Isoroku Yamamoto

Naval Marshal General Isoroku Yamamoto was the commander-in-chief of the Combined Fleet of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, a graduate of the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy and a student of the U.S. Naval War College and of Harvard University (1919–1921).

Yamamoto held several important posts in the Imperial Japanese Navy, and undertook many of its changes and reorganizations, especially its development of naval aviation. He was the commander-in-chief during the decisive early years of the Pacific War and so was responsible for major battles such as Pearl Harbor and Midway.

He died on April 14, 1943, during an inspection tour of forward positions in the Solomon Islands when his aircraft (a G4M Betty bomber) was shot down during an ambush by American P-38 Lightning fighter planes. His death was a major blow to Japanese military morale during World War II.