Since World War II, Palauans have shared stories concerning their 80 young men whom the
Japanese Army trained in 1944-45 to participate in suicide guerrilla raids against American forces
in Palau. During interviews in the 1980s, the Japanese officers involved in this Kirikomi-tai
program – including the legendary Capt. Morikawa – insisted that the Palauans were wrong to
believe they were being prepared for actual military operations. Rather, their training had other
purposes, such as reducing civilian unrest. Using fresh interviews with Palauans, research among
both Japanese and U.S. sources, and close analysis of the officers’ testimonies, this paper disputes
the officers’ statements. The Japanese Army most definitely trained Palauan youths for hazardous
seaborne missions against U.S. forces, missions so dangerous that they were suicidal. The paper
also discusses the use of Palauan oral histories, and employs the Kirikomi-tai episode to open a
wider examination of conditions on Palau’s Babeldaob Island during the year it was besieged by
the United States. The Japanese Army’s policy against surrender led not only to the readiness to
sacrifice the Palauan youths, but to mass starvation and levels of violence and death not previously
documented. Among the 50,000 civilians and Japanese military personnel trapped on Babeldaob,
probably 10,000 died. At least 80% of these deaths were caused by famine and disease.
Keywords: Palau, Kirikomi-tai, Morikawa, World War II, starvation
Introduction
World War II swept through the islands of Japanese-held Micronesia with suddenness
and ferocity. In just the first nine months of 1944, the United States assaulted the islands of
Kwajalein, Majuro, and Enewetak in the Marshall Islands, Saipan, Tinian, and Guam in the
Marianas, then ended with Peleliu and Angaur in Palau, and Ulithi near Yap. This islandhopping strategy skipped over 15 other Japanese military bastions in Micronesia. These 15 were
not invaded, but for the remainder of the war they were placed under siege, many through regular
aerial bombardment. Tactically, the distinguishing characteristic of a siege is the deliberate use
of starvation and deprivation as the primary weapons against the foe. In the period between early
1944 and the end of hostilities in August 1945, all these besieged outposts experienced severe
malnutrition and rampant disease, which caused many thousands of deaths among military
personnel and the large numbers of Asian and Micronesian civilians trapped with them.1
