with such lethal effect that the enemy fled in wild disorder. During this fierce onslaught Capt. Millett was wounded by grenade fragments but refused evacuation until the objective was taken and firmly secured. The superb leadership, conspicuous courage, and consummate devotion to duty demonstrated by Capt. Millett were directly responsible for the successful accomplishment of a hazardous mission and reflect the highest credit on himself and the heroic traditions of the military service.
Post-Korean War Service
After returning from Korea Millett would go on to become an aide-de-camp to General John R. Hodge. Hodge used to be the commander of US forces in Korea prior to the Korean War before he was forced out due to his poor relationship with South Korean President Syngman Rhee as well as General Douglas McArthur. After completing his aide duties the now Major Millett was then sent to Greece as a military adviser to the Greek Army. Following his assignment in Greece Millett then attended the advanced infantry course at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Due to his battlefield commission and postings he had never attended this course that young captains are required to attend. I can only imagine what the captains in this course thought of having a veteran of two wars and a Medal of Honor awardee as a classmate?
In 1958 Millett would also attend and graduate from Ranger School where he would ultimately go on to establish the first Ranger school in Vietnam in 1960 as well as serving two years in Laos between 1968-1970. In 1970 he was transferred to Vietnam to work with the infamous Phoenix Program that was killing or capturing Vietcong leadership operating in various villages. Incredibly he was able to bring his wife and kids over to Vietnam and even had his kids participate in some patrols with him. By 1972 Millett had felt they had won the war and he and his family returned home. However, in 1973 Millett retired from the Army as Colonel because he felt that the US government had quit on the Vietnamese after what he felt was a US victory just a year earlier.
After retirement Millett worked as a deputy sheriff in Tennessee before moving out to California where he spent the rest of his life being active in various veterans groups. Millett was married for forty years to his wife Winona Williams who he met in 1951 at an event celebrating his awarding of the Medal of Honor. She died in 1993 after giving birth to four kids with Millett. Tragically one of Millett’s sons, John an Army Staff Sergeant, would die in the Arrow Air Flight 1285 crash in Gandar, Newfoundland that claimed the lives of 240 members of the 101st Airborne Division that were returning home from a peacekeeping mission in the Egyptian Sinai. Colonel Lewis Millett would eventually pass away himself on November 14, 2009 at the age of 88 thus ending the incredible life of an extraordinary man who was clearly a Hero of the Korean War.
This photo released on Nov. 17, 2015, shows the exterior of what will be South Korea’s first museum that chronicles Japan’s mobilization of forced labor. Built in the southeastern port city of Busan, the six-storied museum, set to open on World Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, exhibits documents and other material related to Koreans who were coerced to work for Japan who colonized Korea from 1910-45. Busan was where most of these Koreans were gathered before being shipped abroad. (Yonhap)
