11 Aug 1941 : Matome Ugaki was named the chief of staff of the Japanese Navy Combined Fleet. The names of seventeen other men, ranging in age from 19 to 24, are also engraved on the monument. Hours after Emperor Hirohito announced the final Japanese surrender in 1945, Ugaki strapped on a sword given him by Yamamoto and disappeared on a kamikaze flight. Yasunaga and three of his fellow pilots refused to return the salute. Flying at 4,500 feet were two Betty bombers, one carrying Yamamoto and the other his chief of staff, Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki. The second Mitsubishi G4M fled toward the open sea, but the Americans caught up with it and shot it down, too. Lieutenant Ray Hine’s P-38 took fire from a Zero and failed to return to Guadalcanal. Everyone aboard died in the crash. He would survive the war, credited with eight victories. 10 Oct 1939 : Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki was named the chief of staff of Admiral Shigetaro Shimada at Kure Naval District, Japan. My wife (who is Japanese) asked me a similar question some months ago, as we were watching a documentary on the Japanese assault at Imphal/Kohima in 1944. Matome Ugaki was born. The last photo of Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki, taken before his suicide flight on August 15, 1945. The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki 1941-1945 This book is the Sensoroku (personal diary) of Imperial Japanese Navy Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki who was a key participant in the Pacific War. 20 Aug 1941 : Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki stepped down as the chief of staff of Kure Naval District, Japan. He was reported missing in action. Ugaki saluted his officers and turned to salute the crowd. They were escorted by … The other Zero pilots, including Sugita, all died in combat. Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki held several key leadership positions during World War II. But Admiral Ugaki died, as he has promised to do, in the fashion of the thousands of young men he had sent to their deaths. Fading Victory: The Diary of Admiral Matome Ugaki, 1941-1945 by Matome Ugaki translated by Masataka Chihaya edited by Donald M. Goldstein and Katherine V. Dillon University of Pittsburgh Press, 1991, 731 pages. Vice Admiral Matome Ugaki, one of the Imperial Japanese Navy's top leaders from Pearl Harbor to the end of the war, wrote a 15-volume diary covering his wartime experiences. This book is the edited, English translation of the war diary of IJN Admiral Matome Ugaki, the highest ranking Japanese officer from WW2 for whom an extensive first person account is available. They believed that Ugaki should have chosen to die alone and not take 22 young men with him. The other bomber, carrying Yamamoto's chief of staff, Vice Adm. Matome Ugaki, was sent into the sea, but Ugaki scrambled out and made it to shore. Ugaki pointed out that he had not yet received an official order to stop military action, so according to the spirit of Bushidō he decided to die like a real samurai during a suicide attack on American warships. Ugaki kept the diary from the months leading up to the Pearl Harbor attack, until the time of the Japanese surrender in mid-August, 1945. Three later returned with “engine trouble.” ... Matome Ugaki that crashed into the sea. The Last Kamikaze: The Story of Admiral Matome Ugaki by Edwin P. Hoyt Praeger, 1993, 235 pages. The planes roared off against a setting sun. The first name listed is Matome Ugaki, 55 years old, from Okayama Prefecture.