|
|
|
|
Fugaku-tai no jūhachinin
(Eighteen men of Fugaku Squadron)
|
|
|
Last Letter of Corporal Tomifuku Uda to His Older Brother
On January 12, 1945, Corporal Tomifuku Uda took off from Marcot
Airfield in the Philippines in a Type 4 Heavy Bomber (Allied code name of Peggy)
and died at Lingayen Gulf in a special (suicide) attack at the age of
20 [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 Hiroshima Prefecture and was a member of the 12th Class of the Army
Youth Pilot (Rikugun Shōhi) training program.
He wrote the following final letter:
Dear Older Brother,
I trust that you are doing well.
At last the time has come when I must accomplish my heart's desire.
Nothing surpasses this as a man's long-cherished desire.
In due course I think that afterwards you will understand well the
details.
Please take care of things in the future.
From Tomifuku
Translated by Bill Gordon
April 2025
The letter come from Kawachiyama (2000, 236-237). 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 1924, so he could have been either 20 or 21 at the date of
his death on January 12, 1945.
Kawachiyama (2000, 241) gives his age at death as
21.
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.
|
