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Tomoko Usuda, who treasures her father's last letters
and photos from his time as a Special Attack Corps member
(October 5, 2014, Okegawa City, Saitama Prefecture)
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Final Settlement of Accounts of Life: Writing on Card Reveals Attitude of
Resignation (Jinsei sōkessan: Akirame no shinkyō nijimu shikishi)
Researched and written by Shūji Fukano and Fusako Kadota
Pages 32-34 of Tokkō kono chi yori: Kagoshima shutsugeki no kiroku
(Special attacks from this land: Record of Kagoshima sorties)
Minaminippon Shinbunsha, 2016
In the exhibit items at Chiran Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots (Chiran, Minamikyūshū City), there is an especially striking shikishi (large card
for writing or drawing on) with thick characters in black ink. Below is an
English translation:
Final settlement of accounts of my life
There is nothing to say
Captain Itsui
This was Captain Yoshio Itsui, Squadron Leader of the 23rd Shinbu Squadron.
On April 1, 1945, when American forces landed on Okinawa, he made a sortie from
Chiran toward Okinawa and led the squadron that made the first special (suicide)
attack there.
His wife Sonoko visited Chiran in 1982 and for the first time discovered this
shikishi in materials lined up on top of each other at the
Chiran Special Attack Items Museum (predecessor
to Chiran Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots).
It seems that he wrote it at Chiran and left it to a comrade, and it was
some time after the end of the war until it turned up.
She returned home to Okegawa City in Saitama Prefecture and told her
daughters with tears in her eyes, "'There is nothing to say" was written." "His
mental state of complete resignation to his fate seems to come out."
Records indicate that 403 Army Special Attack Corps members made a sortie
from Chiran from April 1 and June 11 and died in battle. There were many Special Cadet Officer Pilots, who had joined when there was departure
of university students for the front, and Youth Pilots. Captain Itsui, who was 32 years old and
served as a training officer at Kumagaya Army Flight School, was the oldest son
in his family.
At his home in Okegawa City, he left two daughters, three years old and one
year old, and a son who just had been born in October 1944. He left behind a
last letter that admonished his son to follow his mother's directions. A letter
was delivered to 26-year-old Sonoko that says, "I firmly request that you take
care of the future. Please bring up the children to be strong."
However, Sonoko stopped producing breast milk possibly due to the shock of
her husband's death in battle. There were also food shortages and medicine
reasons, and her son died in July 1945. With a feeling of obligation, after the
war she worked as a teacher and struggled to bring up the children who remained.
There was an unforgettable sight for his second daughter, Tomoko Usuda (71
years old), who now still lives in Okegawa. One day in 1955, we received a
condolence call to our family from former 6th Air Army Commander Michiō Sugawara, who was
the "person responsible for Army special attack operations."
The former Commander appeared to Usuda, a junior high school student at the
time, like a "decorative figurine in a doll
display" as he folded his hands in
prayer before the family Buddhist altar. After this, he said, "I wonder why your
husband went on a special attack when he had small children like this." Her
mother suddenly raised her voice loudly, "You . . ." After this, she was silent.
"My mother thought that my father's special attack was an order. Even if he
had volunteered, she thought it was strange that someone with three children
would be able to go." That is precisely the reason why the former Commander's
words pierced her heart.
Before her mother's death, she hardly talked about her father. "I think it was
painful for her. We also did not ask. Something unspoken was in the air. She
with utmost effort was trying to live her current life." Sonoko passed away in
1987 and entrusted her daughter with Captain Itsui's last letters and other
letters. After that, Usuda carefully went over her father's letters.
Translated by Bill Gordon
May 2025
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