In October 1928 Feng Yuxiang was appointed as Vice President of the Executive Yuan and War Minister of the Republic of China by President Chiang Kai-shek. Feng's patriotism was a basic motivation. Because of atrocities he saw Japanese soldiers commit during the Sino-Japanese War of 1895, Feng promised that he would fight the Japanese to death if he ever became a soldier. Every year on the anniversary of Japan's 21 Demands in 1915 he and his officers wore belts on which was written "In Memory of the National Humiliation of May 7th."