Shunroku Hata

Shunroku Hata was a field marshal (gensui) in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. He was the last surviving Japanese military officer with a marshal's rank. Hata was born in Fukushima Prefecture, where his father was a samurai of the Aizu Domain. He enrolled in the Army Cadet School and graduated from the Imperial Japanese Army Academy in 1901 as a second lieutenant in the artillery. He served in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I as a military observer in Europe. He rose through the ranks and held various positions in the army, such as commander of the 14th Division, head of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service, commander of the Taiwan Army of Japan, Minister of War, and commander-in-chief of the China Expeditionary Army. He was involved in the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Pacific War, and was responsible for many atrocities committed by the Japanese forces in China. He was promoted to field marshal in 1944 and took charge of the Second General Army in Hiroshima. He survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and played a role in persuading the Japanese leaders to surrender. He was arrested and tried for war crimes after the war, and was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1948. He was paroled in 1954 and died of cancer in 1962.