Kazuo Odachi - Memoirs of a Kamikaze

MEMOIRS of a

KAMIKAZE

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MEMOIRS of a

KAMIKAZE

A World War II Pilots Inspiring Story of
Survival, Honor and Reconciliation

KAZUO ODACHI
with Shigeru Ohta and Hiroyoshi Nishijima
translated by Alexander Bennett and Shigeru Ohta

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Published by Tuttle Publishing, an imprint of Periplus Editions (HK) Ltd

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ISBN 978-1-4629-2149-2

Zerosen Tokkoutai Kara Keiji E

2016 Hiroyoshi Nishijima, Shigeru Ohta

English translation rights arranged with FUYO SHOBO CO., LTD.

Through Japan UNI Agency, Inc., Tokyo

English Translation 2020 Alexander Bennett and Shigeru Ohta

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress publication data is in progress.

Printed in Malaysia 2004

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FOREWORD

This book was first published in Japanese in July of 2016 and quickly received considerable attention from the media. Although there have been hundreds of novels, documentaries and movies about the Kamikaze, this book is unique. Involved with the Kamikaze Special Attack operation from its inception until the very end, this is a story of young man who joined the Imperial Japanese Naval Air Service aged 16 and was still only 18 when Japan accepted unconditional surrender.

The author kept silent about his harrowing experiences for nearly 70 years, but finally decided to share them in the twilight years of his life. Lucky to have survived, he became a highly respected policeman who never forgot his dead comrades. This book also tells a fascinating story about an important constant in his long life. The author started the martial art of Kendo as a child and still practices actively in his nineties.

Young men and women from many countries were sent to the front and a countless number of them ever came home. The Kamikaze Special Attack Corps may seem akin to extremist suicide bombers who terrorize the world today. It is my hope that the reader will come to view the young Kamikaze pilots who crash-dived into enemy targets as honorable soldiers who selflessly and valiantly sacrificed their lives for their nation and its people. Such martyrdom is surely no different to the sacrifice made by any soldiers caught up in the tragic cauldron of war.

Millions of combatants and civilians on all sides lost their lives in the Second World War. Strong bridges of friendship have since been constructed between former foes, but we must never forget that these bonds are built atop a foundation of bones of those whose lives were ended violently and prematurely.

I hope that this book further augments an understanding of history as seen through the eyes of a young man who somehow lived through the horror, and that it will transcend concerns of nation and generation, reminding us of those who never lived to enjoy a peaceful life after the war.

Shigeru Ohta

PROLOGUE

A little before noon on August 15, 1945, at an airbase on the north-east coast of Taiwan called Yilan, more than thirty Zero fighter planes carrying 500-kilogram bombs under their fuselages were preparing to take off. They were Kamikaze suicide planes and their mission was to attack hundreds of American ships anchoring off Okinawa. Succeed or fail in their mission, they would not be returning.

Clouds were high in the sky and it was very hot. The propellers sputtered into motion in a haze of smoky exhaust. The Zero piloted by sergeant Kazuo Odachi was in his squadrons first team at the head of the runway, positioned to the left-rear of the section leaders. The moment the planes began to move, an engine-starting car hurtled at full speed down the runway to block their path.

Abort attack! a mechanic shouted from the car. Somewhat startled by this sudden postponement, Odachi and the others disembarked their winged coffins and walked back to the command post. Before long, the somber voice of Japans emperor, Hirohito, crackled from the wireless speakers. It was difficult to hear, but the pilots got the gist of the imperial broadcast. Japan had accepted non-conditional surrender.

In the buildup to the mission, Odachi thought to himself My time has surely come. It was going to be the last of his eight attempted Kamikaze missions. But this time, once again, his life was miraculously spared. Fighting Grummans in aerial combat, strafed by American fighters when walking down a road, afflicted by malaria, making a narrow escape from Philippine mountains where hope had all but been lost. He experienced all of this over the course of a year. For whatever reason, death passed him by and he was saved by the skin of his teeth more times than he cared to remember.

Student Draftees and Yokaren Trainees

In addition to footnotes, special columns such as this are included throughout the book to provide contextual information on Japanese history and some details related to Japans involvement in the Second World War. This is the first such column, and has been included at the beginning to explain why this story is so special.