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Shōko Nagasaki continued exchange with bereaved family
members of Special Attack Corps members even after war (October 5, 2014,
Saitama City)
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Last Letters: Collection of Final Writings Published, Testimony Preserved (Owari no tayori: Ikōshū shuppan shi shōgen nokosu)
Researched and written by Shūji Fukano and Fusako Kadota
Pages 29-31 of Tokkō kono chi yori: Kagoshima shutsugeki no kiroku
(Special attacks from this land: Record of Kagoshima sorties)
Minaminippon Shinbunsha, 2016
"That is one that Ōhira addressed to me. I absolutely do not want to show
it to people."
Students from Chiran Girls High School who did labor service at Chiran
Airfield for 23 days from March 27 to April 18, 1945, were proceeding with
preparations for a book that would gather together their memories of the Special
Attack Corps members who they had close contact with and their last letters. It
was just when the 33rd anniversary of their deaths had been reached.
On April 12, 1945, Second Lieutenant Masashi Ōhira, who was from Tochigi
Prefecture and 22 years old, made a sortie from Chiran Airfield. His wife Fukuko
was asked for his last letters to be published, but at first she firmly refused.
The person who implored her with words of "I beg you" was one former student, Shōko
Nagasaki (maiden name of Maeda), who now is 85 years old and lives in Saitama
City.
Among squadron members who she came in contact with at the airfield when
she was 15 years old, she has a memory that Ōhira had the most lonely-looking
face. His profile, along with his sitting and swinging his legs, made it
difficult to approach him.
At a later time she found out that he had a wife and child. She wanted to add
his last letter as "historical testimony."
The service unit from Chiran Girls High School was called the Nadeshiko Unit
in connection with the design of the school's emblem. They were
assigned to look after squadron members with tasks such as sweeping and laundry.
They also were given letters in order for the pilots to avoid military censorship, and they dropped
these in a town mailbox on their behalf.
Nagasaki was handed four sealed letters by Second Lieutenant Akira Okayasu from Saitama Prefecture who as a 69th Shinbu Squadron member made a sortie on
the same date as Second Lieutenant Ōhira on April 12. "I put them at the bottom
of my shoulder bag underneath by lunch box and carried them home so that they
could not be found by the
kenpei (secret
police).
In the place for the sender was written the address of my home with the name
"Akira Okayasu, care of Maeda." This was a good way for his relatives and friends to
be able to make contact after his sortie.
Indeed, Nagasaki received an inquiry from the father of Second Lieutenant
Okayasu, and she wrote a reply to him in June. "The reason that he borrowed the
name of my home is because it could not be sent with the address of the barracks
here at his final base [portion omitted]. When his letter arrived at your home,
it was when in a splendid way he already had sunk instantly an enemy ship and was
resting in peace."
In 1979, the Chiran Girls High School Nadeshiko Association compiled the book
entitled
Chiran Special Attack Base (published by Bunwa Shobō), which included
also such types of exchanges that the girl students had with bereaved family members.
Ōhira appealed to Fukuko, "I do not want to give you to anyone. Please always
remain single." "I did not know a woman except for only you. I feel like you
alone who I sheltered for a long time were the woman for me in all the world."
Finally, he repeated his words as if crying out, "Farewell. Farewell forever.
Farewell."
Fukuko, who always wept that "Ohira was the best man in Japan" when she was
with Nagasaki, now also is no longer in this world.
Translated by Bill Gordon
May 2025
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