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Navy Flight Reserve Students Monument
Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture

The Navy Flight Reserve Students Monument stands among several monuments at Aichi Gokoku Jinja, a shrine dedicated to those persons from Aichi Prefecture who died in defense of the country. Out of the 2,525 men of the Navy's Kamikaze Special Attack Corps who died in suicide attacks in late WWII, over one quarter were Flight Reserve Students.

The plaque in front of the monument has the following poem:

Dedicated to spirits of many youths
Sleeping in faraway drifting clouds

November 1968
Hakuō Bereaved Families Association

A metal plaque on the right side of the wall behind the monument gives the following information:

Summary of Navy Flight Reserve Students
(Kaigun Hikō Yobi Gakusei)

From the 1st Class in 1934, during the Manchurian Incident, until the 15th Class in 1944, in the final stage of WWII, and also including the Seito [1] 1st Class in 1943 and the 2nd Class in 1944, there were 10,932 total entrants and 2,437 total war dead. They were divided between pilots, navigators, and other specialties. The following table lists by class the number of entrants and war dead.

Class   Entrants   War Dead
1   5   0
2   14   5
3   17   1
4   12   6
5   19   9
6   26   10
7   33   24
8   43   27
9   34   22
10   98   61
11   85   68
12   61   29
13   4,726   1,605
14   1,954   395
1 - Seito   1,393   159
15   1,854   16
2 - Seito   558   0

Small statue of pilot
behind monument
 

The names of men who died from the Tōkai Region, which includes Aichi, Mie, and Gifu Prefectures, are listed by class on the wall behind the monument.

A plaque on the left side of the back wall remembers Flight Reserve Students who died in kamikaze attacks. Below is an English translation:

Kamikaze Special Attack Corps

Among the 769 officers who died in battle as part of the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps, 651 came from the Flight Reserve Students (information from Combined Fleet Bulletins).

Class   Number
9   1
10   1
11   4
12   4
13   447
14   158
1 - Seito   36

There is a pedestal to the left of the monument with an 8-inch tall statue of a pilot (see photo).

The following last letters, diary entries, and other writings were written by Navy Flight Reserve Students who died in special attacks:

Note

1. There were two classes of Navy Yobi Seito (translated as Reserve Students), one that entered in 1943 and one in 1944. The only difference between Yobi Seito and Yobi Gakusei (also translated as Reserve Students) is that the students in Yobi Seito cut their studies short and never graduated even under the early university graduation process instituted by the government in 1943. In contrast, those in Yobi Gakusei did graduate.

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