7th Oct 1943

[antarmike]

Massacre on Wake Island

On October 5, 1943, American naval aircraft from USS Yorktown raided Wake. Two days later, fearing an imminent invasion, Rear Admiral Shigematsu Sakaibara ordered the murder of the 98 captured American civilian workers remaining on the island, kept to perform forced labor for the Japanese. They were taken to the northern end of the island, blindfolded and machine-gunned. One of the prisoners (whose name has never been discovered) escaped the massacre, apparently returning to the site to carve the message 98 US PW 5-10-43 on a large coral rock near where the victims had been hastily buried in a mass grave. The unknown American was recaptured, after which Sakaibara personally beheaded him with a katana. The inscription on the rock can still be seen and is a Wake Island landmark.

[antarmike]

After the war, Sakaibara and his subordinate, Lieutenant-Commander Tachibana, were sentenced to death for the Wake Island massacre and other war crimes. Several Japanese officers in American custody had committed suicide over the incident, leaving written statements that incriminated Sakaibara. Tachibana’s sentence was later commuted to life in prison.

 

The only "justification" the massacre ever offered was that the Americans were trying to Make radio contact with the American armed forces.

Edited October 7, 2008 by antarmike

[Tony B]

Similar to the German deportation to the concentration camps of British civillians, for LISTENING to the BBC.