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Fugaku-tai no jūhachinin
(Eighteen men of Fugaku Squadron)
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Last Letter of Sergeant Major Kōki Furuzawa to His Parents
On December 16, 1944, Sergeant Major Kōki Furuzawa took off from Marcot
Airfield in the Philippines in a Type 4 Heavy Bomber (Allied code name of Peggy)
and died south of Mindoro Island in a special (suicide) attack at the age of
23 [1]. He was a member of the Fugaku [2] Squadron.
On October 24, 1944, this special attack squadron was formed at Hamamatsu Air
Base in Shizuoka Prefecture, and on October 26 it officially was named the
Fugaku Squadron in a ceremony [3]. After
his death in a special attack, he received a promotion to Second Lieutenant. He
was from Kumamoto Prefecture and was a non-commissioned officer who
entered the Army in 1938.
He wrote the following final letter to his parents in the evening before the
day of his final sortie:
Dear Parents,
I hope that you are doing well.
As for details, please ask First Lieutenant Eiichi Fukuda at headquarters of Hamamatsu Hikōtai (Flying Unit).
From me there is nothing to say.
No matter what, please be glad and believe that I carried out my mission.
It is by no means something that is surprising.
So, I will send you my military sword since it not needed. Since I take
care of it frequently, my spirit is in it.
Well, I will be going. Please take care.
Translated by Bill Gordon
May 2025
The letter come from Kawachiyama (2000, 228-229). The biographical information
on this page comes from Kawachiyama (2000, 241), Osuo (2005, 190), and Tokkōtai
Senbotsusha (1990, 254).
Notes
1. Tokkōtai Senbotsusha (1990, 254) indicates
that he was born in 1921, so he could have been either 22 or 23 at the date of
his death on December 16, 1944.
Kawachiyama (2000, 241) gives his age at death as
24.
2. Fugaku means Mount Fuji.
3. Kawachiyama (2000, 175-177, 179-180), Osuo
(2005, 10).
Sources Cited
Kawachiyama, Yuzuru. 2000. Fugaku-tai no jūhachinin:
Tokkō taichō Nishio Tsunesaburō no shōgai (Eighteen men of Fugaku
Squadron: Life of special attack squadron leader Tsunesaburō Nishio). Tōkyō:
Kōjinsha.
Osuo, Kazuhiko. 2005. Tokubetsu kōgekitai no kiroku (rikugun hen)
(Record of special attack corps (Army)). Tōkyō: Kōjinsha.
Tokkōtai Senbotsusha Irei
Heiwa Kinen Kyōkai (Tokkōtai Commemoration Peace Memorial Association). 1990.
Tokubetsu Kōgekitai (Special Attack Corps). Tōkyō: Tokkōtai Senbotsusha
Irei Heiwa Kinen Kyōkai.
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