yla@IDA.LiU.SE (Yngve Larsson) (06/21/89)
From: Yngve Larsson <yla@IDA.LiU.SE> In article <7600@cbnews.ATT.COM> fiddler@Sun.COM write: > >pilots available to Japan, but they were pretty rare. Saburo Sakai, >for instance, even though after Guadalcanal he was missing one eye. > I seem to remember that at the end of the war, Saburo Sakai still had almost no rank whatsoever, in spite of being one of the top scorers. I think he was something like sergeant or so. Is this true, or am I making a fool of myself? If this is true, why is this so? Insubordination or lack of social standing? Yngve Larsson -- Yngve Larsson UUCP: ...mcvax!enea!liuida!yla Dept of CIS Internet: yla@ida.liu.se Linkoping University, Sweden Phone: +46-13-281949
fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) (06/22/89)
From: fiddler@Sun.COM (Steve Hix) > From: Yngve Larsson <yla@IDA.LiU.SE> > > I seem to remember that at the end of the war, Saburo Sakai still had > almost no rank whatsoever, in spite of being one of the top scorers. > I think he was something like sergeant or so. Is this true, or am I making > a fool of myself? If this is true, why is this so? Insubordination or lack > of social standing? Sakai wrote a book (with Martin Caidin) about his flying career, called "Samurai!". It's pretty good. I think he first flew as a Petty Officer, but was still only a Lieutenant when the war finished. Maybe Commander. I have the impression that operational JN pilots did not rise above Commander until they transferred to desk positions. Mitsuo Fuchida might be one example. (He helped plan and led part of the Pearl Harbor and Midway operations.)
wanttaja@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Ronald J Wanttaja) (06/23/89)
From: ssc-vax!wanttaja@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Ronald J Wanttaja) In article <7640@cbnews.ATT.COM>, yla@IDA.LiU.SE (Yngve Larsson) writes: > > I seem to remember that at the end of the war, Saburo Sakai still had > almost no rank whatsoever, in spite of being one of the top scorers. > I think he was something like sergeant or so. Is this true, or am I making > a fool of myself? If this is true, why is this so? Insubordination or lack > of social standing? Merely the way of the Japanese military. Warriors were expected to fight without expectation of reward. Similarly, I believe they had no medals for heroism... again, such behavior was expected, and no acknoledgement was necessary. There was one assured way to promotion... to die in combat. KIAs were promoted one rank. Ron Wanttaja (Another one-eyed pilot!) (ssc-vax!wanttaja) [mod.note: Of all references... the manual for Battlehawks 1942 (a Lucasfilm computer game) says pretty much the same. They also point out that the Japanese emphasized the group over the individual, and they really didn't even embrace the concept of "aces." There was, however, an award for "meritorious service", the Order of the Rising Sun (which probably sounds much nicer in Japanese), in eight classes. Promotions in the JAF were granted based on experience, rather than bravery. Finally, war dead were sometimes honored by being promoted postumously: "A Japanese pilot's highest honor (or, more appropriately, his family's highest honor) was a posthumous double promotion." - Bill ]