# Chichijima Incident: WWII Cannibalism and Bush's Escape

*History & War · Eleanor Hartwell · 2026-08-23*

## TL;DR

In September 1944, nine American aircraft were shot down near Chichijima Island. Eight of the nine pilots were captured by Japanese forces. They were executed and cannibalized. Lieutenant George H.W. Bush, the only one to evade capture, was rescued by the submarine USS Finback and later became the 41st U.S. President.

## Key facts

- The incident occurred on Chichijima Island in the Bonin Islands chain during September 1944.
- Eight captured U.S. Navy airmen were killed and cannibalized by Japanese soldiers under the command of Lieutenant General Yoshio Tachibana.
- Lieutenant George H.W. Bush survived after his plane was hit and he bailed out, landing in the sea and avoiding capture.
- Bush was rescued by the submarine USS Finback after spending time in the water.
- In 1947, a war crimes trial held on Guam convicted Tachibana and four others, who were hanged for their roles in the killings.

## The Chichijima Incident: A WWII Horror Story with a Presidential Twist

In September 1944, nine American aircraft were shot down by Japanese fire during bombing raids on Chichijima, a small island 700 miles south of Tokyo in the Bonin Islands. Eight of the nine pilots were captured by Japanese troops, and what followed was a nightmare that would only fully come to light years later at a war crimes trial.

The captured airmen were beaten and tortured. But the cruelty did not stop there. According to trial testimony and confessions, Japanese soldiers ate the livers of the newly deceased pilots and treated the bodies to slow decay. The soldiers on the island had no food shortage or difficulties; they were not starving like many other Japanese units fighting elsewhere.

The cannibalism reportedly served as a ritual, a way to demean the enemy and to absorb their spirit and strength. That motivation comes from the accounts given at the time, though historians note the reasons were mixed. When the bodies began to decompose, Lieutenant General Yoshio Tachibana ordered the pilots' heads cut off.

Here is where the story takes an unexpected turn. One of those nine pilots survived. A 20-year-old named George H.W. Bush bailed out before his plane crashed and was rescued by an American submarine. He would go on to become President of the United States, carrying the weight of knowing what happened to his squadron mates.

The Chichijima incident remained buried for years. It was only in 1947, during a trial held in Guam, that the full horror came into focus. Several Japanese soldiers and officers were accused of torturing and executing the eight captured American pilots from the Bonin Islands. The charges were presented with euphemistic language such as "prevention of an honorable burial" or "destruction of the body." The word cannibalism never appeared in the charges.

Lieutenant General Tachibana and four others were hanged. The rest received prison sentences. The Chichijima incident stands as one of the most disturbing episodes of the Pacific War, a reminder of how war can strip away the boundaries of what we consider human.

## The Trial That Couldn't Say the Word: War Crimes in Guam, 1947

When the military tribunal convened in Guam in 1947, the prosecutors had a problem. They needed to convict Japanese officers of atrocities committed against eight captured American pilots, yet the most damning evidence involved acts so unspeakable that the court record refused to name them directly. So the charges used careful, clinical language: "prevention of an honorable burial" and "destruction of the body." The word "cannibalism" never once appeared in the official proceedings.

The trial centered on events that followed the September 1944 shootdown of nine American aircraft near Chichijima, a small island in the Bonin chain roughly 700 miles south of Tokyo. Eight of the nine airmen were captured by Japanese forces. They were beaten, tortured, and eventually executed on the orders of Lieutenant General Yoshio Tachibana, who commanded the island's garrison.

What the court documents danced around, the confessions made plain. Japanese soldiers had consumed the livers of the dead pilots. They treated the remaining body parts to slow decomposition. The men on Chichijima were not starving; accounts suggest the act carried ritual meaning, a way to demean the enemy and, as some narratives claim, to absorb the pilot's spirit and strength. The motivations remain murky in the historical record, but the act itself was confirmed through trial testimony.

When the verdicts came down, the court showed no hesitation about the punishment. Tachibana and four others were sentenced to death by hanging. The remaining defendants received prison terms. Justice had been served, at least in the legal sense, even if the language of the courtroom refused to speak the full truth about what those men had done.

## The Lone Survivor: George H.W. Bush's Escape

One young pilot cheated the fate that swallowed his eight comrades. George H.W. Bush, just 20 years old, was the only one of the nine downed airmen to survive the Chichijima incident. He would go on to become the 41st President of the United States, but on that September day in 1944, he was simply a desperate kid fighting to stay alive.

Bush's plane was hit by Japanese fire, and the cockpit began filling with smoke. He managed to bail out before the aircraft crashed, deploying his parachute over the Pacific. The cold water closed over his head, and for a few terrifying seconds he was alone in the dark sea. An American submarine, the USS Finback, surfaced and pulled the young pilot from the water. It was a rescue that would echo through history, even if no one knew it at the time.

The contrast is almost too sharp to process. While Japanese troops on the island were subjecting the other captured pilots to unspeakable horrors, Bush was bobbing in the waves, waiting for salvation. He had no idea what his fellow airmen were enduring. He only knew he had to survive.

Decades later, Bush rarely spoke of that morning, but the memory of his lost squadron mates stayed with him. A future president of the United States came within a heartbeat of being part of one of the most gruesome war crimes of the Pacific theater. The USS Finback didn't just save a pilot that day. It saved a man who would one day lead a nation.


## Frequently asked questions

**What exactly happened to the captured pilots?**

In September 1944, Japanese fire shot down nine American aircraft during bombing raids on Chichijima. Japanese troops captured eight of the nine pilots, who were then beaten and tortured. According to trial testimony, soldiers ate the livers of the newly deceased pilots and treated the bodies to slow decomposition before the men were beheaded on orders from Lieutenant General Yoshio Tachibana.

**Why did Japanese soldiers resort to cannibalism?**

As the story goes, the cannibalism was performed as a ritual to demean the enemy and absorb their spirit and strength, not because of food shortages. The soldiers on the island reportedly had no food supply problems, unlike many other Japanese units fighting elsewhere. That said, historians continue to debate the motivations, and some accounts point to desperation as a contributing factor.

**Who was Lieutenant General Yoshio Tachibana?**

Yoshio Tachibana was the Japanese Lieutenant General who ordered the beheading of captured American pilots on Chichijima. In a 1947 trial held in Guam, he and several other Japanese soldiers and officers were charged with torturing and executing the eight captured airmen. Tachibana and four others were hanged, while the rest received prison sentences.

**How did George H.W. Bush survive?**

George H.W. Bush, then a 20-year-old pilot, was the sole survivor of the nine downed airmen. He bailed out of his stricken plane before it crashed and was rescued by the USS Finback, an American submarine. He later became the 41st President of the United States, a fact that gives this grim story an unexpected footnote in American political history.

**Were the charges brought against the soldiers explicit about cannibalism?**

No, they were not. The 1947 Guam trial presented charges using euphemistic language such as "prevention of an honorable burial" or "destruction of the body." The word "cannibalism" never appeared in the official charges, even though testimony and confessions confirmed that livers had been consumed and bodies treated to delay decomposition.

**Did cannibalism occur elsewhere during the Pacific War?**

Yes, it did. Numerous reports and books document cannibalism by Japanese forces in other parts of the Pacific theater during World War II, often in units suffering extreme hunger. The Chichijima incident stands out as among the most notorious, both because of the ritualistic element claimed and because one of the intended victims went on to become President of the United States. Editorial note: Some details of the incident, including the exact sequence of events on the island and the precise number of men involved in the cannibalism, remain unconfirmed and are presented here as such.

Canonical: https://curio.madeda.com/chichijima-incident-wwii-cannibalism-and-bush-s-escape/