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Kamikaze Pilot Took His Wife On Fatal Flight
Tetsuo Tanifuji and wife, Asako
Even though World War Two had come to an end, the story of a Japanese couple who met their death in a deliberate kamikaze suicide flight against Soviet troops has come to light and has been turned into a television program.
Tetsuo Tanifuji was a trained kamikaze pilot for the Japanese Imperial Navy, however, for his very last flight, he decided to take his wife, Asako with him.
Even though the bombs had been dropped and Japan was on the verge of surrender, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan and was trying to take large areas of Japanese-controlled land in North China and the Northern Territory islands off Japan. Thousands of Japanese troops and civilians were making their way back to the Japanese mainland in defeat, so the invasion by Soviet troops was causing more chaos, attacking any military or civilians they came across.
Japanese Emperor Hirohito surrendered to Allied forces and four days later ten pilots from the Japanese Imperial Navy’s First Kyoiku Unit decided to launch an aerial attack on the incoming Soviet troops, to help other Japanese military and civilians in their retreat to the mainland.
Tetsuo was a Second Lieutenant and just 22 years old. He collected his wife, and together they climbed inside the Type 97 fighter plane. It is reported that another woman also joined another of the unit’s pilots in another aircraft.
Kamikaze memorial
They took off from their airbase and were never to be seen again. None of the aircraft that took part in the attack returned, and no records of the mission existed or survived. It wasn’t until 1957 that the Japanese military declared Tetsuo was killed in action and not until 1970 that Asako’s family received her death certificate.
The story has been turned into a television drama in Japan. However, the families of the couple are concerned about the story being dramatized. One family member said that no war stories are ‘heart-warming’ since they are shrouded in the misery of war. Another family member said that she would have done the same thing as Asako if she had made the decision to die with her husband.
Overall the family hopes that it will educate the younger generation about the devastation of war, and to oppose any attempts by politicians to get involved in armed conflict.
This author agrees.
From War History on line.
For a more personal look at this situation click HERE…..
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Gordon Banks – Elgin IL; USMC, WWII & Korea, Captain
Alexander Disanto – Mantua, NJ; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 507/11th Airborne Division
Phillip Goddard – Des Moines, IA; US Army, WWII, PTO, Corps of Engineers
John Horrall – Spokane, WA; US Army, WWII, ETO, 10th Mountain Division
Henning Knudson – Havre, MT; US Navy, WWII
Richard Luchsinger (102) – Moline, IL; US Army, WWII
Hugo Meyer – ID; US Army, WWII, PTO
Howard Nelson – Kathryn, ND; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO
Stanley Raynham – Eltham, ENG; Royal Navy, WWII
John Widelski – New Bedford, MA; US Navy, gunner’s mate, USS Wingfield & Bronstein
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The Japanese and German Alliance / What once was….
L:Japanese ambassador Kintomo Mushakoji and foreign minister of Nazi Germany Joachim von Ribbentrop sign the Anti-Comintern Pact in 1936.R: Matsuoka with Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel (centre) and ambassador Heinrich Georg Stahmer (right) at a reception in the Japanese embassy in Berlin on 29 March 1941
Alliances during a war can change the outcome, but the alliance between Japan and Germany is one that baffles many people. Most people can understand why Japan went to war with America, but why did the Imperial nation join forces with Nazi Germany? To understand the Tripartite Pact which created the Axis Powers, a look further back in history is needed.
Both Germany and Imperial Japan arrived on the international stage in the mid-1800s. Japan was forced out of isolation and started rapid westernization in 1854. Germany had been a number of city-states before Prussia won the Franco-Prussian war and united all of them in 1871.
A Japanese lithograph depicting Japan’s troops attacking the German colony of Tsingtao in 1914
Before Germany became a country of its own, Prussia and a newly open Japan had a very friendly relationship. Prussia had been going through a modernization effort with the speed and efficiency that the Germans are known for. This led Japan to view them as a good role model, as Japan wanted to modernize in a similarly effective manner.
To this end, Japan hired many Prussian and German advisers to help them with modernization. These advisers brought the militaristic approach to modernization which worked in Prussia, and later Germany, to Japan.
As German ambassador in Tokyo from 1920 to 1928, Wilhelm Solf initiated the re-establishment of good German–Japanese relations. Bundesarchiv,
However, this cozy relationship ended when both nations decided to follow the other major powers and look for colonies.
The problem that Germany faced with its colonization efforts was the fact that the Age of Exploration was coming to an end.
The other major powers of the time had been colonizing the world for years, so all the areas Germany would have considered first were already colonized. This led Germany to turn east and start colonizing different areas of Asia. At the same time, Japan was also looking for colonies and saw their best options in East Asia. This was the same area the Germans were operating in and led to a cooling of the relationship between these nations.
“Good friends in three countries”: Japanese propaganda poster from 1938 promoting the cooperation between Japan, Germany and Italy
Japan also started to become friendly with Great Britain at this time, which would affect the relationship between Japan and Germany during World War I.
When WWI broke out in 1914, Japan allied with Britain. After the Allies won the war, Japan was quick to take over the former German colonies in Asia.
While this would normally sour relationships between countries, Japan and Germany’s friendship would reignite in the post-WWI world.
Japanese foreign minister Yōsuke Matsuoka visits Adolf Hitler in Berlin in late March 1941.
After the war, Germany was not in a good place and was forced to sign an incredibly harsh treaty by the Allied Powers. This led to the crash of the government and economy as well as the rise of the Nazi Party.
In addition, the newly formed League of Nations was unpopular in Germany, and Japan was not a fan of it either.
The League of Nations was not very fair to Japan. Japan would often be punished by the league for its actions against its neighbors.
This sowed the seeds of discontent because the leaders of the League, France and Great Britain, often conducted the same actions against their own colonies. This hypocrisy would lead to Japan withdrawing from the League of Nations.
Adolf Hitler declares war on the United States on 11 December 1941 in the wake of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
As the Nazi Party gained power, Hitler created strong ties with China. However, he changed course and started to view Japan as a more strategic partner in Asia. For its part, Japan wanted to continue expanding, and saw rebuilding its relationship with Germany as beneficial to this goal.
The renewed relationship between Japan and Germany was still fragile when WWII broke out. In the early stages of the war, Japan was strongly allied with Germany, but not involved militarily in the war.
The I-8 arriving in Brest, France, in 1943, on a “Yanagi” mission to exchange material and personnel with Nazi Germany
Their relationship was one of mutual benefit rather than a complete alliance, since Japan was more focused on exerting its influence in East Asia.
The true alliance of Japan and Germany would only come about when Japan entered the war. When Japan attacked Pearl Harbor and other American bases, it led to America declaring war on the Imperial nation.
Rear Admiral Jisaku Uozumi signs the surrender of Penang aboard the battleship HMS Nelson on 2 September 1945. He fainted shortly afterwards and was rushed to hospital. Note the Distinguished Service Cross ribbon on Uozumi’s uniform, which he had earned from the British during the alliance
In response, Germany declared war on America, and thus further strengthened their relationship with Japan. The Tripartite Pact created the Axis Powers, allying Germany, Japan, Italy and a number of smaller countries.
The alliance between Japan and Germany during WWII may seem strange and an odd pairing which did not yield much in terms of results.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Andrew Benjock – Pittsburgh, PA; USMC, WWII, PTO/CBI, Korea, radioman, Master Gunnery Sgt. (Ret. 31 y.)
Allan Brown – Toronto, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII
Dan Darden – Montgomery, AL; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Ralph Esposito – Mahopac, NY; US Coast Guard, WWII
Margaret Fish – CA; US Women’s Marine Corps, WWII
Murphy Neal Jones Sr. – Baton Rouge, LA; US Air Force, Vietnam, POW (6½ y., Hanoi Hilton)
Fred Knodle – Cincinnati, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, 187/11th Airborne Division, Medical unit
Robert Messel – Vincennes, IN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, West Point grad
Jack O’Neil – North Haven, CT; US Army, WWII & Korea, Chief Warrant Officer 4
Jocelyn Todd – Aiken, SC; US Army WAC, WWII
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Paul Tibbets and Duty
Paul Tibbets
After receiving basic flight training at Randolph Field in San Antonio, Texas in 1937, Tibbets quickly rose through the ranks to become commanding officer of the 340th Bombardment Squadron of the 97th Bombardment Group. After leading the first American daylight heavy bomber mission in Occupied France in August 1942, Tibbets was selected to fly Major General Mark W. Clark from Polebook to Gibraltar in preparation for Operation Torch, the allied invasion of North Africa. A few weeks later, Tibbets flew the Supreme Allied Commander, Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower, to Gibraltar. Tibbets quickly earned a reputation as one of the best pilots in the Army Air Force.
Paul Tibbets in New Mexico
Tibbets returned to the United States to help with the development of the B-29 Superfortress bomber. On September 1, 1944, Tibbets met with Lt. Col. John Lansdale, Captain William S. Parsons, and Norman F. Ramsey, who briefed him about the Manhattan Project. Tibbets, who had accumulated more flying time on the B-29 than any other pilot in the Air Force, was selected to lead the 509th Composite Group, a fully self-contained organization of about 1,800 hand-picked men that would be responsible for dropping the first atomic bomb on Japan.
Paul Tibbets
From September 1944 until May 1945, Tibbets and the 509th Composite Group trained extensively at Wendover Air Force Base in Wendover, Utah. Flight crews practiced dropping large “dummy” bombs modeled after the shape and size of the atomic bombs in order to prepare for their ultimate mission in Japan.
In late May 1945, the 509th was transferred to Tinian Island in the South Pacific to await final orders. On August 5, 1945 Tibbets formally named his B-29 Enola Gay after his mother. At 02:45 the next day, Tibbets and his flight crew aboard the Enola Gay departed North Field for Hiroshima. At 08:15 local time, they dropped the atomic bomb, code-named “Little Boy,” over Hiroshima.
The crew of the “Enola Gay”
Tibbets was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross by Major General Carl Spaatz immediately after landing on Tinian. When news of the successful mission appeared in American newspapers the next day, Tibbets and his family became instant celebrities. To supporters, Tibbets became known as a national hero who ended the war with Japan; to his detractors, he was a war criminal responsible for the deaths of many thousands of Japanese civilians. Tibbets remains a polarizing figure to this day.
The book, “Duty”, by Bob Green, is a must read Duty is the story of three lives connected by history, proximity, and blood; indeed, it is many stories, intimate and achingly personal as well as deeply historic. In one soldier’s memory of a mission that transformed the world—and in a son’s last attempt to grasp his father’s ingrained sense of honor and duty—lies a powerful tribute to the ordinary heroes of an extraordinary time in American life.
No regrets … Colonel Paul Tibbets, standing.
What Greene came away with is found history and found poetry—a profoundly moving work that offers a vividly new perspective on responsibility, empathy, and love. It is an exploration of and response to the concept of duty as it once was and always should be: quiet and from the heart. On every page you can hear the whisper of a generation and its children bidding each other farewell.
Warning leaflet dropped on 14 Japanese cities
“TO THE JAPANESE PEOPLE: America asks that you take immediate heed of what we say on this leaflet. We are in possession of the most destructive explosive ever devised by man. A single one of our newly developed atomic bombs is actually the equivalent in explosive power to what 2000 of our giant B-29s can carry on a single mission. This awful fact is one for you to ponder and we solemnly assure you it is grimly accurate.” (American leaflet warning Japan to surrender)
With the end of the war in 1945, Tibbets’ organization was transferred to what is now Walker Air Force Base, Roswell, N.M., and remained there until August 1946. It was during this period that the Operation Crossroads took place, with Tibbets participating as technical adviser to the Air Force commander. He was then assigned to the Air Command and Staff School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., from which he graduated in 1947. His next assignment was to the Directorate of Requirements, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, where he subsequently served as director of the Strategic Air Division.
BG Paul Tibbets
Brigadier General Paul W. Tibbets Jr. retired from the United States Air Force in 1966. He died in 2007, his ashes were scattered at sea. For more on Tibbets, see Manhattan Project Spotlight: Paul Tibbets. To watch his first-person account of the Hiroshima mission, click here.
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Leaflet dropped on Nagasaki
9 August, ‘Bock’s Car’ dropped the next atomic bomb, “Fat Man,” which was nicknamed after Churchill or Sidney Greenstreet’s character in “The Maltese Falcon,” there are two conflicting stories. The bomb killed 80,000 people. This second bomb was different in that it was a spherical plutonium missile, ten feet long and five feet in diameter. The plane made three unsuccessful runs over the city of Kokura, but due to the lack of visibility, they went on to Nagasaki. Jake Beser, an electronics specialist, was the only crew member to make both atomic bomb runs.
From the collection of images taken by Yosuke Yamahata, a Japanese military photographer.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Stellla Bender – Steubenville, OH; US Navy WAVE, WWII
Ian Cowan – Christchurch, NZ; NZ Army # 635101, WWII, J Force
Raymond Evans – Naashville, TN; US Army, WWII
Wilbur Grippen Jr. (99) – New Haven, CT; US Army, WWII
Albert Hill – Nampa, ID; US Army, WWII, CBI
Floyd Kennedy – Tonasket, WA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 674/11th Airborne Division, Medical Corps (Ret. 21 y.)
Louis Mueller – Baltimore, MD; US Navy, WWII
Clinton Phalen Sr. – Foster City, MI; US Navy, WWII, Chief Petty Officer
Raymond Shannon – Worchester, MA; US Air Force, Korea
Max Thomas – Calhoun, GA; US Army, WWII
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Personal Note –
GP Cox had the pleasure – or should I say ‘best experience ever’ yesterday as I boarded a B-17 Flying Fortress. If anyone has a chance to take a flight – DO IT!!
The Wings of Freedom Tour of the Collins Foundation is coming to a city near you!! Tell them Pacific Paratrooper sent you!
I was unable to download any of my videos, Pierre Lagace did this for me! Actually for 6 years he has been helping me out – m Mentor!
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Truman and the Pacific War
Potsdam Conference w/ Churchill, Truman & Stalin
Harry S. Truman did not have the outstanding record that most people look for in a president. He had poor eyesight and was unable to complete a 4-year college. Later, he failed as the owner/operator of a small mining and oil business, as a farmer and then as a haberdasher. (In my opinion, that only left politics as an option.)
HST was elected to the Senate with the assistance of the corrupt Thomas J. Pendergast and proved to be an unimportant legislator. His only military achievement was in successfully tightening up the discipline of the rag-tag outfit he was given. He was chosen as the Vice-Presidential candidate because southern democrats liked him and FDR needed those votes. (I’m afraid these facts were located during research, they are not my own thoughts – unless specified.)
This was the man sent to Germany, sailing on the “Augusta” with Secretary of State, James Byrnes and Admiral Leahy to attend the Potsdam Conference to begin on 17 July 1945. The primary agenda for the massive meeting dealt with the revision of the German-Soviet-Polish borders and the expulsion of several million Germans from the disputed territories. The code name for this conference was “Terminal,” with Stalin, Churchill and Truman representing the three major powers.
16 July was significant in that the Atomic bomb was successfully tested, exploding the equivalent of 20,000 tons of TNT and a blast point of 750 degrees F. Oppenheimer would then prepare the test results for his report to Henry Stimson in Potsdam. Truman confided the news to Churchill and the two rulers instantly decided that at least two bombs would be dropped on Japan.
This decision was made despite the arguments of Adm. Leahy, General “Hap” Arnold and Gen. Dwight Eisenhower who strongly spoke against it’s use, calling it completely unnecessary. Many of the scientists that worked on the Manhattan Project felt that such a dramatic scientific discovery should not be used. The petition, “…the liberated forces of nature for the purpose of destruction … open the door to an era of devastation …,” was signed by 57 scientists. They had the foresight to visualize the nuclear problems that we face today, but their qualms went unheeded.
The Potsdam Proclamation demanded the unconditional surrender of Japan, but did not make mention of two clearly important issues – (1) that the atomic bomb was is existence and (2) whether or not the Emperor would retain his seat in the palace. Both of these provisions would have clarified the true situation for the Japanese Army. Many, on-site at Potsdam, believe that the Japanese were purposely and maliciously misguided.
26 July, the same day that Clement Attlee defeated Winston Churchill in the election for Prime Minister, the Potsdam Declaration was sent to the enemy. The exact wording of this document made it unthinkable for Japan to accept. Once again, the lack of understanding for a foreign culture would hinder the road to peace.
MGeneral Makato Onodera, in Norway, 1942
Keep in mind, while still at sea on the ‘Augusta,’ Byrnes had received a message from Sweden stating that Japanese Major Gen. Makoto Onodera, having authorization from the Emperor, wished to enter into peace negotiations. The only stipulation being that the Emperor remain in power.
By this time, Prince Konoye had spent two years laboring to uncover a route to peace. The prince had had the correct procedure all along, but mistakenly had chosen the Soviet Union as the go-between. Stalin had his own agenda in mind for the Japanese and their territories and therefore he deceitfully strung the envoys along with various delaying tactics.
Allen Dulles, OSS
OSS Allen Dulles, who assisted in negotiations when Italy fell, was working on the same premise in Switzerland. Nevertheless, as spring turned to summer, militarists in Japan continued to plan for Operation Decision (Ketsu-Go) and ignored their government’s attempts for peace. Disregarding Japan’s concern for their Emperor, the Potsdam Declaration was considered by Premier Suzuki and the military to be a re-hashing of the Cairo Declaration which deemed it to be marked as “mokusatsu” (‘ignore entirely’ or ‘regard as unworthy of notice’)
In regards to the A-bomb, Secretary of War, Stimson and his assistant, John McCloy, told Truman, “We should all have our heads examined if we don’t try to find a political solution.”
Truman laughed.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Political Sarcasm – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Otis ‘Pete’ Clemons – Oceola City, FL; US Navy, WWII, PTO
Robert Dugan Sr. – Yonkers, NY; US Navy, WWII, USS Amsterdam
David Giammattalo – Toronto, CAN; Canadian Army, WWII
Edward Herod – East Chicago, IN; US Coast Guard, WWII, PTO
James I. Jubb – Eastport, MD; US Army, Korea, Cpl., KIA
Cletis L. Leatherman – Sparks, NV; US Army Air Corps, Japan Occupation, 11th Airborne Div.
Raye Montaque – Little Rock, AR; US Navy, Engineer, Program Manager of Ships
Lester Schner – Jericho, NY; US Army
Merle (Stiles) Shelton – Bakersfield, CA; Civilian, Manhattan Project (Berkeley)
Jerry Wilde – Boca Raton, FL; US Army, Korea
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Japanese Kaiten Torpedo
Kaiten Type-1 Yushukan on display in Tokyo
IJN Navy officers in 1944, were the designers, Lts Hiroshi Kuroki and Sekio Nishina. The pair were killed while testing the weapons.
In the desperate final year of WWII in the Pacific, very few people on both sides knew of the existence of the Japanese kaiten human torpedo. It was a top secret weapon developed by two “Circle 6 metal fitting” and only a few in the Imperial Navy knew what it really was.
The kaiten was the underwater equivalent of the Kamikaze suicide plane. Although the human torpedo pilots did not die in a blaze of glory as their air force counterparts, they all believed in their cause and there was no shortage of volunteers for the top secret program.
The kaiten was powered by a Type 93 “Long Lance” torpedo engine fitted to a long tubular body. The engine was oxygen-powered and had a maximum speed of 30 knots (34.5 mph). The 54-foot weapon packed a 1550 kg (3,420 pound) warhead and was controlled and guided by a human operator. There was a tiny pilot’s compartment which had a periscope and a gyro-compass to guide him to the target. Once launched, the weapon could not be recovered. There was a self-destruct button if the pilot failed to hit his target.
Kaiten Type-10 schematic
To sink a submarine was very difficult. The killing radius of the exploding depth charge, depending on various circumstances such as depth, payload, and strength of the target’s hull, was around 10 to 13 feet. From 26 to 33 feet, serious damage could be inflicted. It took a lucky hit to sink a submarine; most were sunk after being battered continuously until they lost power or air. The US Navy had perfected anti-submarine warfare using high tech equipment and teams of destroyers and destroyer escorts. The danger point for the submariners was about 12 hours without fresh air. By forcing the sub to surface or preventing it from surfacing for air, its destruction was assured.
Petty Officer Yutaka Yokota, a kaiten pilot on the I-36, recalled: “Then came the depth charges. They felt like a giant pile driver smashing into the side of the I-36. She shook and swerved, throwing me to my knees. The wardroom sofa leaped fully two feet above the deck and toppled over on its side. Every light that I could see went out, and only about half of them came on again.”
USS Sproston
The I-36 was taking a severe beating and there was nothing she could do. It had launched one kaiten, but it still had 5 more strapped to the deck. Sugamasa wanted to dive down to 325 feet, but his cargo prevented him from doing so. To dive deeper meant that he would destroy the kaitens due to heavy underwater pressure.
Oil and debris came bubbling to the surface, but Cdr. Esslinger on the USS Sproston wasn’t falling for that old submariner’s trick. The crew smelled blood in the water and increased their resolve. They had knocked down several Japanese planes, but wanted to add a submarine to their tally.
LCdr. Sugamasa was running out of options. Then Ensign Minoru Kuge rushed into the con and volunteered to man his kaiten and counter attack. All of the electric rudders on the small crafts were damaged, but they could be steered manually. Petty Officer Hidemasa Yanagiya also insisted to sortie. Sugamasa knew that a counter-attack had little chance of success. These two brave men were going to sacrifice themselves to lure the destroyer away from their submarine so that she could escape.
Yokota’s kaiten was badly damaged. He had sortied twice before, only to be thwarted by mechanical failures in the temperamental kaiten. He was confident that the third sortie would be the charm. Now a bystander, he stood by clutching a vial of cyanide and thought “Once they made their direct hit and water came rushing into our hull, I was going to swallow the container’s contents. I could not bear to think of death by drowning or suffocation.”
Kuge and Yanagiya quickly boarded their kaiten through a tight hatch and were sealed shut. The engines started, the clamps were released, and the two kaitens whirled their way toward the surface. The skipper and his sonarmen listened intently through their earphones. Fifteen minutes later, the first contact was made.
Sproston had spotted a kaiten and made a run towards it. The conning tower and periscope were clearly visible at quite a distance.Then the 5-inch guns opened up. Sugamasa and his sonarmen heard faint explosions. “We made a direct hit!” recalled Roberts. “I saw the small black conning tower go sailing off into the air!” There was wild jubilation! The Sproston had scored.
Down below in the I-36, they later heard a gigantic boom; a kaiten had exploded. But which one, Kuge or Yanagiya? Believing that it had scored a kill, they cheered. But they were wrong. The depth charges kept coming. From noon until night, the destroyer pounded the submarine until their inventory of depth charges was depleted. Finally, the destroyer retired from the scene. The I-36 limped back into port like a beaten dog on 6 July 1945. For Yutaka Yokota, he was unsuccessfully lucky, for he lived to tell about it.
Through the diligent efforts of Don Roberts (Jim’s son), the connection between the Sproston and the I-36 was made. Don located Yutaka Yokota in Tokyo and exchanged letters. The USS Sproston Association invited the former kaiten pilot to their reunion in Orlando, Florida in September 1990. Yokota could not attend due to ill health. The old sailors were looking forward to meeting Yokota at the 1992 reunion in Chicago, but were saddened to learn that he had passed away on 16 March 1991 of cancer at age 65.
Jim Roberts had sent a letter to Yokota prior to his passing. In his letter, Jim wrote: “We tried our best to sink you. But I am glad that we did not do so.” This letter was read at Yokota’s funeral wake. About a hundred of Yokota’s comrades, many of them from the kaiten program and the submarine service, attended his funeral. “I wish we could have met,” sighed Jim. “We had so much to talk about.”
Jim Roberts passed away at his home in Lakewood, CA in 2004.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Glen Azevedo – Riverside, RI; US Coast Guard, Vietnam, Chief Warrant Officer
James Barrett – Palmerston North, NZ; RNZ Army # 33572, WWII, Warrant Officer 1st Class
James Bates – Kimmins, TN; US Army, WWII, ETO, POW / Korea, (Ret. 30 y.), Silver Star, Bronze Stars
William Danner – Elwood, IN; US Army, WWII, 104th Infantry Division, Chief Warrant Officer2 (Ret. 25 y.)
Robert Fitzgerald – Charles City, IA; US Navy, WWII
Melvin Liederman – Hallendale, FL; US Army, WWII, ETO
Guy Nightingale – Corning, KS; US Navy, WWII
Richard Pride – Hampton, VA; US Army, WWII, Major / NASA engineer
Joseph Rosario – Morristown, NJ; USMC
Fred Segal – Detroit, MI; US Navy, Lt., Taurus Missile System
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Research for Jeff S.
Pictures are larger than shown here.
511th area is indicated within the red circle
The 511th traveled west to Lipa
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Japan – June 1945
Hidecki Tojo meets with Wang and other officials
From: the diary of Commander Tadakazu Yoshioka, 26th Air Flotilla, Luzon
… following the Vassal’s Conference, a new ‘Gist of the Future War Guidance’ was issued say:
Policy: Based upon the firm belief that Loyalty to His Majesty should be fulfilled even though one should be born seven times, the war must be accomplished completely with the unified power of the land and the unified power of the people in order to protect the nationality of our nation, to defend the Imperial Domain, and to attain the object of the war subjugation.
Meanwhile however overtures were being made to the Allies via Moscow, as the Soviet Union had not yet declared war on Japan. But the negotiations faltered when Stalin and Molotov headed to Berlin to attend the Potsdam Conference. One result of the conference was the declaration demanding Japan’s unconditional surrender. When some began to voice their fear that the Soviet would break its neutrality agreement and attack Japanese forces in Manchuria, Secretary Tanemura berated his colleagues for defeatism, “They should be planning for victory on the mainland.,”
Tannemura said, “In the evening, I received an unofficial order from the Chief of the Military Affairs Bureau, Yoshizumi, transferring me as a staff officer to the Korean Army. Simultaneously with thanking my superior for the favor of giving me a place to die at this final phase of the war, I left the Imperial General Headquarters after 5 years and 8 months with the feeling of utter shame in my inability to serve His Majesty, which led to this situation. I will compensate for my past crime by burying my bones on the front line.”
Tanemura was captured in Korea and spent 4½ years in a Soviet prisoner-of-war camp before being returned to Japan in January 1950.
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Evacuation of school children into rural areas.
The Japanese home front was elaborately organized, block by block, with full-scale food rationing and many controls over labor. The government used propaganda heavily and planned in minute detail regarding the mobilization of manpower, identification of critical choke points, food supplies, logistics, air raid shelters, and the evacuation of children and civilians from targeted cities. Food supplies were very tight before the heavy bombing began in the Fall of ’44 and then grew to a crisis
Agricultural production in the home islands held up well during the war until the bombing started. It fell from an index of 110 in 1942 to 84 in 1944 and only 65 in 1945. Worse, imports dried up. The Japanese food rationing system was effective throughout the war, and there were no serious incidences of malnutrition. A government survey in Tokyo showed that in 1944 families depended on the black market for 9% of their rice, 38% of their fish, and 69% of their vegetables.
The Japanese domestic food supply depended upon imports, which were largely cut off by the American submarine and bombing campaigns. Likewise there was little deep sea fishing, so that the fish ration by 1941 was mostly squid harvested from coastal waters. The result was a growing food shortage, especially in the cities. There was some malnutrition but no reported starvation. Despite government rationing of food, some families were forced to spend more than their monthly income could offer on black market food purchases. They would rely on savings or exchange food for clothes or other possessions
Click on images to enlarge.
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Current News –
Tomorrow is POW/MIA Day here in the United States. Please spare a moment to remember those who never made it home.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
John Antolik – Nanticoke, PA; US Army, Korea, Co. A/85th Tank Battalion, Cpl.
Edward Brook – Lancashire, ENG; Royal Navy, WWII
Glenn Frazier – AL; US Army, WWII, PTO, Col., 75th Ordnance Co., (Bataan March survivor)
Josseph Gagner – Cranston, RI; US Coast Guard, Academy graduate, Chief Petty Officer (Ret. 20y.)
James Howard – Maiden Rock, WI; US Army, WWII
William Liell – Staten Island, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, Co. C/511th // Co. A/187th RCT, Korea
Max McLaughlin – Mobile, AL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
Freddie Oversteegen – Schoten, BEL; Civilian resistance fighter, WWII
Leonard Tyma – Dyer, IN; USMC, WWII, KIA (Betio)
James Welch – Salt Lake City, UT; USMC, WWII, PTO, Purple Heart
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Okinawa Kamikaze story
This is an odd story that involves a flight instructor, his family, and a single-minded request. The whole thing was so strange, in fact, that the Japanese government censored it at the time.
Hajime Fujii was born on August 30, 1915, in Ibaraki Prefecture as the oldest of seven children. He joined the army and proved to be such a skilled machine gunner that they sent him to China.
Hajime Fujii
The Chinese weren’t too happy about that, which is why Fujii got hit by a mortar shell that wounded his left hand. Sent to the hospital, he was tended to by Fukuko – a beautiful field nurse from Takasaki City, Gunma Prefecture.
It was love at first sight. Back then, arranged marriages were the norm, but the two were having none of it. So they returned to Japan, got married, and had two adorable daughters – Kazuko and Chieko.
Instead of sending him back to China, the Army kept Fujii in Japan and sent him to the Army Air Corps Academy where he graduated in 1943. Becoming a company commander with the Kumagaya Army Aviation School in Kaitama, Fujii was tasked with teaching his students character and mental discipline.
This included inculcating them with a deep sense of loyalty and patriotism and the value of crashing one’s plane into enemy ships and camps. According to his few surviving students, he frequently told them that he would die with them if he could.
But he couldn’t. The mortar shell didn’t take out his left hand, but it left him unable to grip a plane’s control stick. So the more he expressed his desire to die with his students (many of whom went on to do just that), the more the whole thing bothered him.
Kamikaze pilot
Japan didn’t enter WWII with any intention of creating kamikaze pilots and sending them on suicide missions. But it had expected a quick victory. By 1944, Japan knew it was in serious trouble. Many of its veterans were gone, and many of those sent out never made it back. Desperate, the Army created Special Attack Force Units called tokkōtai or shimbu-tai – suicide squads made up of the Army and Navy.
Fujii’s favorite motto was: “words and deeds should be consistent.” So after months of telling his students to kill themselves by crashing into the enemy, he wanted to do the same by joining the kamikaze. Unfortunately for him, he was a victim of his own success. Popular with his students and staff, and having proven his worth in China, the Army refused his request. They also cited the fact that he was a family man, while most of those they sent on one-way missions were single.
Kamikaze
Fukuko also pleaded with him to stay out of the war. He had two young daughters, after all. If he died, what would happen to them? But as more and more of his students left on suicide missions never to return, Fujii couldn’t shake off the idea that he was betraying his wards. He felt like a hypocrite, which is why he again appealed to the Army to let him die. They refused his second request.
So now Fukuko was trapped. If Fujii stayed in Japan, she’d have her husband, while her daughters would have a father. But he would forever be haunted by his self-perceived betrayal of his students and his country. He would become a ghost (“dim spirit” in Japanese), only half alive. At best, he’d just fade away. At worst, he’d eventually blame his wife and children for his dishonor.
So on the morning of December 14, 1944, while her husband was away at Kumagaya, Fukuko dressed herself up in her finest kimono. She did the same with three-year-old Kazuko and one-year-old Chieko. Finally, she wrote her husband a letter, urging him to do his duty to the country and not to worry about his family. They’d wait for him.
Then she wrapped Chieko up in a cloth backpack and strapped the baby to her back. Taking Kazuko by the hand, she walked toward the Arakawa River near the school where her husband taught. Taking a rope, she tied Kazuko’s wrist to her own and jumped into the freezing waters.
The police found the bodies later that morning, and Fujii was brought to the spot as they were being laid out. The following evening, he painted a letter to his oldest daughter, begging her to take care of her mother and younger sister till he could join them.
Then he performed yubitsume (cut off his pinky finger). With his own blood, he painted his third appeal to the Army.
On February 8, 1945, Fujii became the commander of the 45th Shinbu Squadron – which he named Kaishin (cheerful spirit). Just before dawn on May 28, the nine planes headed to Okinawa, each carrying a pilot and gunner. To their delight, they came upon the USS Drexler and USS Lowry.
USS Drexler
Two slammed into the Drexler, sinking her within minutes and taking out 158 of its crew. Fuji was in one of them. He was reunited with his family.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – 
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Farewell Salutes –
Helen Boling – KS & CO; US Army nurse, WWII
Donald Goodbrand – W.Palm Beach, FL; USMC
Wayne ‘Bubba’ Harland – Washington, DC; USMC, Korea & Vietnam
Richard ‘Old Man’ Harrison – Danville, VA; US Navy, Petty Officer 1st Class, USS Chowanoc (Ret. 20 y.) / “Pawn Stars”
Charlene Kvapil – Middletown, OH; civilian employee US Navy Bureau of Ships, WWII
Stanley Maizey – Cornubia, AUS; Australian Army
Robert Sykes – Rochester, NY; US Navy, WWII / Korea, Chief Engineer, USS Ingraham
Newton Sloat – Concho, OK; US Army, 503rd/11th Airborne Division
Leo ‘Fox’ Stewart – Menagha, MN; US Army Air Corps, WWII
Jane Tomala – Toronto, CAN; RC Navy WREN, WWII
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Col. Hiromishi Yahara on Okinawa
Lines of defense on Okinawa. Top Japanese officers were in the bottom line of bunkers.
Colonel Hiromishi Yahara was third in command of the Japanese defenses on Okinawa. Read all about his story below.
It was Colonel Hiromishi Yahara who designed and implemented the jiykusen, or the yard-by-yard battle of attrition that cost the American forces so many casualties in the three-month battle, and he was the highest ranking officer to survive the battle and make it back to Tokyo. Before the overall commander on the island, Lt. Gen. Mitsuru Ushijima, committed ritual suicide in the battle’s final days, he instructed Yahara to escape to Tokyo to make a final report to the emperor.
Yahara was captured by the Americans, which bothered him immensely—to be captured or to surrender was considered a disgrace to one’s family—but eventually he did return to Japan. In 1973, Yahara still felt strongly that the garrison at Okinawa, as well as the people of Okinawa themselves, had been betrayed by Imperial Headquarters in Tokyo. Because he faced personal attacks for surviving the battle, Yahara decided to write a book to set the record straight.
The result is a fascinating and unique look at the last, decisive battle of the Pacific War, written by a surviving member of the defeated Japanese command on Okinawa. Yahara was a gifted and meticulous strategist, highly respected by his peers. Because he had spent two years in the United States as an exchange officer prior to World War II, he knew his enemy better than did his superiors at Okinawa, Ushijima and Maj. Gen. Isamu Cho.
Yahara makes a startling revelation in the book regarding the events surrounding the American landing on Okinawa on April 1, 1945. According to Yahara, the plans drawn up in Tokyo called for Japanese air power to play the decisive role in the battle for Okinawa prior to the actual landing. Japanese planes flying from the mainland along with aircraft launched by the Japanese Combined Fleet—conventional fighters and kamikaze suicide attackers—were supposed to strike the U.S. Fifth Fleet offshore prior to the landing and annihilate the American landing forces while they were still in their ships. The 32nd Imperial Army entrenched on Okinawa was to play a minor role, mopping up the survivors of the American landing forces as they struggled ashore.
Giretsu Commandos on Okinawa
To Yahara, the failure to launch the promised air attack on April 1 sealed the fate of the island’s garrison—it never had a chance for victory. Hundreds of thousands of Okinawan citizens had been betrayed as well, Yahara believed, sacrificed to the whims of the Japanese high command.
Although his love for his country never wavered, Yahara was unique among his peers. He fully recognized the flaws in traditional Japanese military thinking—the Bushido code, or way of the warrior—and he was disgusted as he watched his superiors repeat the errors of previous eras. The Imperial Army had a “blood and guts” mentality; it had been undefeated since winning the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. To the Japanese militarists’ way of thinking, the combination of Japanese spirit and the willingness to die for the emperor would overcome any material advantage enjoyed by an enemy.
Japanese bunker
Yahara was convinced that the initial Japanese strategy for Okinawa—depending on air power—would fail. Japan’s air forces were seriously degraded by early 1945, and it had lost many experienced pilots. American aircraft were now technically superior, and Japan’s Navy was down to just a few surviving carriers. Yahara believed that the only chance for his country’s survival lay in the proper use of its remaining ground forces.
After the promised air assault did not materialize, he went ahead with his planned defenses on the ground. He would fight for time, making the invaders pay dearly for every inch of ground, to allow Japan to prepare its defenses on the main islands for the Allied invasion that was sure to come. Yahara’s tactics on Okinawa would utilize the island’s terrain, which was perfectly suited for defense, to wage an ugly war of attrition. His soldiers would go underground in caves and concrete bunkers to survive air, artillery, and naval gunfire, and then battle American ground forces for every inch of island real estate. His intricate, multi-layered defensive positions and the tenacity of the 110,000-man 32nd Army combined to prolong the battle for three long and exceedingly bloody months.
Col. Hiromishi Yahara
In his book, Yahara admits that he despised both the self-delusion practiced by his superiors and the false propaganda foisted upon the Okinawan people, who were told that capture by American troops would result in rape, torture, and death, to which suicide was preferable.
Condensed from an article by John Walker.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – BOOT CAMP 
‘Sign me up for swing shift basic training! I don’t think I could handle early morning hours.’
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Farewell Salutes –
Robert Bathurst – Madison, WI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
Frank Conger – Poughkeepsie, NY; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Bennington
Missing Man formation
Warren Foss – St. Louis, MO; US Navy, WWII, PTO
James Gavette – Bradford, PA; US Army, WWII
Samuel Tom Holiday – Kayeta, AZ; USMC, WWII, PTO, Navajo Code Talker, Purple Heart
Norman Jackson – Watertown, NY; US merchant Marine, WWII
Francis McCormack – Rutland, VT; USMC
Irving Press – Windsor, CT; US Army, WWII
Raymond Rzepecki Sr. – Central Falls, RI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Pfc, B-24 tail gunner, 370th
Omar Shaffer – Linden, VA; US Navy, WWII, gunner
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Japanese Soldier’s Remembrance of Iwo Jima – conclusion
“Iwo Jima” by: Mark Maritato
Takahashi Toshiharu’s story continues….
I ran towards the sea. The day got brighter. When I jumped down, the enemy shot. I felt as if I burnt a burned hot chopstick in my chest and I could not breathe. There are plenty of US soldiers, but I was alive. Blood flows a lot. Both shirts and pants were stained with blood. I tried to stop blood even a little, but it didn’t work.
The enemy brought a flamethrower to the mouth of the hole. The fire did not reach me. It was where I had been before. The bullet was through, but it hurts because my body swells when I breathe. It is a suffering to die.
I will die soon. There is no doctor or medicine. There is no food or water, death is near. There was nothing I could do. My eyes dazzle, I’m bleeding a lot. My body is cold. I gave up, I knew that it was useless. I visualized Japanese soldiers coming from the back of the cave. I asked for water, but I only got tears of sorrow. I rolled on the ground in pain. The wound has come to suppuration. (infected). The left hand stopped moving.
SE Asia map w/ Iwo Jima highlighted
The US military is blowing up the entrance to the cave. A number of places have also blown up today. It is a strategy to make Japanese soldiers buried in holes. I do not have any food and I can not move to escape, I will die here, but I would rather die outside. Now it is dark and I see a human approach. If he is an enemy, it will lead to death. My hand moved, but there is no gun.
It was a Japanese soldier. I went down to the man. There was a grenade noise. A gunshot also happened. I guess he met his enemy. The area is covered with cannon-fire, but I can’t tell the direction. The cliff which I’m on is as high as 30 meters is hit and shattered. With a slope of about 45 degrees and it becomes rough soil and stone. I am going downhill.
Iwo JIma
I fell to the sandy beach. The wound in my back breaks and the pus flows out. Since no one is here, I can not even be treated. Still I got up and walked down the sandy beach to the water. I want to drink, but it is sea water. Drums were flowing in the vicinity. I thought that it might be the drinking water of the US military, so I tried to hit it with a stone, but it will not open.
I have no guns, only one grenade for suicide but I can not use it. I ran back in my original direction. Footprints remain because they are sand. I follow the enemy footprints. The scratch on the back is broken and it is becoming a null null. The left hand does not move perfectly. I came where I fell before and try to climb the slope. The left hand does not move at all. I lost consciousness on my way.
Japanese POW
I slept in the hole without eating for 4 days. I had been chased by the enemy, but collapsed among other dead Japanese and the enemy could not tell the difference. I will die here today. I think that it is March 18th. My birth is 18th March 18th in Meiji. Today is March 18th in Showa 20. There is no better way than natural suicide, natural death, shooting out of the hole and being shot dead, or committing suicide with a grenade for suicide. It is only clear that there is no life.
A US military airplane flew over me. I want to see my wife, children, mother and brother but I can not even move. I might as well be a soldier who went to the enemy’s camp and died. Let’s do so. All the fellow soldiers are dead.
The US Army soldier swings his head sideways and instructs by hand for me to sit down. The tall, blue-eyed soldier keeps his gun at me. The soldier gave me his water bottle. I drank the water like a drunk. Now I’m ready to be killed, but they tell me to follow them.
1945, wounded Japanese soldier cared for by U.S. Marines.
I arrived at the curtain where the military doctor was. The surgeon told me to eat by motioning with his hands. I understood it. It was boiled soybeans from a can. I ate it all. The military doctor put white medicine on the wound. I wondered if he was killing me, but a jeep came. It had a drawer that they put me on and we left.
I arrived at a field hospital and was taken out from the drawer and the military doctor told me, ” I will give something to eat”, I thought this was true. I thought that I came to the world after death. I have heard that there are many US soldiers of Nisei so I asked. Iwo Jima occupied March 17th. They say Japan has lost a useless war. I do not know why I am alive, when I should have been killed by the US military. Being a POW is a painful thing.
This is a condensed version of Imperial Japanese Army Corps of Engineers Corporal, Takahashi Toshiharu’s diary. To view the entire story, the link is at the top of Part One, posted on Monday. The Cpl. was sent to Gum Island for 10 days and boarded a hospital ship to Hawaii. When the war ended, he was returned to Japan.
Click on images to enlarge.
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Military Humor – Kunihiko Hisa cartoon album “Zero Fighter 1940-1945”
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Farewell Salutes –
Lino Agosti – Anchorage, AK; US Army Air Corps, WWII, HQ/152 Artillery/ 11th Airborne Division
Bob Brown – San Francisco, CA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, B-26 pilot
Sam Gilman – brn: CAN; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Korea & Vietnam, (Ret. 26 y.)
James Henderson – Sydney, AUS; Korean War
Ed Kennedy – Ft. Lauderdale, FL; USMC, Korea, one of the “Chosin Few”
Roy Malmassari – Issaquah, WA; US Army, Korea
John Naples – Falmouth, ME; US Army, WWII
John Otten – Sioux Falls, SD; US Navy, WWII, ETO
Paul Smith – Clanton, AL; USMC, WWII, PTO
George Welsh – North Platte, NE; US Army, WWII, Chaplain
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Japanese Soldier’s Remembrance of Iwo Jima – part one
In this painting by an unknown Japanese artist, Japanese soldiers, taking cover behind a wrecked U.S. plane, fire on Marines approaching from the beachhead.
This article from HERE was contributed by Nasuko.
My grandfather passed away in 1986. Since then, nearly 20 years have passed, but my grandfather left a note of “Battle experience record”. My grandfather was born in Meiji 45 (the first year of Taishō), was summoned four times from the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War, and was serving to “Iwo Jima”, one of the greatest fierce battles during the Pacific War. It seems that after the war, I remembered it based on the memories of that time and the records written in my notebook.
In Iwo Jima, about 21 thousand Japanese soldiers fought and crushed and survived by only about 1,000 people. My grandfather belonged to the hybrid First Brigade Engineer Corps and only 13 out of 278 people had survived.
Takahashi Toshiharu (74 years old who died in 1986) from Susaki city, Kochi Prefecture, who was assigned to Iwo Jima as a commander of the Army Engineer at the age of 31.
Being seriously injured while shoulder struck back at Iwo Jima, he was taken prisoner of the US military and returned in February of 1946 (Showa 21).
After that, he worked at the Shimizu station in Tosashimizu City, Kochi Prefecture.
We are engineers, making bombs is an expert. They made 20 km bombs at once. Put this on your back and infiltrate ourselves into enemy tanks. Wait for the night to come, carry the bombs on your own. I gave up my gun. No one says anything. It will not return to this position again. The war situation is a disadvantage, the division headquarters is also in danger. Now we are leaving.
There are many injured soldiers left in the position. Looking at our departure, we want to die together. You must destroy a tank that comes to Tianshan tomorrow morning. I never fail to fulfill my promises though I told my wife when I leave Japan that I should live and return. I was destined to die. Even if I live, there is no rice, there is no water, no bullets, no way I can live. Forgive my wife child I apologized with my heart that I could not return home alive. Now we are going to death with justice.
I know the topography. I enter a sideways hole position. . I will be absent until morning. I swear that our day will be our day. In turn and wait for the enemy’s coming at the exit of the hole. When I moved and looked at the enemy, my eyes flashed sharply. I heard a sound, I was buried in the earth and sand. The shell fell in front of me. It was a misfire. Every time I face death, something happens and helps. It is strange.
The tank that should come is still coming. The most terrible fellow, brown and large M4, came. It is 200 meters away. It protrudes a cannon, puts machine guns on the left and right, and also has a flamethrower. It is time for our eight people to die. There is no prospect of saving any thought. I am prepared for it. There is no fear, but the death is ever closer to us.
Yano, the sergeant watcher, ran to warn the others to prepare for the battle – the tank came. His complexion is pale. The enemy burns off the front with a flamethrower, sweeps with a machine gun, shoots with a cannon with a cannon and just goes on a slurp. This is repeated.
We have decided to jump out as the tank approaches 10 meters. There are ten tanks and we have eight people, so only eight can be destroyed. The remaining tanks will pour into my army.
to be continued….
Click on images to enlarge.
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Japanese Military Humor – from: Kunihiko Hisa cartoon album “Zero Fighter 1940-1945”
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Farewell Salutes –
Richard Bennett – Bartlesville, OK; US Army, WWII, CBI, 2nd LT.
Floyd Carter Sr. – Yorktown, VA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Tuskegee / Korea & Vietnam, Lt. Col. (Ret.)
Frank Forlini – Yonkers, NY; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, HQ/187th/11th Airborne Division
Koso Kanemoto – Chicago, IL & Los Angeles, CA; US Army, Japan Occupation, US 8th Army, G-2 MIS Interpreter
Bill Lundquist – Skagit Valley, WA; US Army, WWII, ATO, radioman
Thomas Martin – Huron, SD; US Army, Iraq, Ranger, West Point graduate, KIA
Austin McAvoy – Detroit, MI; US Navy, WWII, PTO, USS Intrepid
Bernard “Wallie” Newport – Waikato, NZ; RNZ Navy # 8095, WWII, Sub-Lt.
Rose Puchalla – Minneapolis, MN; US Army Air Corps WAAC, WWII, ETO, 1202nd AAFB (Africa), Pfc., KIA
Robert Wood – Lady Smith, WI; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 11th Airborne Division
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