T. A. Gardner
Serial Thread Killer
All of the Imperial soldiers. Or just the Kamikaze ones. The met or faced death with glee.
Actually, not true. Many Japanese soldiers were reluctant to take part in suicide charges. There are numerous documented accounts of Japanese soldiers only going so far forward in such charges to then stand stone still and be shot down where they stand without fighting. Officers and NCO's often had to urge the men forward in such charges. Such was the social pressure not to become a POW that troops would allow themselves to be killed but would not fight at the same time.
Many early Pacific War charges like this were not considered suicidal by the IJA, but rather an effective tactic based on experience with poorly trained and motivated Chinese troops prior to fighting the US et. al. Officers with experience in China thought that such a brazen charge would cause the defenders to morally break and flee. When that didn't happen, the Japanese troops got slaughtered.
An excellent early example of this thinking is on Guadalcanal with the Ichiki Detachment in the battle at the Tenryu River.
