Chūichi Hara
Chūichi Hara | |
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4th Fleet | |
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Chūichi "King Kong" Hara (原 忠一, Hara Chūichi, 15 March 1889 – 17 February 1964) was a Japanese admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. Heavier and taller than the average Japanese person, he was nicknamed "King Kong" by his friends earlier in his career (after 1933, when the film King Kong premiered).[2][3][4][5]
Biography
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Hara was born in
After attending both torpedo school and naval artillery school, Hara was promoted to sublieutenant and then he served on the destroyer Asakaze, followed by the cruiser Yakumo, and then the battleship Kongō during World War I. However, it does not appear that he saw action.
After the end of World War I, Hara returned to naval school again for advanced study in torpedo warfare during 1918–19. Then he served as the chief torpedo officer on the destroyer Hakaze, followed by the destroyer Yukaze in 1921, and then the cruiser Ōi in 1922.
Hara attended the
During World War II
During
During the
During the Battle of the Eastern Solomons, light carrier
After the large American carrier air attack on the large Japanese base at
Hara's son Nobuaki graduated from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy just as World War II ended. When Hara was released from prison on April 19, 1951, Nobuaki took him home to a very small house in Tokyo. Hara dedicated the remainder of his life to securing Japanese government pensions and relief for the families of Japanese, Korean, and Taiwanese servicemen imprisoned for war crimes.[6] Hara served as a Councilor of the Ministry of Justice (Japan) until his death at age 74 in 1964.[7]
Hara's sword
Shortly after the surrender in August 1945, the commander of Allied forces ordered all Japanese swords collected and turned over to the occupation forces. Many of the swords were mass-produced government issue, but some were ancient masterpieces of the swordmakers' art which had been cherished for generations. Many swords were distributed indiscriminately to American servicemen as souvenirs. Hara surrendered his family sword to the American Vice Admiral commanding the Marianas so the sword might be displayed at the United States Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis. Hara was in possession of a second sword which he presented to Rear Admiral Calvin T. Durgin while Durgin was interviewing Hara as part of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey conducted immediately following the war.[6]
In 1959, Hara requested through diplomatic channels return of a family sword belonging to 85-year-old Ryūtarō Takahashi, president of the six-million-member Bereaved Families Association. The sword was one of the great blades forged in Bizen Province in the 15th century. It had been carried by Ryūtarō's son, Hikoya Takahashi. Hikoya had asked Hara to care for the sword while he was assigned to a minesweeping assignment he did not survive. Hara revealed that the sword carefully preserved in the Naval Academy Museum was Takahashi's sword, and the Hara family sword which should have been in the museum was in the possession of Admiral Durgin. Retired Admiral Durgin drove to the museum to correct the error, and the Bizen sword was delivered to the old man who had lost his son.[6]
Portrayal in media
Chūichi Hara appeared in the 1970 film Tora! Tora! Tora! and was portrayed by Japanese actor Kan Nihonyanagi.
References
Notes
- ^ Nishida, Imperial Japanese Navy.
- ISBN 9781574883596.
- ^ Robert C. Stern, Scratch One Flattop: The First Carrier Air Campaign and the Battle of the Coral Sea 2019
- ^ Mark Stille, The Coral Sea 1942: The First Carrier Battle 2012, 12
- ^ Phil Keith, Stay the Rising Sun: The True Story of USS Lexington, Her Valiant Crew, and Changing the Course of World War II 2015, 101
- ^ a b c Bartlett, Donald, CDR USN. "Vice Admiral Chuichi Hara Unforgettable Foe". United States Naval Institute Proceedings, October 1970, pp. 49–55
- ^ Stewart, Ghost Fleet of Truk Lagoon
Sources
- Nishida, Hiroshi. "Imperial Japanese Navy, Hara, Chuiichi". Archived from the original on 2014-03-14. Retrieved 2007-02-25.
- Goldstein, Donald M.; Dillon, Katherine V.; Wenger, J. Michael (2001). The way it was: Pearl Harbor, the original photographs. Brassey's. ISBN 978-1-57488-359-6.
- Stewart, William Herman (1986). Ghost Fleet of the Truk Lagoon: An Account of "Operation Hailstone", February 1944. Pictorial Histories. ISBN 0-933126-66-2.
Further reading
- D'Albas, Andrieu (1965). Death of a Navy: Japanese Naval Action in World War II. Devin-Adair Pub. ISBN 0-8159-5302-X.
- Ito, Masanori (1986). The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy (reissue ed.). Jove. ISBN 0-515-08682-7.
- Lindemann, Klaus (2005). ISBN 1-59752-347-X.
- Morison, Samuel Eliot (1961). Aleutians, Gilberts and Marshalls, June 1942-April 1944, History of United States Naval Operations in World War II. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. ASIN B0007FBB8I.
- Peattie, Mark (1992). Nan'Yo: The Rise and Fall of the Japanese in Micronesia, 1885-1945 (Pacific Islands Monograph Series). University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 0-8248-1480-0.
External links
- Jeffery, Bill (2003). "War in Paradise: World War II sites in Truk Lagoon, Chuuk, Federated States of Micronesia". Chuuk Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved August 30, 2006.
- Stewart, William Herman. "Guam War Crimes Trials". Archived from the original on 2007-08-11. Retrieved 2007-08-25.
- Surrender of Truk per USN Archives Archived 2007-06-09 at the Wayback Machine