deaths
June 18, 1947
Shigematsu Sakaibara, Japanese admiral (born 1898)
Shigematsu Sakaibara
Shigematsu Sakaibara was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Japanese garrison commander on Wake Island during World War II, and a convicted war criminal. He was responsible for ordering the Wake Island massacre, in which 98 American civilians were murdered by Japanese soldiers. Following Japan's surrender, Sakaibara was tried for war crimes and executed for his involvement.