Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!gatech!mcdchg!att!cbnews!military From: ssc-vax!wanttaja@beaver.cs.washington.edu (Ronald J Wanttaja) Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Saburo Sakai (was: Re: dogfighting) Message-ID: <7698@cbnews.ATT.COM> Date: 23 Jun 89 02:22:11 GMT References: <7022@cbnews.ATT.COM> <7128@cbnews.ATT.COM> <7210@cbnews.ATT.COM> <7640@cbnews.ATT.COM> Sender: military@cbnews.ATT.COM Organization: Boeing Aerospace Corp., Seattle WA Lines: 34 Approved: military@att.att.com 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 ]