Last Letter of Corporal Bunroku Fujita to His Mother
On May 25, 1945, Corporal Bunroku Fujita
took off from Chiran Air Base and died in a special (suicide) attack
west of Okinawa at the age of 18. He was a member of the 70th Shinbu Squadron. He piloted an Army Hayabusa
Type 1 Fighter (Allied code name of Oscar). After his death in a special
attack, he received a promotion to Second Lieutenant. He was from Mie
Prefecture and was a member of the 14th Class of the Army Youth Pilot (Rikugun Shōhi)
training program.
He wrote the following final letter to his mother. At the end there is a
haiku (poem with a 5-7-5 syllable pattern).
Dear Mother,
May 25, 1945
I will make a sortie full of vigor in order to instantly sink for certain
an aircraft carrier of the hated Americans and British.
My heart is honest, pure, and cheerful.
Mother, please forgive me for not showing filial piety to you up to now.
I pray that you have health and happiness until far in the future. Thank
you for the care shown to me for a long time.
In southern seas
Seeking enemy ship
Diving straight in
From Bunroku on night before sortie
Letter translated by Bill Gordon
January 2018
The letter and biographical information on this page come from Chiran Tokkō Irei Kenshō
Kai (2005, 136, 189) and Osuo (2005, 201).
Sources Cited
Chiran Tokkō Irei Kenshō Kai (Chiran Special Attack
Memorial Society), ed. 2005. Konpaku no kiroku: Kyū rikugun tokubetsu
kōgekitai chiran kichi (Record of departed spirits: Former Army Special
Attack Corps Chiran Base). Revised edition, originally published in 2004. Chiran Town, Kagoshima
Prefecture: Chiran Tokkō Irei Kenshō Kai.
Osuo, Kazuhiko. 2005. Tokubetsu kōgekitai no kiroku (rikugun hen)
(Record of special attack corps (Army)). Tōkyō: Kōjinsha.
|
