Last Letter of Sergeant Keizō Mizokawa to His Parents
On April 28, 1945, Sergeant Keizō Mizokawa
took off from Giran Airfield in Taiwan and died in a special (suicide) attack
southwest of Kerama Rettō at the age of
21. He was a member of the 105th Hikō Sentai (Flying Regiment). He piloted
an Army Hien Type 3 Fighter (Allied code name of Tony). After his death in a
special attack, he received a promotion to Second Lieutenant. He was from Kyōto
Prefecture and was a member of the 11th Class of the Army Youth Pilot (Rikugun Shōhi)
training program.
Mizokawa wrote the following final letter to his parents:
Dear Parents,
Finally there was the order for a sortie today in the evening. Please
rest assured. Surely I will succeed splendidly. Now it is two hours before
the sortie.
Everyone in my squadron is cheerful. I also will go smiling.
Now already freed from all earthly desires, I have a refreshing feeling.
The more that I do not think about that in a few hours later I will be leaving this
world, the more that the bomb that I am carrying will flash menacingly. It
is as if to say that it will explode properly.
I am going. Everyone, take care.
April 28, 1500
Farewell.
Keizō Mizokawa
Letter translated by Bill Gordon
March 2018
The letter and biographical information on this page come from Chiran Tokkō Irei Kenshō
Kai (2005, 114, 191), Hara (2004, 213), and Osuo (2005, 214).
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.
Hara, Katsuhiro. 2004. Shinsō kamikaze tokkō: Hisshi
hitchū no 300 nichi (Kamikaze special attack facts: 300 days of certain-death, sure-hit
attacks). Tōkyō: KK Bestsellers.
Osuo, Kazuhiko. 2005. Tokubetsu kōgekitai no kiroku (rikugun hen)
(Record of special attack corps (Army)). Tōkyō: Kōjinsha.
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