Girard incident

1957 incident in which an American soldier was convicted of manslaughter of a Japanese civilian

The Girard incident (ジラード事件) was the killing of Japanese civilian Naka Sakai by United States Army soldier William S. Girard in Soma, Gunma Prefecture on January 30, 1957. Sakai, a housewife who was collecting spent shell casings at a military base to sell for scrap, was killed when Girard shot an empty grenade cartridge at her, apparently for his own amusement. Sakai's death caused outrage from the Japanese public and the incident led to disputes between Japan and the U. S. Army over jurisdiction, resulting in the U. S. Supreme Court case Wilson v. Girard. Girard was demoted by the U. S. Army and received a three year suspended sentence from Japanese authorities.

On January 30, 1957, Naka Sakai, a 46 year old Japanese housewife and mother of six, entered Sōmagahara Air Base in Soma, Gunma Prefecture, for the purpose of collecting spent shell casings to sell as scrap metal. At the time, Sōmagahara was used by the U. S. Forces Japan for live fire exercises, and local residents would collect metal from spent ammunition to earn a living. Specialist Third Class William S. Girard, a 21 year old enlisted man from Ottawa, Illinois, used a grenade launcher mounted on an M1 Garand rifle to fire an empty grenade cartridge at Sakai, which hit her in the back and killed her.

The strong Japanese outcry over the killing precipitated a major diplomatic crisis between the United States and Japan and led to a jurisdictional dispute between the Japanese authorities and the U. S. Army over who had the right to put Girard on trial for Sakai's killing. The U. S. Army maintained that Girard had acted while on "active duty" and was thus under the jurisdiction of U. S. military courts in accordance with the terms of the U. S. Japan Security Treaty. Girard appealed this decision to the U. S. Supreme Court, but the court declined to intervene, in the case Wilson v. Girard. American domestic response to Girard's extradition was largely negative, sparking an intense political and media backlash against the Eisenhower administration. Girard claimed that the death had been an accident. The presiding judge, Yuzo Kawachi, went so far as to visit the scene of the incident himself, and pronounced himself "baffled" by the discrepancies in Girard's account of events. However, he stated that he could find "no evidence of deliberate murder", and Girard was handed only a three year suspended sentence. Girard himself, who was recorded as having an IQ of 90, was held in little regard by his fellow soldiers, widely viewed as a "bumpkin clown" who drank to excess and ran up debts at various Japanese establishments. After his trial, he went home to America with his Taiwan born Japanese bride, Haru "Candy" Sueyama, and was booed by fellow servicemen during his return trip. Sakai's widowed husband, Akikichi, and his six children were compensated with a mere US$1,748.32 ($ in ) for their loss, but this monetary offer was perceived as an attempt to buy off justice by many Japanese, and Akikichi stated to U. S. authorities that "I do not thank you for it."