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Itsuo Yoshinaga
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My Older Brother's Pride: His Intense Experience As Fighter Pilot (Ani no kyōji: Sentōki nori no omoi tsuyoku)
Researched and written by Shūji Fukano and Fusako Kadota
Pages 121-123 of Tokkō kono chi yori: Kagoshima shutsugeki no kiroku
(Special attacks from this land: Record of Kagoshima sorties)
Minaminippon Shinbunsha, 2016
On April 12, 1945, a Zero Carrier-based Fighter slowly circled above the home
of the parents of Itsuo Yoshinaga (85 years old, Higashi Mochida area of Aira
City). Their home was located in Kōyama-chō (now Kimotsuki-chō), Kimotsuki-gun.
Itsuo had a hunch, "Mitsuo (older brother) has returned."
Mitsuo was 19 years old. After graduating from the Yokaren (Naval Preparatory
Flight Training Program), he became a fighter crewmember, which was his heart's
desire. He was assigned to Yatabe Air Group in Ibaraki Prefecture where he was
in a fighter pilot training unit.
As Itsuo was thinking, "I wonder what happened," that evening Mitsuo in his
flight suit returned. He told our father Seiji and mother Suki that he had
been selected as a member of the Special Attack Corps Shōwa Unit, which was part
of the Jinrai Butai (Thunder Gods Corps) located at Kanoya Air Base, and that he
would make a sortie in a short time. He exchanged farewell cups of water with
his father and mother.
The surprising thing was that Mitsuo for several consecutive days in the
evening returned home by the National Railways Furue Line (later named Ōsumi
Line, which later was closed). He returned to Kanoya City Nozato Barracks on the
last train. On the 15th, he was accompanied by another person who lived in the
barracks, and they stayed one night.
At our parents' house, there was no time for the family to gather around the
table together because there was a steady stream of visitors who wanted to see
the admired flight crewmembers.
Therefore, during the day on the 18th, Yoshinaga and his parents went to
Nozato, and they had decided to see Mitsuo at the home of a friend who lived
near the barracks. However, soon after Mitsuo left the barracks, when he passed
by an officer who seemed to be a senior officer, he whispered "oh no!" in a low
voice. It suddenly was announced that "he could not go" and that visits
were cancelled, so he returned to the barracks.
Suki consoled Seiji, who was upset, by saying, "There are other squadron
members who were not able to return to their homes. You should try to be satisfied
by just having been able to see his face."
Yoshinaga remembers, "Since my older brother was extremely competitive, he
seemed to not want to make known to those around him how very attached he was to
his family." Actually, on the 16th Mitsuo was just ready to make a sortie from
Kanoya Base with the 4th Shōwa Squadron when the base suffered a surprise attack
by American fighters and he lost the aircraft that he was to pilot.
After that, communication from Mitsuo ceased. On the evening of the 29th, a
man who lived nearby and was leaving to work at the arsenal inside Kanoya Air
Base relayed to us a message from a maintenance worker. He said that during the
afternoon that day Mitsuo had been given a new aircraft and made a sortie as a member
of the 5th Shōwa Squadron. He also told us that it was confirmed that there
was a telegraph message that he was diving into an enemy ship.
Among the few conversations that Yoshinaga had with Mitsuo, the one that made
the deepest impression was when he participated in an interception battle during
his days with Yatabe Air Group. "When I tried to stick with and attack an
enemy plane, no bullets came out due to a mechanical problem with my machine
gun. I was frantic even though afterward I fled from the enemy who came at me for a
counterattack." In the way that he told me with such liveliness about this one
experience, I felt his pride as a fighter pilot.
Yoshinaga said, "In those days young squadron members were not able to say
very much, but I think that my older brother's true feeling was that he wanted
to fight to the bitter end as a fighter pilot."
Shōwa Squadron members in front of Nozato
Elementary School, which had been converted
into barracks. Mitsuo Yoshinaga at far left.
(provided by Itsuo Yoshinaga)
Translated by Bill Gordon
February 2026
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