The U.S. At War: Chai-yo for Thailand

It was a dramatic moment. Thailand had surrendered to the Japanese. In the Thailand Legation in Washington the brisk, round-faced Minister, Mom Raja-wongse Seni Pramoj, had to announce whether or not he surrendered, too.

Eight tan, faultlessly dressed, glossy-haired men arose and shouted in unison: Chai-yo! (Hurrah). They shouted it five times. For the Minister announced that, no matter what his Government said: “I have decided to work from now on for one thing and one thing only—the re-establishment of free and independent Thailand.” The ornate, red-carpeted sitting room, dazzling with gold-silk furniture, pillars and goddesses, echoed with the Oriental cheers. When he finished his eloquent speech, the Minister selected a cigaret from the skull of a tiger whose open jaws were lined with gold, and ended solemnly, in English: “Gentlemen, we’ll lick the hell out of ’em. That is the motto of the Thai people.*

* But not of Thailand’s Premier, Luang Pibul Songgram, who sent, according to Domei, a congratulatory telegram to Japan’s Premier Tojo on Japan’s “splendid achievements in the first few days of war.”