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Last letters, poems, and
writings of Navy Preparatory
Flight Trainees (1) (2004)
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Last Letter of Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Masayoshi Miyata to His Family
At 0635 on April 16, 1945, Flight Petty Officer 2nd
Class Masayoshi Miyata took off from Kokubu No. 2 Air Base as pilot in a Type 99
Carrier Dive Bomber (Allied code name of Val) carrying a 250-kg bomb and died in
a special (suicide) attack off Okinawa at the age of 19. He was a member of the
Kamikaze Special Attack Corps 3rd Hachiman Goō [1] Squadron from Usa Air Group.
He was from Fukuoka Prefecture and was a member of the 18th Otsu Class of the
Navy's Yokaren (Preparatory Flight Training Program).
He wrote the following final letter to his family. The letter is addressed to
his father, but the contents indicate that the letter was for his entire family.
Dear Father,
There is not any particular request. However, praying for the happiness
of you, my parents and younger brothers and sisters, I will go before you
and fall as a cherry blossom.
Please forgive my self-centeredness.
I must send letters one by one, but since I am busy with the sortie,
please Father send my greetings.
Give my regards to Ishikawa-sensei, all the workers at Yasukawa
Electronics Library, Kōji Yamato, Fumie Katō, and Uncle in Ōi.
I go in high spirits.
Mother, please do not overwork yourself, and live by taking your time.
Take care.
Masayoshi
Letter translated by Bill Gordon
September 2018
The letter comes from Kojima
(2004, 30). The biographical information in the first paragraph comes from
Kojima
(2004, 30) and Osuo (2005, 218).
Note
1. Hachiman is the Japanese god of military power.
Usa City in Ōita Prefecture has the first Hachiman Shrine, which was established
in the early 8th century. Goō means "protecting the Emperor" in Japanese.
Sources Cited
Kojima, Keizō, ed. 2004. Kaigun hikō yoka renshūsei isho
• iei • ikōshū (1) (Last letters, poems, and
writings of Navy Preparatory Flight Trainees (1)). Tōkyō: Unabarakai.
Osuo, Kazuhiko. 2005. Tokubetsu kōgekitai no kiroku (kaigun
hen) (Record of special attack corps (Navy)). Tōkyō: Kōjinsha.
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