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Kokubu Special Attack Base Monument

The Japanese Navy used Kokubu, Kanoya, and Kushira in Kagoshima Prefecture as its main Kamikaze Special Attack Corps sortie bases during the Battle of Okinawa in the spring of 1945. The area of Kokubu actually had two airfields, referred to as Kokubu No. 1 Air Base and Kokubu No. 2 Air Base. The planes used in special (suicide) attacks from Kokubu included Zero fighters, Type 99 (Val) dive bombers, and Suisei (Judy) dive bombers. 

The Kokubu Special Attack Base Monument, erected in 1964, honors the young men who died in special attacks after departing Kokubu. This monument, located at the former Kokubu No. 1 Air Base, honors those who died in special attacks from both bases in Kokubu. The monument stands on a low mound in a small park across the street from the Kokubu Base of the Japanese Ground Self Defense Force.

The inscription on the stone monument reads: "Departure Point for Special Attack Planes." The bronze plaque below the inscription reads:

In this place the Izumi Naval Air Corps Kokubu Detachment was established in 1943 during the Greater East Asia War, and the Kokubu Naval Air Corps was formed the next year on August 15, 1944. This was the place where Corps members spent day after day in training, but it was used as a Naval Special Attack Corps base when the enemy force was closing in on Okinawa in early 1945. More than 400 brave young men smilingly departed from this world, going far away to the end of the drifting clouds. This ground has deep memories of those who gave their lives at the time of their country's crisis.

This monument has been established through donations from Kokubu City, the Self Defense Force, and interested individuals, and through the efforts of members of the Ground Self Defense Force at Kokubu Base. The monument's purpose is to promote the restoration of peace in our homeland by praying that the spirits of these young men who gave their lives for the peace and security of our country may rest in peace forever.

August 15, 1964

The number of men who died in kamikaze attacks from Kokubu varies according to the source. The bronze plaque on the front of the monument mentions more than 400 men, but the back of the monument has another plaque that lists only 367 names. The Kanoya Naval Air Base Museum has an exhibit that indicates 354 men died in sorties from Kokubu on special attack missions, including 168 from Kokubu No. 1 Air Base and 186 from Kokubu No. 2 Air Base. The Kokubu City web site (2005) has apparently incorrect information that 427 men died in special attacks from only Kokubu No. 1 Air Base. Iwamoto and Mukaida (1992, 8, 26-27) state that the records for the earliest three sortie dates (March 18, 19, and 20, 1945) do not clearly indicate whether planes made sorties from Kokubu No. 1 Air Base or No. 2 Air Base. Their total of 217 men who died in kamikaze attacks from Kokubu No. 2 Air Base includes the men who made sorties on these three dates.

The annual memorial ceremony at Kokubu Special Attack Base Monument is held on April 22.

The following last letters were written by Kamikaze Special Attack Corps members who took off from Kokubu No. 1 Air Base and died in special attacks:

• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Isuke Hasegawa to His Family
• Last Letter of Ensign Tadayoshi Kawahara to His Parents
• Last Letter of Ensign Hitoshi Kawai
• Last Letter of Flight Warrant Officer Tokuo Koami to His Mother
• Last Letters of Lieutenant Mitsuo Kodama to His Parents
• Last Letter of Ensign Hiroshi Nishikawa to His Parents
• Last Letters of Ensign Takashi Ōkita to His Parents and Younger Sister
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Masaharu Shimizu to His Parents
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Kazuo Yamaguchi to His Parents
• Last Letter of Ensign Masato Yamaguchi to His Mother

The following last letters, diary entries, and other writings were written by Kamikaze Special Attack Corps members who took off from Kokubu No. 2 Air Base and died in special attacks:

• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Kaneyuki Fukuda to His Mother
• Last Letter of Ensign Toshio Furuichi to His Parents
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Kiichi Hasegawa to His Parents
• Last Letter from Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Nobutaka Inoue to His Parents
• Last Letter of Ensign Eiji Itō to His Parents
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Norio Itō to His Parents
• Last Letter of Ensign Cadet Shigeru Kano to His Family
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Seitarō Kashiwamura to His Parents
• Last Letter from Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Seiichi Kōsaku to His Parents
• Last Letter with Blank Space (Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade Seiichi Maebashi)
• Last Letter of Ensign Shigeru Masaki to His Parents
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Masayoshi Miyata to His Family
• Last Letters of Ensign Cadet Sakae Miyauchi to His Parents and Younger Sisters
• Last Letter of Lieutenant Junior Grade Hiroshi Nagao to His Parents
• I Do Not Yet Want to Die! (Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Yoshiaki Ono)
• Last Diary Entries of Ensign Cadet Akio Ōtsuka
• Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Hajime Sayama to His Parents
• Final Diary Entry of Ensign Sumio Shima
• Last Letters of Ensign Masaaki Shirosaki to His Family
• Last Letter of Ensign Masaaki Tokitō to His Parents
• Last Letter of Ensign Masanori Ueno to His Parents
• Last Writings of Ensign Hisao Yamashita

Sources Cited

Iwamoto, Kiyoshi, and Tsutomu Mukaida, eds. 1992. Chinkon -- shirakumo ni norete kimi kaerimase: Tokkō kichi daini kokubu no ki (Repose of souls -- riding on the white clouds, come back to us: Record of Special Attack Corps Kokubu No. 2 Air Base). Mizobe Town, Kagoshima Prefecture: Jūsanzukabaru tokkōhi hozon iinkai (Committee to Preserve the Jūsanzukabaru Special Attack Corps Monument).

Kokubu City. 2005. Tokkō ireisai (Special attack memorial ceremony). <http://www.city.kokubu.kagoshima.jp/city/genre/soumu/ireisai/> (October 21, 2005), link no longer available.