Hey Dietrich: Here's a photo of your Jap buddies surrendering Marcus Island!visitors can't see pics , please
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loginSurrender of Japan, Marcus Islands, Mariana Islands, August 31, 1945."On a table decorated with samurai swords and the surrender document,
Japanese officers surrender Marcus Island to the U.S. Navy onboard USS Bagley (DD-386), anchored off the island. In the center is Rear Admiral Masata MATSUBARA, commander of the island’s garrison, flanked by an Imperial Army Colonel at his right (Col Junzo SEO) and Lt Cmdr Torahiko NAKAMURA, the Deputy Island Commander, at his left. The surrender was accepted by Rear Admiral F.E.M. Whiting. (Photograph released September 2, 1945. Official U.S. Navy photograph, now in the collection of the National Archives.)
After the time of the surrender, there were 2,542 Japanese Army and Navy personnel, plus a number of Japanese civilians remaining on the island. the majority of them were suffering from all forms of tropical maladies and most of them suffered from severe malnutrition. Not only were they unfit as laborers, but their continued presence on the island also presented a threat to the health of the Occupation forces." https://pacificairlifter.com/places-i-have-been/the-marcus-island-run/marcus-island-during-ww2/"The surrender of Marcus found 1,763 Army and 779 Navy personnel remaining-the majority ill and emaciated-even though 300 moderately sick cases had been permitted to depart two days previously in a demilitarized Japanese APD which had been allowed to bring in food for the starvation-threatened garrison and instructed to remove as many of the sick as could be returned to Japan.
There were also 204 civilians on Marcus, including 15 Koreans. Because of inadequate facilities for their reception and treatment, the Japanese APD had not attempted to remove the worst hospital cases, but had, instead, left them for future evacuation by a hospital ship." [5]
According to a March 10, 1946, Owensboro, Messenger (KY) article titled: "Marcus Island, Old Jap Outpost, Was Heavily Fortified Against Invasion"
"It was used as a weather and radio station and a base for staging aircraft to other Japanese possessions in the Central Pacific."
"...Over 500 Japanese had been killed by bombs and another 500 had died of starvation, and the gaunt survivors were eating weeds, birds, and a few squash pumpkins which they had managed to grow in gardens. Only one tree remained standing."
"Navy Captain A.E. Loomis, the Islands Commander, said that when US forces occupied Marcus, they found about 6o Japanese trucks and a dozen tanks still intact. They were quickly turned into junk by a series of races staged by Marines and Seabees. The wrecked equipment was then bulldozed into a long wide trench and buried."
The questionable death of Col. Yoshiichi Sakata.
"The commander of the Japanese Army forces on Marcus Island was Col Sakata. Col. Sakata died on Marcus and is listed as a battle casualty. The real story is a little different and there are two versions of what happened:
The first version states that one of his officers developed “island fever†and demanded that Sakata abandon the island.
This officer was certainly delusional; Sakata would never have returned his command to Japan even had it been in his power to do so. When Sakata rebuffed the man’s demands, the officer killed Sakata. What became of the officer is unknown. He was probably given a field courts-martial on the island and executed. I imagine it would have been too difficult to send him back to Japan for trial at that point in the war. It’s surprising that more of the personnel on Marcus didn’t go nuts. Marcus was short of everything except personnel.
The second version, suggested by Akira Takizawa: Because of the serious shortage of food, Admiral Matsubara advised Col. Sakata that the army forces would return to Japan. But, Col. Sakata did not agree with it, because his pride did not allow him to retreat from the front. Admiral Matsubara asked Captain Nakamura, the tank unit commander, to persuade Sakata. Nakamura persuaded Sakata, again and again. But, Sakata did not agree. At last, Nakamura killed Sakata and then committed suicide."
Source:
https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=209730#p1892949