Glossary

A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | U | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z

A

Atom Bomb:  A type of bomb, new to the 20th century, in which the energy is provided by nuclear fission. Uraium-235 and plutinium-239 were the isotopes used in these atomic bombs that were used for the first time during World War II on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

B

Beri Beri – Dry:

Beri-Beri – Wet:

Bushido:  A feudal military Japanese code of behavior valuing honor above life.

C

Changi Prisoner of War Camp:

Chomansai:  Extreme overload

Cho:  Super/Ultra

 

D

 

Death Railway:

Dehydration:

Dengue Fever:

Diseases:

Dysentery – Basillic:

 

 

Doolittle Raid:

 

F

Fatigue:

G

 

Gangrene:

 

H

Hell Ships:

K

Kamikaze:  Group of Japanese pilots in World War II who were assigned to make a suicidal crash of their planes into their targets.

Kempeitai:  Japanese secret police.

Kesajiri:  A means of killing a person by using a sword to cut down through the left shoulder and into the lungs allowing the individual to die in his own froth of blood. This method was used in WWII by the Japanese to kill civilians and prisoners of war.

Kimigayo:  Japanese National Anthem

Kwantung Army:  When Japan acquired Port Arthur on the Kwantung Peninsular of southern Manchuria as one of the fruits of its victory in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905, a Kwantung Army was established to occupy the peninsula, patrol the Japanese-owned South Manchuria Railway zone, and generally protect other Japanese commercial interests in Manchuria. The Kwantung Army included extremist officers who were well aware that senior officers of their army harboured plans to extend Japan’s boundaries on the Asian mainland by military force. They were prepared to take direct action in Manchuria to force the Imperial government’s hand. Source:  PacificWar.org

M

Malaria:
Malnutrition:
Mansai:  Full capacity
Merchantman:  Armed merchantman is a term that has come to mean a merchant shipequipped with guns, usually for defensive purposes, either by design or after the fact. In the days of sail, piracy and privateers, many merchantmen would be routinely armed, especially those engaging in long distance and high value trade. Source

 

O

OSS:  Office of Strategic Services was a United States intelligence agency formed during WWII. It was the wartime intelligence agency, and a predecessor to the CIA, the Central Intelligence Office. Source 

P

 PT Boat

S

Seppuku:  Ritual suicide

Starvation:

U

Unit 731:  Covert biological and chemical warfare research and development unit of the Imperial Japanese Army that undertook lethal human experimentation during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) and World War II. It was responsible for some of the most notorious war crimes carried out by Japanese personnel. Originally set up under the Kempeitai military police of the Japanese, Unit 731 was taken over and commanded until the end of the war by an officer in the Kwantung Army. Source

USS Indianapolis

USS Juneau