ORIGINAL: Canoerebel
Here's another interesting observation on the difference between the Allies and Japan.
Long after the war, a Japanese veteran was interviewed about his experiences in the Philippines. One of the episodes he described in detail involved the rescue of a downed American pilot. He described how an American submarine surfaced and, while under fire from shore guns, managed to recover the pilot and make good its escpae. The Japanese veteran could not believe that the Americans would risk such an important asset to recover a single man.
That's a pretty telling illustration on the difference between how the Japanese and the Allies perceived the value of life. For Japan, the country was everything and the individual meant very little. But the Allies placed a premium on the value of life (and liberty and the pursuit of happiness) and conducted themselves accordingly (remember when Halsey turned on the carrier's landing lights to recover an incoming flight at dusk even though they were in Indian country?).
Japanese also used subs to pick up downed pilots. Not as regularly as USN, and sertainly not under enemy fire, but they did that too.
At least during Salomon campaing RO-boat were used to rescue pilots. Also subs rescued avioators from Marianes after airfields and planes were destroyed and battles were nearly lost.
