"Y" is For "Yamamoto"

 

“Y” is for “Yamamoto"

Domo Arigato, Mr. Yamamoto

    Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto was a Japanese admiral (that would explain the title) who rose to become commander of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the 1940s.

"How you like all my medals? 
Lemme tell you, the things you can get at Tokyo Walmart!"

    NOTE:  Incidentally, World War II was the last war in which the United States actually declared war.  So, there’s that.

    The admiral was born on April 4, 1884.  That he was not an admiral at birth and that he was born in Japan is probably obvious.

Unless you went to a place like this.

"Come on, man!  That joke is getting so old!  Tampon?"

    Even though he is best known for his actions during World War II (we’ll get to that), Yamamoto distinguished himself for his service in the Russo-Japanese War of 1905 and in the years leading up to the horrific global conflict.

    In fact, it was during the Battle of the Tsushima Strait where Yamamoto lost two fingers.

"SONOFAB...those are the fingers I use to pick with!"

 

"Oh, boo HOO, you big baby!  I lost me 'hole bloody arm, I did!"*

    After a war which Japan won (shocking the batcrap out of the Russians), Yamamoto went on to study at Harvard University and then was assigned to the Japanese Embassy in Washington as Naval Attache.
    I think that was covered in the movie, Midway.

Which also starred Mr. Miyagi

    It was through his experiences in America that Yammy learned a successful war depended on access to oil and a robust industrial capacity.  Neither of which they possessed.

They did have Godzilla, though.

    Therefore, he judged that Japan would not be able to prevail in a war against the United States.

    Yeah, imagine that.  We were pretty badass back in the day.

    Nevertheless, as his country began preparations for a war, the Yamster was all in on how best to overcome the hated Yankees.  

Especially after they won the 1941 World Series.

    Since Hollywood wasn’t yet anti-American, he knew he had to take action so he planned for a massive surprise attack on the American fleet in Hawaii.

    Of course, unless you went to the lea...okay, that’s enough with that, you would know that the attack on Pearl Harbor was deemed a great success (unlike that dreadful Ben Affleck movie) by many in his military.

"Hey!  What're you talking about? 
We were much better than Tora! Tora! Tora!"

"Yeah...no."

     Yamamoto, on the other hand, had his misgivings.  Sure, thousands of Americans were killed and several warships damaged or destroyed, but the American aircraft carriers were at sea.

    And the admiral knew that the next war would involve carriers and naval aviation.

What's more, the American Navy had USS Nimitz

     In 1943, Yamamoto scheduled a tour of Japanese military installations (Bob Hope, the Andrews Sisters, and Dorothy Lamour all declined) throughout the South Pacific.  Unfortunately, for him, American code-breakers had intercepted his plans.  

"Hey, any of you guys seeing this?"

    On April 18, his plane was shot down near New Guinea.

Old Guinea

"Who?  Penwasser? 
Yeah, we've been expecting that little smartass for quite some time."

    Interestingly, and I didn’t know this, there is no evidence that he ever said or wrote down the line for which he is most known.  At the end of the movie, Tora! Tora! Tora! (vastly superior to Pearl Harbor), he is shown walking the deck of his flagship as this quote flashes on the screen:

“I fear all we have done is awaken a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve.”

"Even so, let's see Affleck pull that off!"

    Pretty cool line, but you just can't trust Hollywood, amirite?  

    I'm beginning to think that The Final Countdown wasn't a documentary, after all.

   *To get the joke, you'll need to visit my post on "Nelson."