Genda's recollections and the limits of planning testimony

Genda recalled discussing an attack in 1934, several years before the stated beginning of formal planning in early 1941. The distinction matters because an earlier carrier-strike idea need not be the operational plan eventually executed. He served as a sounding board for Yamamoto and Onishi. Senior officers made decisions while captains, commanders and other staff supplied ideas and worked through alternatives. A staff officer's later recollection about a third wave can therefore preserve something discussed during planning without establishing a final order. The variety of contributors helps explain why the planning record does not resolve every later dispute.