|
|
|
|
Heroic Kamikaze Special
Attack Corps (1983 cover)
(originally published as
Ah, Kamikaze Special
Attack Corps in 1970)
|
|
|
Last Letter of Ensign Shinji Furuya to His Parents
At 0605 on May 11, 1945, Ensign Shinji Furuya took off
from Kanoya Air Base as main pilot in a Navy Type 1 Attack Bomber (Allied code
name of Betty) carrying an ōka rocket-powered glider bomb. He was a
member in the Jinrai Butai (Thunder Gods Corps) 8th Ōka Squadron. He died in a special (suicide) attack
off Okinawa at the
age of 22. He was from Tōkyō
Prefecture, attended Keiō Gijuku University in Tōkyō, and was a member of
the 13th Class of the Navy's Flight Reserve Students (Hikō Yobi Gakusei).
He wrote the following last letter to his parents:
With more than twenty years since coming into this world as a man in
the Empire, being able to go in high spirits to a divine war that involves
the whole country is a man's long-cherished desire that certainly nothing
else exceeds. After I became aware of things around me, if I do say so
myself I felt for a long time that I had literary talent. When I saw the
figure of Yazaki, a friend from my youth, as a brave military man, even
though I had been thinking that in the end I would not become a military
man, after growing older now I will carry out a military mission that is
very light on me. I will go in high spirits and must be strong.
Your kindness, when I was cared for openly and secretly for more than
twenty years, was very deep. Considering my shallow learning and limited ability, I cannot find
even words of thanks. I deeply, deeply, warmly, warmly express my thanks for
those tremendous actions.
It is natural as the feeling between parents and a child that from the
beginning you would pray morning and evening to the gods and Buddha that I
would return home safely with honor by doing great deeds with bravery and
without any injuries to my body.
Although I even had the desire that I wanted to show filial piety to you
after I happily returned home by being calm and paying attention to my
health, the situation surely has become critical to the point that it
transcends everything. The current state is that I cannot permit a desire to
allow my life to be in vain.
I have dedicated myself to the Emperor. I am determined that my attaining
the reality of loyalty certainly will be my filial piety. I have forgotten
about all of my personal affairs. Without feelings of regret, I am ready to
focus on fighting.
Fortunately I have many younger brothers and sisters. Even though I
regret that I did not carry out my duties as an older brother, I want
earnestly to request my younger brothers and sisters to show filial piety to
you.
Even though I do not think that dying is necessarily loyalty, I will go
and sacrifice my life. Certainly I will go prepared to die.
Letter translated by Bill Gordon
May 2018
The letter on this page comes from Kitagawa (1970, 192-4). The biographical
information in the first paragraph comes Bungeishunjū
(2005, 569), Kitagawa
(1970, 192-3), and Osuo (2005, 192).
Sources Cited
Bungeishunjū, ed. 2005. Ningen bakudan to yobarete: Shōgen
- ōka tokkō (They were called human bombs: Testimony - ōka special attacks). Tōkyō: Bungeishunjū.
Kitagawa, Mamoru, ed. 1970. Ā kamikaze tokkōtai: Kaerazaru seishun no isho
shū (Ah, Kamikaze Special Attack Corps:
Collected last letters of youth that would not return). Tōkyō: Nihon Bungeisha.
Osuo, Kazuhiko. 2005. Tokubetsu kōgekitai no kiroku (kaigun
hen) (Record of special attack corps (Navy)). Tōkyō: Kōjinsha.
|
