Chūichi Hara Biography . Hara was born in Matsue city in Shimane prefecture . He graduated from the 39th class of the Imperial Japanese Navy Academy in 1911 , ranking 85th out of his class of 149 cadets . As a midshipman , he served on the cruiser " Aso " and the battlecruiser " Ibuki " . After his promotion to ensign , he was assigned to " Settsu " and then to the " Akashi " . After attending both torpedo school and naval artillery school , Hara was promoted to sublieutenant and then he served on the destroyer " Asakaze " , followed by the cruiser " Yakumo " , and then the battleship " Kongō " during World War I . However , it does not appear that he faced combat against the German Empire during his duties . After the end of World War I , Hara returned to naval school again for advanced study in torpedo warfare during 1918 – 19 . Then he served as the chief torpedo officer on the destroyer " Hakaze " , followed by the destroyer " Yukaze " in 1921 , and then the cruiser " Ōi " in 1922 . Hara attended the Naval Staff College in 1923 - 24 and then was promoted to lieutenant commander . In December 1926 , Hara was assigned to his first command , that of the destroyer " Tsuga " . He was promoted to the rank of commander in 1929 , and then he served as an instructor at several of the naval ordnance schools during the early 1930s . Hara was given command of the gunboat " Ataka " in 1932 , and he was promoted to captain in 1933 . During 1933 - 34 , Hara was assigned as the naval attaché at the Japanese Embassy in Washington , D . C . . When he returned to Japan , Hara took command of the cruiser " Tatsuta " , and next he held a number of staff positions in the Imperial Japanese Navy until he was promoted to rear admiral on November 15 , 1939 . During World War II . During World War II , Hara was the commanding officer of the Fifth Carrier Division of the Imperial Japanese Navy for the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . His command contained the two brand new aircraft carrier s " Zuikaku " and " Shokaku " . During the Battle of Coral Sea in the $ 3 , his 5th Carrier Division was heavily damaged by the bombing of the " Shokaku " and the large number of aircrewmen and planes shot down from the Zuikaku . These damages put both aircraft carriers out of the war for many months , and they both missed the Battle of Midway . Meanwhile , Hara was reassigned to command the 8th Cruiser Division , containing the large , fast heavy cruiser s " " Tone " " and " Chikuma " , and their escorting destroyers , during the long , bitter struggle with the Americans for the Solomon Islands . Hara and his warship s were present for two large battles in the South Pacific : the Battle of the Eastern Solomons and the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands . After the large American carrier air attack on on the large Japanese base at Truk ( Operation Hailstone ) in 1944 , Admiral Hara was assigned to replace Admiral Masami Kobayashi as the commanding officer of the " Japanese 4th Fleet " , though he actually commanded the land base at Truk with no warship s assigned to him . Truk was left behind by the U . S . Navy in a rear area to " wither on the vine " in isolation , rather than being invaded and occupied . ( This was the fate of many Japanese bases on Pacific islands , including the large one at Rabaul and several on New Guinea . ) Admiral Hara was trapped at Truk without reinforcements or fresh supplies all the way through the Final surrender of Japan on September 2 , 1945 . Following the end of the War in the Pacific , Hara was arrested by authorities of the U . S . Navy and then taken back to Japan to be held in the Sugamo Prison in Tokyo because he had been accused of war crime s . Hara was sent to face a military tribunal on the American island of Guam , and there he was convicted along with other Japanese officers of " neglect of duty in connection with violations of the Laws of War committed by members of their command " for allowing the execution of U . S . Navy aircrewmen who had been captured during air raids on Truk . Since he was the commander of the atoll , Vice Admiral Hara was of course the highest - ranking officer from Truk to be tried for war crimes . Hara was convicted , and he was sentenced to six years in prison . He was then sent back to Sugamo Prison to serve his imprisonment . Hara ' s son Nobuaki graduated from the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy just as World War II ended . When Hara was released from prison on April 19 , 1951 , Nobuaki took him home to a very small house in Tokyo . Hara dedicated the remainder of his life to securing Japanese government pensions and relief for the families of Japanese , Korean , and Taiwanese servicemen imprisoned for war crimes . Hara served as a Councilor of the Ministry of Justice ( Japan ) until his death at age 74 in 1964 . Hara ' s sword . Shortly after the surrender in August 1945 , the commander of allied forces ordered all Japanese sword s collected and turned over to the occupation forces . Many of the swords were mass - produced government issue , but some were ancient masterpieces of the swordmakers ' art which had been cherished for generations . Many swords were distributed indiscriminately to American servicemen as souvenirs . Hara surrendered his family sword to the American Vice Admiral commanding the Marianas so the sword might be displayed at the United States Naval Academy Museum in Annapolis . Hara was in possession of a second sword which he presented to Rear Admiral Calvin T . Durgin while Durgin was interviewing Hara as part of the United States Strategic Bombing Survey conducted immediately following the war . In 1959 , Hara requested through diplomatic channels return of a family sword belonging to 85 - year - old Ryūtarō Takahashi , president of the six - million - member Bereaved Families Association . The sword was one of the great blades forged in Bizen Province in the 15th century . It had been carried by Ryūtarō ' s son , Hikoya Takahashi . Hikoya had asked Hara to care for the sword while he was assigned to a minesweeping assignment he did not survive . Hara revealed that the sword carefully preserved in the Naval Academy Museum was Takahashi ' s sword , and the Hara family sword which should be in the museum was in the possession of Admiral Durgin . Retired Admiral Durgin drove to the museum to correct the error , and the Bizen sword was delivered to the old man who had lost his son .