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Last Letter of Second Lieutenant Matao Nara to His Parents

On June 22, 1945, Second Lieutenant Matao Nara took off from Miyakonojō East Airfield as a member of the 27th Shinbu Special Attack Squadron and died in a special (suicide) attack west of Okinawa at the age of 25. He piloted an Army Hayate Type 4 Fighter (Allied code name of Frank). After his death in a special attack, he received a promotion to Captain. He was from Akita Prefecture, graduated from Akita Mining College in 1942, and was a member of the 7th Class of the Army's Officer Cadet (Kanbu Kōhosei) training program.

He wrote the following final letter to his parents:

In this war situation that faces the country, going as a Special Attack Corps member is a young man's long-cherished desire.

Father, Mother, thank you for many things.

Well then, I will go.


Letter translated by Bill Gordon
July 2018

The letter comes from Terai (1977, 107). The biographical information in the first paragraph comes from Chiran Tokkō Irei Kenshō Kai (2005, 159) and Osuo (2005, 196).

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.

Terai, Shun'ichi, ed. 1977. Kōkū Kichi Miyakonojō Hayate Tokkō Shinbutai (Miyakonojō Air Base Hayate Special Attack Shinbu Unit). Tōkyō: Genshobō.