Shigeru Fukudome was an admiral and Chief of Staff of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.
12 Facts About Shigeru Fukudome
1.
2.
Shigeru Fukudome then graduated from the Naval War College with honors in 1924, and was promoted to lieutenant commander.
3.
Shigeru Fukudome continued to hold a number of staff positions through the 1930s.
4.
Shigeru Fukudome was promoted to rear admiral on 15 November 1939.
5.
Shigeru Fukudome was first assigned to the Combined Fleet in 1940 to April 1941, which was then under discussion.
6.
On 31 March 1944, while traveling by air from Palau to deliver plans for the Japanese counterattack in defense of the Marianas Islands to Japanese headquarters at Davao in Mindanao, Fukudome became the first flag officer in Japanese history to be captured by the enemy after his plane crash landed in a typhoon near Cebu.
7.
Shigeru Fukudome was released to stop civilian reprisals that were killing Filipinos and burning dozens of villages as the Japanese searched for the Admiral and the documents, but the battle plans fell into the American hands.
8.
Shigeru Fukudome later noted that this appointment was out of convenience, arguing that since he had no experience with naval aviation, his assignment to a newly formed air unit must be because of the immediate need for an officer of flag rank.
9.
In late October 1944, because of the heavy losses of Japanese air units in the Philippines, Shigeru Fukudome's responsibility was expanded to cover the Philippines as well.
10.
Shigeru Fukudome arrived in Singapore and took over command on 16 January 1945, and remained in this role until the end of the war.
11.
Once the task of repatriation was accomplished, Shigeru Fukudome was arrested at the instigation of American prosecutors and accused of war crimes; he was tried by a military tribunal in Singapore in connection with the execution of two downed American airmen during his tenure in Singapore, and found guilty of negligence in the performance of his duties.
12.
Shigeru Fukudome's grave is at the Tama Cemetery in Fuchu, outside of Tokyo.