
Stories

Stories

A-K

A-K
Amakusa Air Group Association
Amakusa Air Group Association
Amakusa Two-seat Reconnaissance Seaplane Squadron
Amakusa Two-seat Reconnaissance Seaplane Squadron
Among the Remnants of the Suicide Subs
Among the Remnants of the Suicide Subs
Assorted Thoughts During War
Assorted Thoughts During War
Continued Commitment: Main Force for Mainland Decisive Battle
Continued Commitment: Main Force for Mainland Decisive Battle
Crash Attack With New Wife On Board
Crash Attack With New Wife On Board
Drop Training: Hard-to-use Spear, Observed Reality
Drop Training: Hard-to-use Spear, Observed Reality
Final Settlement of Accounts of Life
Final Settlement of Accounts of Life
First Battle Results: Change in Tactics, Only Sinking
First Battle Results: Change in Tactics, Only Sinking
For Five Seconds, A Gunner
For Five Seconds, A Gunner
Human Bomb Corps: 160 Men Annihilated in First Battle
Human Bomb Corps: 160 Men Annihilated in First Battle
Kamikaze Pilots Visit Ritsu Tsurumaru’s Home
Kamikaze Pilots Visit Ritsu Tsurumaru’s Home
Kamikaze, the Ultimate Sacrifice
Kamikaze, the Ultimate Sacrifice

L-N

L-N
Lack of Experience: Hard 600-km Flight over the Sea
Lack of Experience: Hard 600-km Flight over the Sea
Last Letters: Collection of Final Writings Published, Testimony Preserved
Last Letters: Collection of Final Writings Published, Testimony Preserved
Last Writings: Hero, Dying in Vain, Reality That Cannot Be Expressed by Dualism
Last Writings: Hero, Dying in Vain, Reality That Cannot Be Expressed by Dualism
LCS 118: A Radar Picket Patrol
LCS 118: A Radar Picket Patrol
Magnificent Comrades of Tsukuba Unit
Magnificent Comrades of Tsukuba Unit
Man Killed In Action Who Returned
Man Killed In Action Who Returned
May 28, 1945—Another Day of Infamy
May 28, 1945—Another Day of Infamy
Mighty Midgets 2007 Reunion
Mighty Midgets 2007 Reunion
My Personal History: Two Lives
My Personal History: Two Lives

O-R

O-R
Observer Training Aircraft: Mobilization of Plane Not Fit for Battle
Observer Training Aircraft: Mobilization of Plane Not Fit for Battle
Perilous Full Moon: I Survived Due to Old Airframe
Perilous Full Moon: I Survived Due to Old Airframe
Phantom Daytime Attack (Part 1): Squadron Members With No Wish to Volunteer
Phantom Daytime Attack (Part 1): Squadron Members With No Wish to Volunteer
Phantom Daytime Attack (Part 2): Sudden Cancellation, Not Even Any Record
Phantom Daytime Attack (Part 2): Sudden Cancellation, Not Even Any Record
Phantom Kenmu Squadron: Cancelled Just Before Takeoff
Phantom Kenmu Squadron: Cancelled Just Before Takeoff
Preparing to Sortie and Waiting for Orders Every Day for Two Weeks
Preparing to Sortie and Waiting for Orders Every Day for Two Weeks
Puzzle Left for Couple: Journey of Seven Years to Search for Date of Death
Puzzle Left for Couple: Journey of Seven Years to Search for Date of Death
Remembering Times Past from 34 Years Ago
Remembering Times Past from 34 Years Ago
Rescued Kamikaze Pilot Also Callaghan Survivor
Rescued Kamikaze Pilot Also Callaghan Survivor
Resentment: Tradition of Commanding Officer’s Taking Lead Disappeared
Resentment: Tradition of Commanding Officer’s Taking Lead Disappeared

S-Z

S-Z
Shin’yō Special Attack Squadron
Shin’yō Special Attack Squadron
Sinking of USS Drexler DD-741
Sinking of USS Drexler DD-741
Sorties Cancelled Twice: Enjoyment of Long Life Due To Small Difference
Sorties Cancelled Twice: Enjoyment of Long Life Due To Small Difference
Special Attack Corps Waiting Room at Tomitaka Base
Special Attack Corps Waiting Room at Tomitaka Base
Special Mission: Symbolic of "Irresponsibility" in Upper Ranks
Special Mission: Symbolic of "Irresponsibility" in Upper Ranks
Spiritual Foundation of Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Members
Spiritual Foundation of Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Members
Survival of Drexler Survivors Reunion Association
Survival of Drexler Survivors Reunion Association
Two Days Before War’s End, Jinrai Butai’s Last Sortie
Two Days Before War’s End, Jinrai Butai’s Last Sortie
2007 USS Callaghan (DD-792) Reunion
2007 USS Callaghan (DD-792) Reunion
2007 USS Morrison (DD-560) Reunion
2007 USS Morrison (DD-560) Reunion
2010 USS Drexler (DD-741) Reunion
2010 USS Drexler (DD-741) Reunion
2012 USS Callaghan (DD-792) Reunion
2012 USS Callaghan (DD-792) Reunion
Who Sank the Destroyer Drexler?
Who Sank the Destroyer Drexler?
Without Telegraph: No Way to Communicate Battle Results
Without Telegraph: No Way to Communicate Battle Results
Young Ski Jumper Who Was Olympic Contender
Young Ski Jumper Who Was Olympic Contender

Books

Books

Personal Narratives

Personal Narratives
Imamura, Shig: The True Story of an American Kamikaze
Imamura, Shig: The True Story of an American Kamikaze
Inoguchi and Nakajima, The Divine Wind
Inoguchi and Nakajima, The Divine Wind
Nagatsuka, I Was a Kamikaze
Nagatsuka, I Was a Kamikaze
Sakamaki, I Attacked Pearl Harbor
Sakamaki, I Attacked Pearl Harbor
Yokota and Harrington, Kamikaze Submarine
Yokota and Harrington, Kamikaze Submarine
Yoshida, Requiem for Battleship Yamato
Yoshida, Requiem for Battleship Yamato

General (A-H)

General (A-H)
Aeronautical Staff of Aero Publishers, Kamikaze
Aeronautical Staff of Aero Publishers, Kamikaze
Axell and Kase, Kamikaze: Japan’s Suicide Gods
Axell and Kase, Kamikaze: Japan’s Suicide Gods
Burlingame, Advance Force Pearl Harbor
Burlingame, Advance Force Pearl Harbor
Carruthers, Australia Under Siege
Carruthers, Australia Under Siege
Cea, Tokubetsu Kogeki Tai. Special Attack Units
Cea, Tokubetsu Kogeki Tai. Special Attack Units
Charles River Editors, The Kamikazes
Charles River Editors, The Kamikazes
Cortesi, Valor at Okinawa
Cortesi, Valor at Okinawa
Delgado et al., The Lost Submarines of Pearl Harbor
Delgado et al., The Lost Submarines of Pearl Harbor
Grose, A Very Rude Awakening
Grose, A Very Rude Awakening
Hagoromo Society, The Cherry Blossom Squadrons
Hagoromo Society, The Cherry Blossom Squadrons

General (I-R)

General (I-R)
Ishiguro and Januszewski, Japanese Special Attack Aircraft
Ishiguro and Januszewski, Japanese Special Attack Aircraft
Jenkins, Hitting Home: The Japanese Attack on Sydney 1942
Jenkins, Hitting Home: The Japanese Attack on Sydney 1942
Lambert, Bombs, Torpedoes and Kamikazes
Lambert, Bombs, Torpedoes and Kamikazes
Lamont-Brown, Kamikaze: Japan’s Suicide Samurai
Lamont-Brown, Kamikaze: Japan’s Suicide Samurai
Lardas, The Kamikaze Campaign 1944-45
Lardas, The Kamikaze Campaign 1944-45
Lind, Toku-tai: Japanese Submarine Operations in Australian Waters
Lind, Toku-tai: Japanese Submarine Operations in Australian Waters
Morris, Battleship Yamato
Morris, Battleship Yamato
Mortensen, Divine Wind: Kamikaze Attacks Against the US Navy
Mortensen, Divine Wind: Kamikaze Attacks Against the US Navy
Ohnuki-Tierney, Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms
Ohnuki-Tierney, Kamikaze, Cherry Blossoms, and Nationalisms
Rielly, Kamikazes, Corsairs, and Picket Ships
Rielly, Kamikazes, Corsairs, and Picket Ships

General (S-Z)

General (S-Z)
Sears, At War with the Wind
Sears, At War with the Wind
Sholin, The Kamikaze Nightmare
Sholin, The Kamikaze Nightmare
Sholin, The Sacrificial Lambs
Sholin, The Sacrificial Lambs
Sholin, Truman’s Decision
Sholin, Truman’s Decision
Smith, Kamikaze: To Die for the Emperor
Smith, Kamikaze: To Die for the Emperor
Spurr, A Glorious Way to Die
Spurr, A Glorious Way to Die
Stewart, Kamikaze: Japan’s Last Bid for Victory
Stewart, Kamikaze: Japan’s Last Bid for Victory
Stille, US Navy Ships vs Kamikazes 1944-45
Stille, US Navy Ships vs Kamikazes 1944-45
Takaki and Sakaida, B-29 Hunters of the JAAF
Takaki and Sakaida, B-29 Hunters of the JAAF
Thurman, Picket Ships at Okinawa
Thurman, Picket Ships at Okinawa
Veesenmeyer, Kamikaze Terror
Veesenmeyer, Kamikaze Terror
Warner and Seno, The Coffin Boats
Warner and Seno, The Coffin Boats
Warner and Warner, The Sacred Warriors
Warner and Warner, The Sacred Warriors
Zaloga, Kamikaze: Japanese Special Attack Weapons 1944-45
Zaloga, Kamikaze: Japanese Special Attack Weapons 1944-45
Zimmerman, Battleship Yamato: Why She Matters Today
Zimmerman, Battleship Yamato: Why She Matters Today

Ship Histories (A-C)

Ship Histories (A-C)
Acord and Holbrook, Hell and High Water in the Pacific
Acord and Holbrook, Hell and High Water in the Pacific
Andersen, Three Minutes Off Okinawa
Andersen, Three Minutes Off Okinawa
Ball, Fighting Amphibs: The LCS(L) in World War II
Ball, Fighting Amphibs: The LCS(L) in World War II
Becton, The Ship That Would Not Die
Becton, The Ship That Would Not Die
Billingsley, The Emmons Saga
Billingsley, The Emmons Saga
Blanton, Boston——to Jacksonville (41,000 Miles by Sea)
Blanton, Boston——to Jacksonville (41,000 Miles by Sea)
Bonner and Bonner, USS Missouri at War
Bonner and Bonner, USS Missouri at War
Brown and Anteau, Historical Review: U.S.S. Drexler DD-741
Brown and Anteau, Historical Review: U.S.S. Drexler DD-741
Bustin, Humble Heroes: How the USS Nashville CL43 Fought WWII
Bustin, Humble Heroes: How the USS Nashville CL43 Fought WWII
Calhoun, Tin Can Sailor: Life Aboard the USS Sterett, 1939-1945
Calhoun, Tin Can Sailor: Life Aboard the USS Sterett, 1939-1945
Charney, USS Ingraham DD694: 1944-1945
Charney, USS Ingraham DD694: 1944-1945
Cline, Escort Carrier WWII
Cline, Escort Carrier WWII
Craig, USS Cassin Young: Fletcher Class Destroyer DD793
Craig, USS Cassin Young: Fletcher Class Destroyer DD793
Craighead, All Ahead Full
Craighead, All Ahead Full
Crew, Combat Loaded: Across the Pacific on the USS Tate
Crew, Combat Loaded: Across the Pacific on the USS Tate

Ship Histories (D-J)

Ship Histories (D-J)
Dennis, The Destroyer U.S.S. Flusser DD368: Her Life of Service
Dennis, The Destroyer U.S.S. Flusser DD368: Her Life of Service
Dennis, U.S.S. Frustrate: "The Luckiest Ship in the Navy"
Dennis, U.S.S. Frustrate: "The Luckiest Ship in the Navy"
Duffy, The Wonderful World of John Duffy: An Autobiography)
Duffy, The Wonderful World of John Duffy: An Autobiography)
Fillmore, War History of USS Leutze (DD-481)
Fillmore, War History of USS Leutze (DD-481)
Foster, The Last Destroyer: The Story of the USS Callaghan
Foster, The Last Destroyer: The Story of the USS Callaghan
Graves, Men of Poseidon: Life at Sea Aboard the USS Rall
Graves, Men of Poseidon: Life at Sea Aboard the USS Rall
Griggs, Preludes to Victory: The Battle of Ormoc Bay in WWII
Griggs, Preludes to Victory: The Battle of Ormoc Bay in WWII
Harmon, U.S.S. Cassin Young (DD-793)
Harmon, U.S.S. Cassin Young (DD-793)
Harper, Too Close for Comfort
Harper, Too Close for Comfort
Irons, Phalanx Against the Divine Wind
Irons, Phalanx Against the Divine Wind
Jones, Days of Steel Rain
Jones, Days of Steel Rain

Ship Histories (K-N)

Ship Histories (K-N)
Kalosky, Harm’s Way—Every Day
Kalosky, Harm’s Way—Every Day
LCS(L) Landing Craft Support (Large)
LCS(L) Landing Craft Support (Large)
Lott, Brave Ship Brave Men
Lott, Brave Ship Brave Men
Lott and Sumrall, USS Ward—The First Shot
Lott and Sumrall, USS Ward—The First Shot
MacKay, The U.S. Navy’s "Interim" LSR(R)s in World War II
MacKay, The U.S. Navy’s "Interim" LSR(R)s in World War II
Mair, Oil, Fire, and Fate
Mair, Oil, Fire, and Fate
Malott, "If We Save But One"
Malott, "If We Save But One"
McBride, ed., Good Night Officially
McBride, ed., Good Night Officially
Monsarrat, Angel on the Yardarm
Monsarrat, Angel on the Yardarm
Novotny, In the Wake of Jellybean
Novotny, In the Wake of Jellybean

Ship Histories (O-Sk)

Ship Histories (O-Sk)
Olson, Tales from a Tin Can
Olson, Tales from a Tin Can
Payne, H.M.A.S. Australia 1928-1955
Payne, H.M.A.S. Australia 1928-1955
Rielly, Mighty Midgets At War
Rielly, Mighty Midgets At War
Ronck, Battleship Missouri
Ronck, Battleship Missouri
Rooney, Mighty Midget U.S.S. LCS 82
Rooney, Mighty Midget U.S.S. LCS 82
Samuels, War Patrol of the PCE(R)852
Samuels, War Patrol of the PCE(R)852
Simmons, USS Tennessee in World War II
Simmons, USS Tennessee in World War II
Skeldon, USS Kadashan Bay VC-20
Skeldon, USS Kadashan Bay VC-20

Ship Histories (Sl-Z)

Ship Histories (Sl-Z)
Stafford, Little Ship, Big War: The Saga of DE343
Stafford, Little Ship, Big War: The Saga of DE343
Stafford, The Big E: The Story of the USS Enterprise
Stafford, The Big E: The Story of the USS Enterprise
Stillwell, Battleship Missouri: An Illustrated History
Stillwell, Battleship Missouri: An Illustrated History
Stone, "My Ship!" The U.S.S. Intrepid
Stone, "My Ship!" The U.S.S. Intrepid
Streb, Life and Death Aboard the U.S.S. Essex
Streb, Life and Death Aboard the U.S.S. Essex
Sumrall, USS Kidd (DD-661)
Sumrall, USS Kidd (DD-661)
Surels, DD 522: Diary of a Destroyer
Surels, DD 522: Diary of a Destroyer
Veesenmeyer, Kamikaze Destroyer
Veesenmeyer, Kamikaze Destroyer
White and Gandt, Intrepid
White and Gandt, Intrepid
Wolfe, Wole, and O’Hara, History of the USS Kidd (DD661)
Wolfe, Wole, and O’Hara, History of the USS Kidd (DD661)
Wukovits, Hell from the Heavens
Wukovits, Hell from the Heavens
Y’Blood, The Little Giants: U.S. Escort Carriers Against Japan
Y’Blood, The Little Giants: U.S. Escort Carriers Against Japan

Fiction (A-L)

Fiction (A-L)
Deutermann, Sentinels of Fire
Deutermann, Sentinels of Fire
Fowler, The Astrological Diary of God
Fowler, The Astrological Diary of God
Freedman, The Seventh Stone
Freedman, The Seventh Stone
Grant, Attack from the sun
Grant, Attack from the sun
Grant, Night Flying Avenger
Grant, Night Flying Avenger
Kaga, Riding the East Wind
Kaga, Riding the East Wind
Kuwahara and Allred, Kamikaze
Kuwahara and Allred, Kamikaze

Fiction (M-Z)

Fiction (M-Z)
Mannock, The Sen-Toku Raid
Mannock, The Sen-Toku Raid
Meade, The Dignity of Danger
Meade, The Dignity of Danger
Morris, The Last Kamikaze
Morris, The Last Kamikaze
Nicole, The Ship with No Name
Nicole, The Ship with No Name
O’Keefe, A Thousand Stitches
O’Keefe, A Thousand Stitches
Park, When My Name Was Keoko
Park, When My Name Was Keoko
Sakamoto, One Hundred Million Hearts
Sakamoto, One Hundred Million Hearts
Somma, Midori and the 1000 Stitch Belt
Somma, Midori and the 1000 Stitch Belt
Wheatcroft, Answering Fire
Wheatcroft, Answering Fire

Writings

Writings
Gordon, Facing Death: Last Writings of Japanese Special Attack Corps Members
Gordon, Facing Death: Last Writings of Japanese Special Attack Corps Members
Kawatoko, The Mind of the Kamikaze
Kawatoko, The Mind of the Kamikaze
Lartéguy, The Sun Goes Down
Lartéguy, The Sun Goes Down
Nihon Senbotsu Gakusei Kinen-Kai, Listen to the Voices from the Sea
Nihon Senbotsu Gakusei Kinen-Kai, Listen to the Voices from the Sea
Ohnuki-Tierney, Kamikaze Diaries
Ohnuki-Tierney, Kamikaze Diaries
Todai Gakusei Jichi-kai, In the Faraway Mountains and Rivers
Todai Gakusei Jichi-kai, In the Faraway Mountains and Rivers
Yamashita, Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies
Yamashita, Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies

Related Topics (A-M)

Related Topics (A-M)
Bawal, Jr., Titans of the Rising Sun
Bawal, Jr., Titans of the Rising Sun
Delgado, Kamikaze: History’s Greatest Naval Disaster
Delgado, Kamikaze: History’s Greatest Naval Disaster
Eadon, Kamikaze: The Story of the British Pacific Fleet
Eadon, Kamikaze: The Story of the British Pacific Fleet
Evans, The Japanese Navy in World War II
Evans, The Japanese Navy in World War II
Gandt, The Twilight Warriors
Gandt, The Twilight Warriors
Grossberg, Last Letter Home
Grossberg, Last Letter Home
Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain
Hara, Japanese Destroyer Captain
Kemp, Underwater Warriors
Kemp, Underwater Warriors
King, The Last Zero Fighter
King, The Last Zero Fighter
Klinkowitz, Pacific Skies
Klinkowitz, Pacific Skies
Lubeski, Linebackers of the Sea
Lubeski, Linebackers of the Sea

Related Topics (N-Z)

Related Topics (N-Z)
Sakaida and Takaki, Genda’s Blade
Sakaida and Takaki, Genda’s Blade
Samples, Wings over Sakishima
Samples, Wings over Sakishima
Shibusawa, America’s Geisha Ally
Shibusawa, America’s Geisha Ally
Thompson, Why Do Kamikaze Pilots Wear Helmets?
Thompson, Why Do Kamikaze Pilots Wear Helmets?
Tsouras, Rising Sun Victorious
Tsouras, Rising Sun Victorious
Vernon, The Hostile Sky: A Hellcat Flier in World War II
Vernon, The Hostile Sky: A Hellcat Flier in World War II
Werstein, Okinawa: The Last Ordeal
Werstein, Okinawa: The Last Ordeal
Westheimer, Death is Lighter than a Feather
Westheimer, Death is Lighter than a Feather
Young, American Aces Against the Kamikaze
Young, American Aces Against the Kamikaze

Comics (A-J)

Comics (A-J)
Air War Stories - Kamikaze!
Air War Stories - Kamikaze!
Authentic War Stories - The Kamikaze
Authentic War Stories - The Kamikaze
Battle - Kamikaze! (July 1954)
Battle - Kamikaze! (July 1954)
Battle - Kamikaze! (April 1959)
Battle - Kamikaze! (April 1959)
Blackhawk - The Red Kamikaze Terror
Blackhawk - The Red Kamikaze Terror
Fightin’ Air Force - Kamikaze Pilot
Fightin’ Air Force - Kamikaze Pilot
Fightin’ Marines - Kamikaze
Fightin’ Marines - Kamikaze
Fightin’ Navy - Kamikaze Killer
Fightin’ Navy - Kamikaze Killer
Fubar 2: Empire of the Rising Dead
Fubar 2: Empire of the Rising Dead
Ghostly Tales - The Last Kamikaze!
Ghostly Tales - The Last Kamikaze!

Comics (K-Z)

Comics (K-Z)
Navy Task Force - Kamikaze!
Navy Task Force - Kamikaze!
Our Fighting Forces - Battle Album: Kamikaze
Our Fighting Forces - Battle Album: Kamikaze
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! - The Last Kamikaze
Ripley’s Believe It or Not! - The Last Kamikaze
A Sailor’s Story and A Sailor’s Story, Book Two
A Sailor’s Story and A Sailor’s Story, Book Two
Star Spangled War Stories - I Was a Kamikaze Pilot!
Star Spangled War Stories - I Was a Kamikaze Pilot!
True Comics - Name to Remember
True Comics - Name to Remember
USS Stevens: Ride the Baka
USS Stevens: Ride the Baka
Wings Comics (August 1946)
Wings Comics (August 1946)
Wings Comics - Kamikaze (Fall 1952)
Wings Comics - Kamikaze (Fall 1952)

Films

Films

Documentaries (A-G)

Documentaries (A-G)
Day of the Kamikaze: November 25, 1944
Day of the Kamikaze: November 25, 1944
The Fleet That Came to Stay
The Fleet That Came to Stay
Gladiators of World War II: The Kamikazes
Gladiators of World War II: The Kamikazes
Great Blunders of World War II
Great Blunders of World War II

Documentaries (H-K)

Documentaries (H-K)
Kamikaze: Death From the Sky
Kamikaze: Death From the Sky
Kamikaze: Mission of Death
Kamikaze: Mission of Death
Kamikaze: To Die for the Emperor
Kamikaze: To Die for the Emperor
Kamikaze / War in the Pacific
Kamikaze / War in the Pacific

Documentaries (L-Z)

Documentaries (L-Z)
No Surrender: Japanese and German Kamikazes
No Surrender: Japanese and German Kamikazes
S.O.S. Catastrophe: Typhoons and Kamikaze
S.O.S. Catastrophe: Typhoons and Kamikaze
War Stories wtih Oliver North: Attack of the Japanese Midget Subs!
War Stories wtih Oliver North: Attack of the Japanese Midget Subs!
The Cockpit: Kamikaze Stories
The Cockpit: Kamikaze Stories
USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage
USS Indianapolis: Men of Courage

Japanese

Japanese
Aa tokubetsu kougekitai (Ah, Special Attack Corps)
Aa tokubetsu kougekitai (Ah, Special Attack Corps)
Deguchi no nai umi (Sea without exit)
Deguchi no nai umi (Sea without exit)
Gekkou no Natsu (Summer of the Moonlight Sonata)
Gekkou no Natsu (Summer of the Moonlight Sonata)
Hokui 15° no Dyuo (15 Degrees North Latitude Duo)
Hokui 15° no Dyuo (15 Degrees North Latitude Duo)
Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean
Lorelei: The Witch of the Pacific Ocean
Matsuo Keiu to sono haha (Keiu Matsuo and his mother)
Matsuo Keiu to sono haha (Keiu Matsuo and his mother)
Nijūroku ya mairi (A Moon Twenty-six Days Old)
Nijūroku ya mairi (A Moon Twenty-six Days Old)
Ningen no Tsubasa (Wings of a Man)
Ningen no Tsubasa (Wings of a Man)
Taiheiyou no Tsubasa (Wings of the Pacific)
Taiheiyou no Tsubasa (Wings of the Pacific)

Museums

Museums
Bansei Tokkō Peace Museum
Bansei Tokkō Peace Museum
Chiran Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots
Chiran Peace Museum for Kamikaze Pilots
Etajima Museum of Naval History
Etajima Museum of Naval History

Hotaru Museum

Hotaru Museum
Cherry Blossoms of Same Class
Cherry Blossoms of Same Class
Kamikaze Special Attack Museum
Kamikaze Special Attack Museum
Kanoya Naval Air Base Museum
Kanoya Naval Air Base Museum
Tokushima Air Base Museum
Tokushima Air Base Museum
Tsukuba Naval Air Base Museum
Tsukuba Naval Air Base Museum
Yokaren Museum - Tsuchiura
Yokaren Museum - Tsuchiura

US Museums

US Museums
Battleship Missouri Memorial
Battleship Missouri Memorial
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum
National Museum of the Pacific War
National Museum of the Pacific War
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
National Museum of the U.S. Air Force
USS Cassin Young (DD-793)
USS Cassin Young (DD-793)

Monuments

Monuments

A-B

A-B
Aichi Gokoku Jinja Battleship Yamato Monument
Aichi Gokoku Jinja Battleship Yamato Monument
Akita Special Attack Corps Monument
Akita Special Attack Corps Monument
Amakusa Naval Air Group Monument
Amakusa Naval Air Group Monument
Arari Never Forget Monument
Arari Never Forget Monument
Army Command Reconnaissance Units Monument
Army Command Reconnaissance Units Monument
Army Special Cadet Pilots Monument
Army Special Cadet Pilots Monument
Bansei Special Attack Monument
Bansei Special Attack Monument
Battleship Yamato Memorial Tower
Battleship Yamato Memorial Tower
Battleship Yamato Monument (Kure)
Battleship Yamato Monument (Kure)
Battleship Yamato War Dead Monument
Battleship Yamato War Dead Monument
Bōnotsu Shin’yō Corps Monument
Bōnotsu Shin’yō Corps Monument

C-F

C-F
Chiba Special Attack Corps Monument
Chiba Special Attack Corps Monument
Chikugo Pilot Training School Monument
Chikugo Pilot Training School Monument
Chiran Special Attack Peace Kannon Shrine
Chiran Special Attack Peace Kannon Shrine
Chiran Triangular Barracks Site Monument
Chiran Triangular Barracks Site Monument
Donryu Jizo Great Bodhisattva
Donryu Jizo Great Bodhisattva
Ehime Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Ehime Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Ehime Pilot Training School War Monument
Ehime Pilot Training School War Monument
Ehime Special Attack Corps Monument
Ehime Special Attack Corps Monument
56th Shin’yō Special Attack Squadron Iwadate Unit Monument
56th Shin’yō Special Attack Squadron Iwadate Unit Monument
Flight Reserve Students 13th Class Monument
Flight Reserve Students 13th Class Monument
41st Shin’yō Special Attack Squadron Monument
41st Shin’yō Special Attack Squadron Monument
44th Shin’yō Squadron Accident Victims Monument
44th Shin’yō Squadron Accident Victims Monument
Fukui Special Attack Corps Monument
Fukui Special Attack Corps Monument
Fukuoka Special Attack Corps Monument
Fukuoka Special Attack Corps Monument

G-Ha

G-Ha
Genkai 118th Shin’yō Special Attack Squadron Monument
Genkai 118th Shin’yō Special Attack Squadron Monument
Giretsu Airborne Unit Monument
Giretsu Airborne Unit Monument
Gunma Special Attack Corps Monument
Gunma Special Attack Corps Monument
Hachijojima Shin’yō Monument
Hachijojima Shin’yō Monument
Hachimanyama Jinja Special Submarine Monument
Hachimanyama Jinja Special Submarine Monument
Hakata Naval Air Group Monument
Hakata Naval Air Group Monument
Hakkō Sekichō Squadron Monument
Hakkō Sekichō Squadron Monument
Haramachi Airfield Monument
Haramachi Airfield Monument

Hi-J

Hi-J
Hijirigaura Shin’yō Monument
Hijirigaura Shin’yō Monument
Himeji Naval Air Group Monument
Himeji Naval Air Group Monument
Hokota Army Flight School Monument
Hokota Army Flight School Monument
Hososhima Shin’yō Monument
Hososhima Shin’yō Monument
Hyakurihara Naval Air Corps Monument (Hyakuri Air Base)
Hyakurihara Naval Air Corps Monument (Hyakuri Air Base)
Hyakurihara Naval Air Corps Monument (Kushira)
Hyakurihara Naval Air Corps Monument (Kushira)
Ibusuki Naval Air Base Remembrance Monument
Ibusuki Naval Air Base Remembrance Monument
Isahaya Naval Air Base Monument
Isahaya Naval Air Base Monument
Iwakuni Yokaren 2nd Toku Otsu Class Monument
Iwakuni Yokaren 2nd Toku Otsu Class Monument
Iwate Army Airfield Monument
Iwate Army Airfield Monument
Iwo Jima 1st and 2nd Mitate Special Attack Squadrons Monument
Iwo Jima 1st and 2nd Mitate Special Attack Squadrons Monument
Izumi Special Attack Monument
Izumi Special Attack Monument

Kab-Kam

Kab-Kam
Kabira Bay Shin’yō Peace Monument
Kabira Bay Shin’yō Peace Monument
Kagawa Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Kagawa Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Kagoshima Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Kagoshima Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Kagoshima Naval Air Group Monument
Kagoshima Naval Air Group Monument
Kagoshima Naval Air Group Sekishin Monument
Kagoshima Naval Air Group Sekishin Monument
Kakogawa Airfield Site Monument
Kakogawa Airfield Site Monument
Kakogawa Special Attack Corps Monument
Kakogawa Special Attack Corps Monument
Kamikaze Pilot Statue (Chiran)
Kamikaze Pilot Statue (Chiran)
Kamikaze Pilot Statue (Izumi Tokkō Jinja)
Kamikaze Pilot Statue (Izumi Tokkō Jinja)
Kamikaze Pilot Statue (Mabalacat)
Kamikaze Pilot Statue (Mabalacat)
Kamikaze Pilot Statue (Yasukuni Jinja Yūshūkan)
Kamikaze Pilot Statue (Yasukuni Jinja Yūshūkan)
Kamikaze Special Attack Corps 3rd Ryūko Squadron Monument
Kamikaze Special Attack Corps 3rd Ryūko Squadron Monument

Kan-Ki

Kan-Ki
Kanoya Special Attack Corps War Dead Memorial Tower
Kanoya Special Attack Corps War Dead Memorial Tower
Kashihara Shrine 13th Kō Class Navy Yokaren Monument
Kashihara Shrine 13th Kō Class Navy Yokaren Monument
Kashima Naval Air Group Monument
Kashima Naval Air Group Monument
Kashiwajima Special Attack Shin’yō Base Monument
Kashiwajima Special Attack Shin’yō Base Monument
Kataura Shin’yō Base Monument
Kataura Shin’yō Base Monument
Kawatana Special Attack War Monument
Kawatana Special Attack War Monument
Kikaijima Naval Air Group Monument
Kikaijima Naval Air Group Monument
Kikaijima Shin’yō Storage Tunnel
Kikaijima Shin’yō Storage Tunnel
Kitaura Naval Air Group Monument
Kitaura Naval Air Group Monument

Ko-Ky

Ko-Ky
Kōchi Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Kōchi Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Kōchi Naval Air Group Monument
Kōchi Naval Air Group Monument
Kofuji Naval Air Group Monument
Kofuji Naval Air Group Monument
Kohama Island Shin’yō Boat Tunnels
Kohama Island Shin’yō Boat Tunnels
Kokubu No. 2 Air Base Special Attack Corps Monument (Barrel Valley)
Kokubu No. 2 Air Base Special Attack Corps Monument (Barrel Valley)
Kokubu No. 2 Air Base Special Attack Corps Monument (Uwatoko Park)
Kokubu No. 2 Air Base Special Attack Corps Monument (Uwatoko Park)
Kokubu Special Attack Base Monument
Kokubu Special Attack Base Monument
Koniya Naval Air Group Monument
Koniya Naval Air Group Monument
Kōyasan Naval Air Group Monument
Kōyasan Naval Air Group Monument
Kuroshima Battleship Yamato Monument
Kuroshima Battleship Yamato Monument
Kuroshima Special Attack Peace Kannon
Kuroshima Special Attack Peace Kannon
Kushira Naval Air Base War Dead Memorial Tower
Kushira Naval Air Base War Dead Memorial Tower
Kyōdomari Shin’yō Special Attack Base Monument
Kyōdomari Shin’yō Special Attack Base Monument

L-Me

L-Me
Mabalacat West Airfield Monument
Mabalacat West Airfield Monument
Makurazaki Battleship Yamato Monument
Makurazaki Battleship Yamato Monument
Matsuo Monument (Kikuchi Jinja)
Matsuo Monument (Kikuchi Jinja)
Matsuo Monument (Yamaga City)
Matsuo Monument (Yamaga City)
Matsuyama Naval Air Group Monument
Matsuyama Naval Air Group Monument
Matsuyama Naval Air Group Site Monument
Matsuyama Naval Air Group Site Monument
Metabaru Airfield Monument
Metabaru Airfield Monument

Mi-Mu

Mi-Mu
Mie Special Attack Corps Monument
Mie Special Attack Corps Monument
Miyagi Special Attack Corps Monument
Miyagi Special Attack Corps Monument
Miyakonojō East Airfield Monument
Miyakonojō East Airfield Monument
Miyakonojō Hayate Shinbu Special Attack Corps Monument
Miyakonojō Hayate Shinbu Special Attack Corps Monument
Miyakonojō Pilot Training School Monument
Miyakonojō Pilot Training School Monument
Miyakonojō West Airfield Monument
Miyakonojō West Airfield Monument
Miyara Bay Shin’yō Boat Tunnels
Miyara Bay Shin’yō Boat Tunnels
Miyazaki Special Attack Base Monument
Miyazaki Special Attack Base Monument

N

N
Nagamine Farewell Poem Monuments
Nagamine Farewell Poem Monuments
Nagano Special Attack Corps Monument
Nagano Special Attack Corps Monument
Nagasaki Pilot Training School Monument
Nagasaki Pilot Training School Monument
Nagasaki Prefecture Yokaren Monument
Nagasaki Prefecture Yokaren Monument
Nagoya Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Kusanagi Unit Monument
Nagoya Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Kusanagi Unit Monument
Nangō Human Torpedo Kaiten Training Site Monument
Nangō Human Torpedo Kaiten Training Site Monument
Naramoto Jinja Battleship Yamato Monument
Naramoto Jinja Battleship Yamato Monument
Navy Flight Reserve Students Monument
Navy Flight Reserve Students Monument
Niigata Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Niigata Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
19th Hikō Sentai Special Attack Monument
19th Hikō Sentai Special Attack Monument
Noshiro Hachiman Jinja Special Attack Corps Monument
Noshiro Hachiman Jinja Special Attack Corps Monument

O-R

O-R
Ōdōtsu 117th Shin’yō Special Attack Squadron Monument
Ōdōtsu 117th Shin’yō Special Attack Squadron Monument
Ōi Naval Air Group Monument
Ōi Naval Air Group Monument
Ōita Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Ōita Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Ōita Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Takeoff Site Monument
Ōita Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Takeoff Site Monument
Ōita Special Attack Corps Monument
Ōita Special Attack Corps Monument
Okazaki Naval Air Group Monument
Okazaki Naval Air Group Monument
Ōsaka Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Ōsaka Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Ōtsushima Kaiten Monument
Ōtsushima Kaiten Monument
Ōurasaki Special Attack Base (P Base) Monument
Ōurasaki Special Attack Base (P Base) Monument
Ozuki Air Base Foundation of Peace Monument
Ozuki Air Base Foundation of Peace Monument

S

S
Saitama Special Attack Corps Monument
Saitama Special Attack Corps Monument
Sakudari Kannon Temple Wakazakura Kanzeon Bosatsu
Sakudari Kannon Temple Wakazakura Kanzeon Bosatsu
Sekiguchi Tokko Brothers Monument
Sekiguchi Tokko Brothers Monument
Sendai Pilot Training School Monument
Sendai Pilot Training School Monument
Seseraginoyu Ōka Monument
Seseraginoyu Ōka Monument
Setagaya Special Attack Peace Kannon
Setagaya Special Attack Peace Kannon
Shiga Naval Air Group Monument
Shiga Naval Air Group Monument
Shimizu Naval Air Group Monument
Shimizu Naval Air Group Monument
Shimoda Shin’yō and Kairyu Monument
Shimoda Shin’yō and Kairyu Monument
Shōdoshima Special Submarine Monument
Shōdoshima Special Submarine Monument
Shinshū Fumetsu Special Attack Squadron Monument
Shinshū Fumetsu Special Attack Squadron Monument
Special Attack Fleet Ryukon Monument
Special Attack Fleet Ryukon Monument
Special Submarine Base (Q Base) Monument
Special Submarine Base (Q Base) Monument
Submarine Crewmen Who Gave Lives for Country Monument
Submarine Crewmen Who Gave Lives for Country Monument

T

T
Takuma Naval Air Group Monument
Takuma Naval Air Group Monument
Tochigi Special Attack Corps Monument
Tochigi Special Attack Corps Monument
Tokunoshima Special Attack Peace Monument
Tokunoshima Special Attack Peace Monument
Tomitaka Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Sortie Site Monument
Tomitaka Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Sortie Site Monument
Tosashimizu 132nd Shin’yō Special Attack Squadron Monument
Tosashimizu 132nd Shin’yō Special Attack Squadron Monument
Toshio Shimao Literature Monument
Toshio Shimao Literature Monument
Tsuiki Kamikaze Ginga Squadron Sortie Site Monument
Tsuiki Kamikaze Ginga Squadron Sortie Site Monument
Tsukuba Naval Air Group Monument
Tsukuba Naval Air Group Monument
Tsukuba Naval Air Group Peace Monument
Tsukuba Naval Air Group Peace Monument

U-Z

U-Z
Urato Naval Air Group Monument
Urato Naval Air Group Monument
Usa Naval Air Group Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Monument
Usa Naval Air Group Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Monument
Usa Special Attack Monument
Usa Special Attack Monument
Wakayama Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Wakayama Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Yamaguchi Special Attack Corps Monument
Yamaguchi Special Attack Corps Monument
Yamanashi Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Yamanashi Gokoku Jinja Yokaren Monument
Yatabe Naval Air Group Monument
Yatabe Naval Air Group Monument
Yatabe Naval Air Group Pilot Statue and Guard Gate
Yatabe Naval Air Group Pilot Statue and Guard Gate
Yonago Pilot Training School Monument
Yonago Pilot Training School Monument
Youth Pilots’ Memorial Column
Youth Pilots’ Memorial Column
Yudonosan Kaiten Patriotism Monument
Yudonosan Kaiten Patriotism Monument
Zenkōji Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Monument
Zenkōji Kamikaze Special Attack Corps Monument
Zen’yōji Special Cadet Pilots Monument
Zen’yōji Special Cadet Pilots Monument

Lists

Lists
Type of Special Attack Corps
Type of Special Attack Corps

Internet

Internet
Air Group 4 - "Casablanca to Tokyo"
Air Group 4 - "Casablanca to Tokyo"
Aozora no hateni (To the blue sky’s end)
Aozora no hateni (To the blue sky’s end)
Junkoku no ishibumi (War Memorials)
Junkoku no ishibumi (War Memorials)
Kaiten Tokkōtai (Kaiten Special Attack Corps)
Kaiten Tokkōtai (Kaiten Special Attack Corps)
Tokkō (Special Attack Forces)
Tokkō (Special Attack Forces)
Yokaren Shiryoukan (Yokaren Museum)
Yokaren Shiryoukan (Yokaren Museum)

Other Forms

Other Forms

Chiran Speech Contest

Chiran Speech Contest
Junior High School Division
Junior High School Division
Special Attack Picture Postcards
Special Attack Picture Postcards
Tokkōbana (Kamikaze Flower)
Tokkōbana (Kamikaze Flower)

Writings

Writings

A-J

A-J

Ab-Ar

Ab-Ar

As-Fuj

As-Fuj

Fuk-G

Fuk-G

Ha

Ha

Hi-Ho

Hi-Ho

Ic-In

Ic-In

Is

Is

It-J

It-J

K-N

K-N

Ka-Kas

Ka-Kas

Kat-Ki

Kat-Ki

Koa-Kon

Koa-Kon

Kos-Ku

Kos-Ku

Ma-Mas

Ma-Mas

Mat-Min

Mat-Min

Mio-Miz

Mio-Miz

Mo-Mu

Mo-Mu

Nag

Nag

Nak

Nak

Nam-No

Nam-No

O-Z

O-Z

Og-Oi

Og-Oi

Ok-On

Ok-On

Os-Ot

Os-Ot

Sa

Sa

Se-Shim

Se-Shim

Shin-Su

Shin-Su

Tab-Tak

Tab-Tak

Tan-Tsu

Tan-Tsu

U

U

W

W

Yab-Yamag

Yab-Yamag

Yamam-Yamaw

Yamam-Yamaw

Yan-Yu

Yan-Yu

Books

Books
Gordon, Facing Death: Last Writings of Japanese Special Attack Corps Members
Gordon, Facing Death: Last Writings of Japanese Special Attack Corps Members
Kawatoko, The Mind of the Kamikaze
Kawatoko, The Mind of the Kamikaze
Lartéguy, The Sun Goes Down
Lartéguy, The Sun Goes Down
Nihon Senbotsu Gakusei Kinen-Kai, Listen to the Voices from the Sea
Nihon Senbotsu Gakusei Kinen-Kai, Listen to the Voices from the Sea
Ohnuki-Tierney, Kamikaze Diaries
Ohnuki-Tierney, Kamikaze Diaries
Todai Gakusei Jichi-kai, In the Faraway Mountains and Rivers
Todai Gakusei Jichi-kai, In the Faraway Mountains and Rivers
Yamashita, Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies
Yamashita, Leaves from an Autumn of Emergencies

Thesis

Thesis
Excel file that supports thesis
Excel file that supports thesis

Links

Links

About Project

About Project
Kamikaze Images and Friendship Dolls
Kamikaze Images and Friendship Dolls
Final Project Paper (PDF file)
Final Project Paper (PDF file)

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The Kamikaze Blow-off
by Mike Roy
Combat, February 1959, pp. 16-7, 48, 50, 52, 54
Introductory Comments
This fictional story depicts Japanese kamikaze attacks
on American ships at one of the radar picket stations on April 12, 1945, during
the Battle of Okinawa. Although the intense battle action has an air of realism and the
magazine Combat presents the story as "true adventure," the
story's three ships
(destroyer escort Ormsby and destroyers Dunlop and Dugan)
never existed, and Radar Picket Station 9 presented in the story did not have
any ships hit on that date.
The main character Scotillo is a gunner's mate on the destroyer escort
Ormsby, but during the Battle of Okinawa only two destroyer escorts served
on radar pickets stations and these did so only for a short period of time
(Rielly 2008, 35). The story depicts the kamikaze aircraft as having tremendous
success by sinking the two destroyers and the destroyer escort at the radar
picket station, but kamikaze planes in actual history only achieved hits or near
hits during the Battle of Okinawa about 13% of the time (Yasunobu 1972, 171).
Ormsby gets attacked by three Betty bombers with two of them
successfully crashing into the ship. However, Betty bombers never carried out
any official suicide attacks as part of the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps.
Instead, the Japanese Navy used them to carry ohka rocket-powered glider bombs
into battle so they could be released to attack Allied ships.
The first two pages of the original story in Combat included five US
Navy photographs of kamikaze aircraft that were attacking or had hit American
ships. The photo of the kamikaze hit on the destroyer Halsey Powell is
shown below.
Notes have been added to the story in order to provide
comments on a few inaccuracies. Click on the note number to go to the
note at the bottom of the web page, and then click on the note number to return
to the same place in the story.
Scotty couldn't believe his eyes–the little planes
whined and screamed overhead, most scoring direct hits; the last thing he knew
he was sailing through the air while parts of a Jap pilot flew by
Pre-dawn, April 12, 1945. Destroyer-escort Ormsby was cruising easily
just south of Kerama Retto, an island cluster 20 miles southwest of Okinawa. As
ordered by Com-CortDiv, she had occupied Radar Picket Station 9, one of 19 such
stations surrounding the Okinawa area. She was in Battle Condition II, which
meant that Gunner's Mate 2/c Danny Scotillo was off-duty, sacked below and
sweating out a personal problem.
At Ormsby's port, starboard and stern rode her three pallbearers, an
LSM and two LCS's. A mile to port cruised the double-banked destroyers, Dugan
and Dunlop. All ships' assignments were clear: To report radar blips of
any Jap aircraft winging in from Japan, China or Formosa to complicate the
Okinawa invasion.
But Scotillo couldn't sleep, only writhe. A week before, he'd received a
letter from a girl in Honolulu. He was a stocky, hairy-chested 22-year-old, in
charge of Ormsby's port 20-mm gun mount, but he'd never gotten a girl
pregnant before and he couldn't yet handle his thoughts.
"Quit shaking the rack," grumbled S 2/c Paul Hyde, in the cot below him. For
cripes sake, she's 4000 miles away." Hyde was 18, a fire-controlman striker.
Scotillo looked down at him.
"What the hell do you know about it?" he muttered.
On the bridge, Lt. Com. James Hawthorne, USN, conned the Ormsby in a
roughly circular pattern, peering into the gray half-light sky. It was
0500; above he could see only a red ball low-slung over the East China Sea, which
was the planet Mars. "The trouble is," Hawthorne said to his exec, Lt. (j.g.)
Edson Higginbottom, USNR, "we don't know anything about it. I've never even seen
a Kamikaze. Much less an Oka. You?"
Higginbottom shook his head. Hawthorne and the Ormsby were up from
Leyte, where the Imperial Forces had been just about eliminated by April.
Higginbottom was a replacement, a week out of San Francisco, with two years'
service in the ETO.
"I hear they're calling them Bakas, not Okas, because Baka means idiot,"
Higginbottom said.
0600, the watch changed. Radioman 1/c Elvin Heit entered the crew's quarters,
grinning. "Goddamdest thing," he said to Scotillo. "I get this jerk from the
Dunlop on the TBS, asks me if we sent up a red flare. Well hell, in war
cruising? So I tell him no, that's the planet Mars. I say it three times–Mars,
Mars, Mars. So he comes back at me and says he's got no such word as 'Mars' in
his code book. Is that a jerk or is that a jerk?"
"The people they give you to work with," Scotillo mumbled vacantly.
"Oh, you know what else just came through?" Heit said, scaling his hat.
"Okinawa's all secure. We're going home," Scotillo said.
Off Kyushu, the southernmost island in the Jap chain, about 650 miles north
of the Ormsby's position, no destroyerman in Task Flotilla 5 knew
exactly what was happening. For that matter, no one in Intelligence knew either.
In Task Flotilla 5, surrounding
the Okinawa transport area as radar pickets and ack-ack guards, there were 97
destroyers–alphabetically from the Ammen to the
Wren–and 51 destroyer-escorts–alphabetically from the Abercrombie to
the Wm. Seiverling. One hundred forty-eight ships, approximately 45,000
men, and not one of them knew how the tattered remnant of the Imperial Air Force
was planning to celebrate the death of the American president [1].
0600 on Kyushu Air Base, 200 graduates of the Emperor's
kikusui program climbed into a collection of junk–battered Vals, Zekes, Bettys,
Oscars and Jills. Most of the planes had seen extensive service at New Guinea
and in the Philippines; a few had limped home from Pearl Harbor three-and-a-half
years before. Some lacked sections of fuselage, others wing-tips. Each carried a
200- to 500-pound bomb in its nose [2]. The Imperial Air Force was short on gas, so
the supply was carefully apportioned among the 200 planes–each got enough for a
one-way trip to Okinawa.
Kamikaze–The Divine Wind–was blowing towards the Last
Battle. Little could be gained. General Mitsuru Ushijima's 120,000 troops on
Okinawa had already been decimated by the U.S. Marines and GI's, by the Navy's
hot shells. The war, months before the A-bomb, was as good as over. The Divine
Wind's Last Battle was a GESTURE, in capital letters. It was the Emperor's way
of saying to his suiciders. "You've worked so hard at foreplay. Here's your
Climax."
0900 on the Ormsby, a blue morning sky, sun gold on
the sea. A bunch of intellectuals were sitting around the engine room.
"Mortality precludes mass suicide," said Machinist's Mate 1/c George Henty, a
pre-war engineering student at Villanova.
"Western morality," MM 2/c Al Perelli corrected him.
"Tell Mr. Henty about the lemmings, Perelli," Fireman 1/c Bill Heintzmann
baited. "Don't they kill themselves for no good goddam reason at all?"
"Yeah, but lemmings are animals–" Henty started, then
grinned. Heintzmann, an ex-New York cop, liked to ride him and he knew it. They
were very good friends. They followed each other alphabetically on the muster
list.
Nerves in the ward room, on the main deck just below the
5-inch 38's on the forward superstructure.
S 2/c Hyde, USNR, checked his three aces, then raised the
five-dollar opener laid down by Boatswain's Mate 1/c Jug Jarrell, USN. "You
goddam cut-throat little bastard," Jarrell snarled, and swung his fist at Hyde,
who ducked, slipped and sprawled on the deck, bewildered.
"What'd I do?" Hyde asked.
Scotillo helped him up. "You don't check and raise, boy,
unless you're playing Japs. They'll kill you around here for that."
"I didn't know," Hyde stammered. "It seemed the way to
win. I had three aces."
Disgusted, Scotillo walked out the hatch onto the open
deck.
The antennas of the SC surface-search and SG air-search
radars revolved like robot heads. The sky was bright and still empty. The
small-craft pall-bearers–pall-bearers because they would pick up the living
remains of a picket DE, if it were hit–maintained 10 knots, the Ormsby's
speed. The intellectuals below cursed their poor card hands.
Scotillo suddenly ran past four deck-swabbing strikers to
his 20-mm mount, manned by the forenoon-watch duty crew. GM 2/c Ken Barbado was
leaning back on his belt support, dug into the gun's shoulder rest, chewing gum
and looking at the sky. The mount was high on the superstructure abaft of the
rear stack.
"Hey, Barbado," Scotillo yelled, craning his head back.
Barbado looked down questioningly.
"Did you ever get a girl in trouble?"
The Ormsby was of the Rudderow class. It displaced 1450 tons,
was 306 feet long, could tie on 24 knots when necessary, and carried 220 men
including officers. It was a platform that floated two 5-inch 38's, one forward
and one aft, that could throw 54-pound projectiles at aircraft six miles away;
two 40-mm ack-ack twins with useful ranges up to 2800 yards; two 20-mm tubs
whose barrels could pump 450 rounds per minute including tracers; and three
21-inch torpedo tubes, dead amidships. Plus depth charges on the fantail.
Below there was a mess of gear–engines and ammunition
handling rooms–that kept the ship moving and helped make its guns work.
It was the guns, though, that got knocked out first.
At 1030 Radarman Jack Burke, on duty at the SG indicator,
grabbed Radioman Heit and pointed to his screen. Heit, on his TBS, radioed
Dunlop and Dugan, destroyers in area 9. "Thunderbolt, Tomahawk, this
is Rosebud. We see bandit one three five. Do you concur?"
"Christ yes!" screamed back.
Confusion. Blips quickly filled the SG indicator, like
dots of sprayed paint, all bearings, all ranges. Forty miles off, Kerama
Retto-based Corsairs took off to intercept. Zekes, Bettys, Vals, Oscars–the
legion from Kyushu–crashed through the interceptors, despite the Corsairs'
superior fighting power. Fragments were torn off their wings, props were shot
off, they streamed black smoke, but still they kept coming.
Communications Officer Lt. (j.g.) Bud Chandler was at
Heit's back when the call came in from Kelsey, task force flagship, 30
miles off.
"CortDiv, DesDiv, all ships. Report Kamikazes. 200 planes,
headed south.
"Morley hit. Robinson hit. Kiely's
back broken. Jesus!"
In response to Lt. Chandler on the inter-com, Lt. Com.
Hawthorne conned Ormsby to 90 degrees true bearing, so all guns would
bear on the suiciders, flying down from the north.
Below, C.I.C. couldn't handle all orders. SC radar
reported a Val 180 degrees. Dunlop radioed that a Jap ship was 10,000
yards astern, which was a faulty report. Ormsby wheeled in her tracks,
but an LCS pall-bearer, not getting C.I.C.'s delayed message, plowed straight on
and rammed Ormsby's starboard stern.
Ormsby pulled off. Men raced to repair the ugly but
not serious gash.
Ship's siren was blasting and Chief Boatswain's Mate Alton
Trumbull was screaming, "General Quarters!" over the PA, but the command wasn't
necessary.
Scotillo, who had been topside when the hell broke, leaped
into the port 20 tub immediately. All hatches burst open. Scotillo's trunnion
operator, Tom Meyers, and his loader and talker, Russ Johnson and Ben Johnson
(no relation), assumed their positions in the mount.
The planes could not be spotted visually as yet. "What do
they look like? I don't even know what they look like," Meyers muttered
nervously, but nobody answered.
Orders were being shouted from all quarters, in voices
that, pitched alarmingly too high, could not be recognized. "Men to aft 5-inch
mount!" someone yelled, and the 10-man crew spewed on deck, racing. "Shut down
forward engine-room ventilation," someone else yelled, but this order was not
complied with.
At 1045 two Vals appeared to die on destroyer decks. They
were visible as dots seven miles off, high out of range, on a course converging
on the Ormsby's bow. But it became obvious these Jap pilots had not
selected the Ormsby to die on.
Dunlop and Dugan, 2000 yards to starboard,
were double-banking their picket station, capable of opening a parasol of flak
that would discourage the average Jap pilot. One of the Vals went for the
Dunlop, the other for the Dugan.
The Dugan's attacker went into a vertical dive
towards the ship's belly. Dugan's gunners flung up hedges of 5-inch, 40
and 20-mm fire. Scotillo, on the Ormsby, swung his 20 to bear on the
plane, peppering it–along with all other guns in the area–until it belched
smoke, its intestines ripped. But the Val did not alter course. There was a
blinding crash as it struck Dugan's superstructure just abaft No. 1
stack. A 500-pound bomb ripped into the ship's interior, exploded in the forward
engine room and flung a 4000-pound blower out of the engine room onto the
bridge. Men and machinery were hurled skywards. Gutted amidships, her keel
buckled, Dugan opened up like a beer can. Her engineering crew poured out
into a sea of oil, sludge and blood. In five minutes Dugan sank.
The second Val carried two bombs, one 100-pounder and one
500-pounder [3]. It swooped low over the sinking Dugan and dropped the first
in the midst of Dugan's survivors, reddening the water with mangled
bodies [4]. Looking at the meat in the sea, Scotillo's fingers froze on his
triggers. The Val skidded left, then climbed up high like a chicken-hawk to get
in position over Dunlop's bow.
"Get it, Scotty, get it, Scotty," talker Ben Johnson
shouted, pounding his back. Blank, Scotillo lost his bearing when Myers turned
the wheel and raised the gun column. He lost eight seconds, then lined up the
Val in his ring sight and started pumping again.
The Val was silhouetted by flak. All of Dunlop's
armament, Scotillo's rounds, the rest of Ormsby's guns, couldn't put it
down. Scotillo saw his tracer zip into the cockpit and knew, by all odds, he had
torn the Jap pilot's head off.
In a straight vertical dive, the Val plummeted into
Dunlop's bow and exploded, squashing the forecastle like a melon. The Val
itself disappeared in fragments, its own wings, rudder and fuselage becoming the
firebrands that swept Dunlop's decks. Flames swept downward into the
destroyer's bowels towards the 5-inch ammo handling room. Dunlop's
skipper backed her into the wind to contain the fire forward. A minute later,
the ammo went and the explosion jettisoned most of the crew. The ship, buckled
like the Dugan before it, slowly settled and sank. Its pall-bearers
pulled over to pick up survivors.

Single direct hit by kamikaze sank the destroyer Halsey Powell [5].
Plane crashed right through the ship's deck
(caption from original article)
The nearby sea was now clean of Ormsby's cohorts and the sky was clean of
suiciders. In the ensuing lull, life aboard Ormsby went temporarily crazy. Only
Radarman Burke and Radioman Heit, busy with their SG and TBS reports, did
serious work, collating other Kamikaze blips and conveying them to C.I.C. More
than 50% of the Kamikazes were still in the air.
A number of queer things happened. On the bridge, skipper Hawthorne looked
overside at the destruction, put his head in his hands and said, "I can't
believe it. Those Japs killed themselves."
Al Perelli opened the engine-room hatch and walked on deck, start naked, a
way he sometimes worked in the heat below. He walked, dreamlike, to the rail and
surveyed the carnage. Then he walked down below to the crew's quarters and came
up again, moments later, wearing his jock strap.
Ship's Cook Sylvester Hawley, Jacksonville, Fla., came topside from the aft
ammo-handling room–his General Quarters post–carrying a .45
revolver and a butcher knife. He ran to Scotillo's mount.
"Scotty," he said, looking up and waving the knife, "tell
me what to do."
"Drown," Scotillo said wearily. "Anything. Get the hell
out of here." Hawley dropped the knife, said, "Nuts," and ran back down below,
rubbing the sweat of his hands dry on his dungarees.
As for Scotillo, he stared emptily at the sea where much
metal and many bodies had sunk, his stomach cold. I ought to get killed now,
he thought. I ought to get everything in me blown to hell. It'd serve that
no-good dame right . . .
At 1100 three Bettys showed in the blue near-noon sky, in
their simple appearance strengthening the minds of all Ormsby crewsmen.
The Ormsby had no supporting gun power now. But for its pall-bearers, it was alone in
this section of the East China Sea. Its task was grim but clear.
Scotillo's hands automatically went to his triggers. "Wait
for range," talker Johnson said, and Scotillo nodded. Skipper Hawthorne swung
the ship broadside to the onslaught so that all guns would bear.
The maneuver, however, held guns bearing only for as long
as the Bettys remained out of useful range. Bursts of 5-inch shells fired the
air around the planes, flying in tight formation at 6000 yards. None hit.
At 3000 yards the 40's opened fire and Scotillo, in the
port 20, and Barbado, in the starboard 20, followed suit. But at this range the
Bettys peeled off and took converging courses. One skidded right and got on
Ormsby's wake, swooping down to a height of 30 feet so that bow guns wouldn't
bear. The second adopted a similar tactic, its nose blasting straight towards
Ormsby's bow. Both were at range 2000. Ormsby's guns popped, half at the bow
Betty, half at the stern Betty.
The third Betty carried a machine gun; it came square at
the ship's port side, between stacks, spraying lead, and the triple-attack drove
all gun crews senseless by virtue of the fact that choice was impossible.
Talker Johnson, babbling in his mike, pointed to the firing Betty and
Scotillo, devoid of thought, swung his barrel in its direction. The Betty was 40
feet over the water, skidding right and left to avoid fire, but otherwise coming
straight in, range 1500 yards. Scotillo's tracers smashed the air around it,
then three of his shells in a row hit sections of it. Smoke was pouring out the
Betty's tail as it sputtered low over the deck, engine missing, machine gun
keeping up a steady stream of fire. The Jap pilot could not possibly have
selected a target; his guns kept blazing into open air even after he had passed
over Ormsby's starboard side and started to loop back.
But he had made a few hits.
At the bow 5-incher's Mk. 14 Gun Director, Firecontrolman 3/c Oscar Lacy put
his hand up to his right ear. Betty's tracer had blown the gold ring out of it
along with part of the lobe. His hand darkened with blood. "My ear," he said.
Two others named portions of their anatomy when hit. In Scotillo's crew,
trunnion operator Tom Meyers shrilled, "Damn you, Jap, you hit my throat," but
the bullet had only creased the flesh on his neck and he was not hurt badly. He
was in shock for less than five seconds.
But S 2/c Hyde, who at the start of the attack began running from No. 3 mount
to No. 4 mount, where his services were not required, was on the main deck,
hemorrhaging badly through a hole in his stomach. He lay with both hands trying
to hold the wound closed, murmuring, "Not right to get hit in the stomach. Not
right." He died as a hospital corpsman reached his side with plasma.
While fore and aft guns kept the bomb-laden Bettys maneuvering in the air,
seeking favorable positions to dive from, Scotillo followed the shooting Betty
as it came in for its second pass, 35 feet high and off the starboard side. The
Jap pilot was insane. He had no bomb to do damage with, only the one small arm.
It was apparent he intended to die aboard the Ormsby anyway.
But he didn't quite achieve his glory. As he roared in, Scotillo paved his
road with ack-ack. He got off about 200 rounds, almost all shells hitting; the
Betty holed like swiss cheese. At 500 yards range, the Betty suddenly skidded,
turned over on a broken wing and made a haystack splash into the sea.
Half the ship let out terrific yells of triumph, obscuring orders.
The Divine Wind kept scorching. The two remaining Bettys buzzed the sky,
hovering in circles high over bow and stern.
Through binoculars, skipper Hawthorne saw 500-pound bombs in each, with what
he surmised were instantaneous fuses. He called the engine rooms to tie on 24
knots, and went hard rudder right to complicate the Bettys' problems.
In Ormsby's forward engine room, Machinist's Mate Henty turned up
throttle, sweating bullets. The noise was deafening, above and below. "What the
hell's going on up there?" he mumbled to Machinist's Mate Perelli, next to him
on the runway.
Perelli wiped sweat, turned his wheel and began to whistle, "The Ballad Of
Rodger Young," the infantry song.
Topside, some confusion had been eliminated by the downing of one Betty. Bow
guns bore and ranged on bow Betty; aft guns took the other. Scotillo's crew,
because of the obstacle forward due to the radar antennas, swung their gun aft.
Their Betty's Jap pilot quickly demonstrated a superior intelligence. The
plane peeled off from a height of 600 feet and got in Ormsby's wake, range 2500.
Then it went into a long toboggan slide that seemed to last an hour.
Scotillo's gut tightened with frustration. To necessitate a high deflection
rate, higher than the 20-mm could follow manually with accuracy, the Betty
zoomed, climbed, slipped, skidded, sped up, slowed down. His barrel pumping
furiously, Scotillo found his tracers missing by wide margins. Yells, curses,
screams all around him indicated the other Betty was presenting the same
difficulty.
The double-kill came almost simultaneously. Scotillo's target, aft, circled
out to 4000 yards, leveled off on bearing 170 degrees, then came straight in at
a height of 150 feet. As Ormsby turned with full right rudder, it skidded
to hug the wake.
At range 1200, Scotillo got a hit, then another. The two shells ripped off
the plane's rudder. It kept coming, throttle wide open, its wings in position to
slice off the aft stack.
It passed over the stern and Scotillo couldn't bear. Choked and frozen he sat
tight and waited. Some other gun got in a final shot. Out of control, the Betty
fell nearly vertically between the 40-mm mounts and its bomb went off.
The 500-pounder's explosion ripped open the aft stack. Shrapnel slashed the
superstructure. The 5-inches were put out of commission. GM 1/c Ed Border's
40-mm gun tub was completely demolished. Both SC and SG radar antennas were blown
sky-high off their masts; they crashed into the sea like unmanned flying
saucers.
Ship's complement was reduced 22 per cent.
Debris, wings, a fuselage, bodies smoked, oiled and bloodied up the sea in a
50-yard perimeter around the Ormsby. Unhit, Scotillo jumped out of his
tub down to the main deck; the deaths of the two Johnsons, flicked by shrapnel
beside him, had made his gun useless. Stumbling and slipping in men's blood he
raced to the ward room where, leaning on its hatch, Lt. (j.g.) Edson
Higginbottom, Ormsby's exec, was trying to pull himself to his feet. The
lieutenant had been blown off the bridge. He had no feet. Both legs were sheared
off four inches above the knees. As Scotillo reached him, he began to walk. He
put his hands on his groin, asked, "What will happen to my wife, Scotillo?" and
walked 15 feet on his bleeding stumps before he fell over and died.
Bow guns were somehow still operating, keeping the remaining Betty off.
Scotillo, looking around him wildly, started to run forward to replace a lost
man.
Shouts from below stopped him. There were flames from stern to bow;
firebrands licked at all hatches. Flames had been sucked down, too, into the
forward engine control room, due to the ventilation intakes not being shut down
earlier.
Scotillo swerved and headed for the control room port hatch to let out the
engineering crew trapped below. He found the dog jammed, accounting for the
screams. He grabbed a fireaxe and broke off the jammed dog, then swung open the
hatch. Perelli, Henty, and Heintzmann, plus 20 others, came streaming out just
as, at that moment, the forward fireroom blew up.
Henty's T-shirt was afire and Heintzmann was slapping at the flames with his
bare hands. Peas in a pod.
Scotillo took notice that the main deck was awash; waves lapped and splashed
at the combing. He saw, with an almost disinterested curiosity, that Henty–berserk–was
headed for the rail to dive overside, Heintzmann attempting to dissuade him.
Then he saw nothing.
When the second Betty hit, its 500-pounder cut the
Ormsby in two, crashing into the hull near the after engine room and
splitting both port and starboard plates. Tons of sea coursed in to swamp all
lower compartments, spewing out remaining living personnel through the ship's
gashes. The explosion of the 40-mm magazine ended the ship's life. Machinist
Perelli had gone inside to fetch a batch of hot powder containers to prevent the
explosion, when the explosion occurred.
The Betty itself was ripped into several parts. The bomb
sheared off a wing which, ironically, beheaded both Henty and Heintzmann in
their tracks.
As for the Jap pilot, parts of him joined Danny Scotillo
in an unaided 300-yard flight through space.
Scotillo regained consciousness while still in the air. No
bomb fragment had struck him; he had been sucked skyward by the tremendous force
of the explosion, and hurled, like a projectile, three times the length of a
football field, off Ormsby's port (leeward) side.
In his flight, Scotillo saw no specific object, though the
sea around was cluttered with Dunlop, Dugan and Ormsby
debris, and felt no specific sensation, though the heat of the Kamikaze blast
had singed all the hair off his head. He fell sideways through the air,
weightless. His eyes were wide and his mouth had assumed a curious, frozen
expression. He thought, The sun is yellow. The sea is blue.
When gravity got the best of his trajectory, his body
belly-whopped the whitecap of a small wave and he sank quickly to a depth of ten
feet. Submerged, cold water bathing his head, he regained just enough thought
power to open his mouth and scream for help. The sea rushed into his throat, and
for the first time since the initial Kamikaze attack he felt alarm for his
personal safety. He was choking to death.
His panic aided him. Flailing arms and legs wildly, he
broke surface at about the time he thought his lungs would burst.
He took air in gasps, treading water with one foot as he
hastily removed each shoe in turn. Far off, the Ormsby was sinking,
capsized on her keel. A gap of ten feet separated the ship's blown-apart halves
and grotesquely, it went down.
Above and behind him he heard the whine of aircraft and
spun around, prepared to see the Kamikaze that would bomb or strafe him to death.
But the plane was a Corsair, arriving too late to intercept the suiciders that
had wiped out all three ships on the picket station. The Corsair dipped its
wings at Ormsby's survivors.
Scotillo could see approximately 30 men of the original
complement of 220 still afloat; they were a couple hundred yards closer than he
to the three pall-bearers, which began to nose towards them slowly.
The Corsair waved good-bye once more and winged northeast,
and Scotillo figured that other Kamikazes were still operative. His assumption
was correct.
Then Scotillo heard the pall-bearers' bull-horns calling
him in. The horns, by their low, prolonged moans, told him, Easy. We've got
you covered. Come to us, and he began to swim towards them slowly, savoring
each stroke that let him know he was still alive.
Voices from the LSM's deck called to him when he was still 50 yards off. They
were flat, dead, unfamiliar voices. "This way, mate," they said.
When he arrived at the LSM's hull, a ladder-swing was dropped for him. He
climbed on and let himself be hauled aboard.
Shivering slightly in his wet clothes, he let the LSM's yeoman count him in
as an Ormsby survivor along with several others, one of whom was Radioman 1/c
Elvin Heit, still on his feet.
"Ho, mate," Heit said. "Looks like our war's over."
"Looks like," Scotillo said.
"Now you can go back to Honolulu and be a father," Heit said. "If that's what
you want."
"Maybe yes, maybe no."
He walked with Heit to the galley, wondering what was for chow, besides hot
tea. The rest didn't matter much. Life, death, girls, babies meant a little, but
not a hell of a lot.
Before that April 12 had ended, the Suicide Patrol had celebrated one
63-year-old man's death in Warm Springs, Ga., by sending to the bottom or
wrecking beyond repair scores of American ships [6].
Notes
1. People in Japan did not hear of the death of
Franklin D. Roosevelt until April 13, 1945, so the military could not have
celebrated on April 12 with kamikaze attacks against American ships. Roosevelt's death
certificate gives the time of death as 3:35 p.m. on April 12, which would have
already been the morning of April 13 in Japan due to the time difference.
2. A kamikaze aircraft, except the ohka glider
bomb, generally did not carry a bomb in its nose. The bomb usually was carried
under the fuselage or a wing.
3. A kamikaze plane in general
did not carry two different size bombs, such as a 100-pound bomb and a 500-pound
bomb, at the same time.
4. This type of attack method is fictional, since
a kamikaze pilot intent on hitting a specific ship would not divert his
attention to drop a small bomb in the midst of survivors of another ship.
5. A Zero fighter crashed into Halsey Powell
(DD-686) on March 20, 1945, but the destroyer did not sink as claimed in the
photo caption. The kamikaze attack killed 12 men and injured 29, but the heavily
damaged ship was able to leave the attack area under her own power (Rielly 2010,
199-200).
6. On April 12, 1945, kamikaze pilots of the
Japanese Special Attack Corps hit many ships, but they did not send to the
bottom or wreck beyond repair scores of American ships. Warner (1982, 329-30)
lists 2 ships sunk and 16 ships damaged by kamikaze aircraft on that date.
Sources Cited
Rielly, Robin L. 2008.
Kamikazes, Corsairs, and Picket Ships:
Okinawa, 1945. Philadelphia: Casemate.
________. 2010. Kamikaze Attacks of World War II: A
Complete History of Japanese Suicide Strikes on American Ships, by Aircraft
and Other Means. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company.
Warner, Denis, Peggy
Warner, with Commander Sadao Seno. 1982. The Sacred Warriors: Japan's Suicide
Legions. New York: Van Nostrand
Reinhold.
Yasunobu, Takeo. 1972.
Kamikaze tokkōtai (Kamikaze
special attack corps). Edited by Kengo Tominaga. Tōkyō: Akita Shoten.
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