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Fugaku-tai no jūhachinin
(Eighteen men of Fugaku Squadron)
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Last Letters of Sergeant Major Eiji Kōbo to His Parents
On November 15, 1944, Sergeant Major Eiji Kōbo took off from Marcot
Airfield in the Philippines in a Type 4 Heavy Bomber (Allied code name of Peggy)
and died northeast of Mindanao Island in a special (suicide) attack at the age of
26 [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 Chōshi City in Chiba Prefecture and was a non-commissioned officer who
entered the Army in 1938.
He wrote the following final letter dated October 31, 1944:
Dear Parents and Everyone,
I am right in the middle of a battleground with fierce fighting. My
enthusiasm is increasingly higher.
Unusually, today there is rain. The time to drink sake and forget myself
has been truly cheerful.
Rain is unpleasant. Even though I try to forget, my living body of five
shaku (about 1.5 meters) made of flesh and blood is becoming
impatient.
Rain is unpleasant. Even though it is my final letter, my writing is not
progressing.
Soon the order will be issued when there is fair weather.
I only am praying to God that I make a splendid hit on an aircraft
carrier.
He wrote the following final letter dated November 13, 1944:
Dear Parents,
I departed also yesterday, but the enemy could not be located.
Now today I will depart for the greatly desired attack.
With the wings of Fugaku, there is nothing else but to strike fear into
the loathsome American forces and drive them into submission.
Honor is Fugaku, death will be by taiatari (body-crashing) attack.
Success in battle will be strong until reaching an aircraft carrier.
I as a shield only pray for success.
I will depart.
Translated by Bill Gordon
May 2025
The letters come from Kawachiyama (2000, 197, 220). The biographical information
on this page comes from Kawachiyama (2000, 241), Osuo (2005, 189), and Tokkōtai
Senbotsusha (1990, 254).
Notes
1. Tokkōtai Senbotsusha (1990, 254) indicates
that he was born in 1918, so he could have been either 25 or 26 at the date of
his death on November 15, 1944.
Kawachiyama (2000, 241) gives his age at death as
29.
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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