ANTS VERSUS A SNAKE [SOLDIERS’ QUOTE OF THE MONTH ~ AUGUST 2013]

            On this date, a little after noon in Japan Standard Time on August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito's announcement of Japan's acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration was broadcast to the Japanese people over the radio. Japan finally surrendered on September 2, 1945, thus bringing an end to World War II in the Pacific. 

            To remember this Memorial Day, I will post a quote from the late Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

 

Isoroku Yamamoto

QUOTE: The fiercest serpent may be overcome by a swarm of ants. [Statement in opposition of the planned construction of the Yamato class battleships, as quoted in Scraps of paper: the disarmament treaties between the world wars (1989) by Harlow A. Hyde.]

AUTHOR: Isoroku Yamamoto (山本 五十六 Yamamoto Isoroku, 4 April 1884 – 18 April 1943) was a Japanese Marshal Admiral and the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet during World War II, a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy.

Yamamoto held several important posts in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations, especially its development of naval aviation. He was the commander-in-chief during the decisive early years of the Pacific War and so was responsible for major battles such as Pearl Harbor and Midway. He died when American codebreakers identified his flight plans and his plane was shot down. His death was a major blow to Japanese military morale during World War II.