Casualties of History

Thousands of wounded servicemen returned to Japan following the escalation of Japanese military aggression in China in July 1937. Tens of thousands would return home after Japan widened its war effort in 1939. In Casualties of History, Lee K. Pennington relates for the first time in English the experiences of Japanese wounded soldiers and disabled veterans of Japan's "long" Second World War (from 1937 to 1945). He maps the terrain of Japanese military medicine and social welfare practices and establishes the similarities and differences that existed between Japanese and Western physical, occupational, and spiritual rehabilitation programs for war-wounded servicemen, notably amputees. To exemplify the experience of these wounded soldiers, Pennington draws on the memoir of a Japanese soldier who describes in gripping detail his medical evacuation from a casualty clearing station on the front lines and his medical convalescence at a military hospital. Moving from the hospital to the home front, Pennington documents the prominent roles adopted by disabled veterans in mobilization campaigns designed to rally popular support for the war effort. Following Japan’s defeat in August 1945, U.S. Occupation forces dismantled the social welfare services designed specifically for disabled military personnel, which brought profound consequences for veterans and their dependents. Using a wide array of written and visual historical sources, Pennington tells a tale that until now has been neglected by English-language scholarship on Japanese society. He gives us a uniquely Japanese version of the all-too-familiar story of soldiers who return home to find their lives (and bodies) remade by combat.

Casualties of History is an innovative study that draws upon hitherto unexplored sources, including a variety of visual materials that are reproduced as color plates in the mid-section of the book, and adds to a richer understanding of Japanese culture during the Asia-Pacific War., After Japan surrendered to the Allies in 1945, a segment of the population became effectively disenfranchised in the decades to come. 'In an era of memories and memoirs filled with the voices of failed kamikaze pilots, bereaved families, and atomic-bombing survivors, there was little room remaining for the tales of war-wounded, leftover servicemen,' writes Dr. Pennington, a U.S. Naval Academy professor. His book provides just that room., In this pioneering book, Lee Pennington adds to the growing literature that places the history of the body squarely within the narrative of modern Japan and the history of the Asia-Pacific War. Casualties of History examines wounded servicemen, who, despite prominence as symbols of righteous sacrifice during World War II, became forgotten relics of a painful military debacle. Casualties of History is an innovative study that draws upon hitherto unexplored sources, including a variety of visual materials that are reproduced as colour plates in the mid-section of the book, and adds to a richer understanding of Japanese culture during the Asia-Pacific War., Lee Pennington is most effective in blending analyses of government documents with accounts of boots-on-the-ground soldiers and veterans. His book is now the best investigation of Japanese wartime medicine, physical trauma, and social mobilization in support of rehabilitation. It deserves a place on the must-read list of every student of Japan in and after the Second World War., Meticulously researched and thoughtfully conceived, Casualties of History is a premier work of disability history—one that deserves to be read by students and teachers alike.

Lee K. Pennington is Associate Professor of History at the United States Naval Academy.