Metabaru Airfield Monument
Yoshinogari Town, Saga Prefecture
In 1943, the Army's Tachiarai Flight School established a flight training
branch school at Metabaru Airfield in Saga Prefecture. In Gekkō no Natsu
(Summer of the Moonlight Sonata), a popular 1993 movie based on a novel by
Tsuneyuki Mōri, two kamikaze pilots from Metabaru Airfield walk several miles to Tosu Elementary School in order to play music one last time on their grand
piano. One of the pilots plays Beethoven's Sonata No. 14, popularly known as the
Moonlight Sonata. Although the movie is fictional, it is based on the true story
of two kamikaze pilots, one who survived and was interviewed by Mōri in the
research for his book.
The gatepost of Metabaru Airfield still remains, and the town erected a
monument in 1992 at the site of the former air base. A plaque directly in front of the
gatepost has the following inscription:
Remains of Former Metabaru Airfield Main Gate
Metabaru Airfield was established in 1943 as Army Tachiarai Flight School
Metabaru Branch School. Afterward, numerous young eagles were trained here.
In 1944 and after, as the war situation worsened, this was a place with a
distinguished history where members of the Special Attack 273rd Shinbu
Squadron, with the motto of "young men, follow in our footsteps," took off
one after another to search for enemy ships in order to bravely die for
their country.
In 1954, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Kyushu Region Logistics Depot
was established here. Afterward, the Western Region Helicopter Unit, the 4th
Flight Squadron, and other units also have been stationed here. Even now a
part of the former runway is used as a heliport.
July 1992
Mitagawa Town [1]
Two stone plaques have poems in remembrance of men from Metabaru Airfield
who died in battle. The plaque at right has the following poem:
Falling with flowers
In southern seas
Remembering spirits
Of those heroes
Base's summer grass
The plaque at left, nearest to the former airfield's gatepost, has the
following poem:
Cherry blossoms bloom
Taking off from base
Young eagles falling
In southern seas
Gatepost remembers them
Note
1. Mitagawa Town merged with another village in
2006 to become Yoshinogari Town.
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