Paul Nobuo Tatsuguchi (1911–1943) was a surgeon in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. A devout Seventh-day Adventist, Tatsuguchi studied medicine and was licensed as a physician in the United States. He returned to Japan to practice medicine at the Tokyo Adventist Sanitarium. In 1941, he was conscripted as an acting medical officer, and was later sent to Attu Island, Alaska, which had been occupied by Japanese forces in October 1942. The U.S. Army landed on the island in May 1943, and throughout the resulting battle, Tatsuguchi kept a diary recording the events of the battle and his struggle to care for the wounded in his field hospital. He was killed on the battle's final day. His diary was recovered and translated, and copies were widely disseminated in the US after the battle. The American public was intrigued by a Christian, American-trained doctor serving with Japanese forces and by his apparent participation in assisting with the deaths of wounded Japanese soldiers. Excerpts from the diary have been widely quoted in Western historical accounts of the battle, especially his final entry in which he recorded a farewell message to his family.
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Nobuo_Tatsuguchi
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
627:
Muslim–Quraish Wars: A confederation of tribes began an ultimately unsuccessful siege of Yathrib (now Medina) against Muhammad and his army. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Trench
1854:
U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry (Japanese depiction pictured) and the Tokugawa shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convention_of_Kanagawa
1910:
Six English towns amalgamated to form a single county borough called Stoke-on-Trent, the first union of its type. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federation_of_Stoke-on-Trent
1931:
TWA Flight 599 crashed in Chase County, Kansas, US, and killed eight people, including football coach Knute Rockne, stimulating advances in aircraft design and development. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TWA_Flight_599
1964:
Brazilian Armed Forces led an overthrow of Brazilian President João Goulart and established a military government that would last for 21 years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_Brazilian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
wry: 1. Turned away, contorted (of the face or body). 2. Dryly humorous; sardonic or ironic. 3. Twisted, bent, crooked. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/wry
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
 Wisdom lies neither in fixity nor in change, but in the dialectic between the two. A constant coming and going: wisdom lies in the momentary. --Octavio Paz https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Octavio_Paz