Thread: Saburo Sakai
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Old 10th October 2017, 20:39
Luftwaffle8 Luftwaffle8 is offline
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Re: Saburo Sakai

Another point to remember about Japanese pilot's aerial claims:
Japan is a group oriented society and we Westerners simply are not aware of just how important this is. Ever since they were children, group orientation is pounded into them. When an individual fails, it affects the group.

An individual who fails brings dishonor to himself, his family, his clan, his school, his associates, and his friends. He is ostracized from the group. No one will associate with him. When he walks down the street, friends and acquaintances look away or go back into the house. They practice "Don't ask, don't tell." No one speaks his name.

Credit always went to the group, not the individual. There are no "Donald Trumps" in Japan, no flamboyant characters. In America and Europe, advancement in rank or social status is merit based. Not in Japan. Everyone in Japan knows their niche. They strictly adhere to the chain of command. You NEVER embarrass your superiors.

If the boss of your company takes his junior execs out to dinner, and he orders Suntory, all the execs orders the same. If you order anything else, you will be silently scorned and marked as a "maverick." Not good for your future.

If you score the winning game, you do NOT get credit. The credit goes to the team. If you claim credit, you will have committed a major social blunder. You dishonor the contributions of your team. You are history.

During WWII, it was standard practice to award credit to the unit, not the individual. Pilots did record their claims in their logbook, but it was just a personal notation. When a pilot was killed, the unit or the CO would build him up by stating that so-and-so was killed in aerial combat after shooting down an enemy plane. Maybe he never fired a shot. An accidental collision becomes an intentional ramming.

Pilots did talk amongst themselves. When asked about their credits by comrades, they will state their claims, but there was no motive to inflate totals. You were supposed to shoot down as many planes as you could.
It was like asking a lumberjack "How many trees did you cut down today?"
"I chopped down 5." The response would be something like: "Good for you! Maybe tomorrow, you can double the score!" That's about as far as it went.

When veterans talked about their pilot friends, they would freely say, "Oh, Isozaki-san shot down over a hundred planes!" So when I met Mr. Chitoshi Isozaki, I would mention that his friend said that he shot down over a hundred planes. He would laugh, wave his hand, and say "Nonsense!"
A friend of Warrant Officer Sadamu Komachi told me that he shot down over 40 planes, and I asked Komachi if this was true. He laughed and said, "Maybe half!" These pilot veterans always spoke highly of their comrades and attributed them with high scores because high scores impressed score-obsessed Westerners.

Sakai was ostracized from the Zero Fighter Pilots Association because members were critical that he made his living off the Zero fighter. Think of the Seal Team 6 members who claimed that they killed Osama Bin Laden. While the public think he was a great hero, the guys are looked down upon my their comrades who have chosen to remain silent. If you are a survivor of a unit and almost everyone else was killed, and you start making $$$$ with books, talks, interviews, movies...you will be perceived as making money off their dead comrades. Can you live with that?

When Sakai's movie OZORA NO SAMURAI came out in 1976, Zero pilot veterans shunned it. The ZFPA did not support Sakai nor his movie.

So when you look at Japanese aerial victory claims, remember all this, and you will understand my position on their claims. Japanese "aces"is a postwar Western creation. The Japanese did not have tank aces, sniper aces submarine aces, and fighter aces. They just didn't exist.

What would you think if some foreigner comes out with US ARMY INFANTRY ACES OF THE VIETNAM WAR? Anyone who claimed they killed 5 Viet Cong have their names and scores listed.

Now you know.
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