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December 28, 1898 - Shigematsu Sakaibara

His command of Wake Island is remembered primarily for a single order that transformed prisoners into victims — the execution of 98 unarmed American civilian workers who had remained on the island after its capture. The massacre stood apart from battlefield violence; these were construction contractors, held as captives, killed in a deliberate act that led directly to his conviction and execution as a war criminal after the war.

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Shigematsu Sakaibara

Shigematsu Sakaibara (酒井原 繁松, Sakaibara Shigematsu; December 28, 1898 – June 19, 1947) 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.

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