Kamikaze Pilot Research Paper

Being in the war requires a great amount of bravery. I honestly don’t think I can ever be a solider, because I don’t have much bravery. A lot of soldiers talked about cowardice and how it was a dishonor. They wanted to avoid cowardice at all cost. Whenever they were feeling scared they would pretend to be sick.

The Japanese had lost 29 aircraft and 5 submarines in the attack. One of the Japanese soldiers was taken prisoner and 129 Japanese soldiers were killed.

America suffered heavy damage from this attack, 20 ships were damaged or destroyed. Over 300 planes were reduced to ashes. And there were over 3500 casualties. Many of which came from soldiers trapped in ships while they were sinking.

Some of the soldiers were such cowards that they injured themselves just to be taken away in a helicopter and extracted from the war scene. The soldiers “spoke bitterly about guys who had found release by shooting off their own toes or fingers. Pussies, they’d say. Candy-asses” (22). However, deep down inside, the soldiers who did all the mocking “imagined the quick, sweet pain, then the evacuation to Japan, then a hospital with warm beds and cute geisha nurses” (22). The soldiers even dreamt at night about freedom birds. The men were flying on a “real bird, a big sleek silver bird with feathers and talons and high screeching… The weights fell off; there was nothing to bear” (22). The soldiers did not want to be at war, they imagined to themselves “It’s (the war) over, I’m gone!—they were naked, they were light and free” (22).

Casualties of American servicemen reached 2,403 killed, and another 1,178 wounded. Beyond human loss America lost four battleships and three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship and one minelayer. During the attack an imperial Japanese Navy air pilot crash landed after facing off with American fighters that happened to make it into the air, on the nearby island of Niihau. Several natives of Hawaii and of Japanese descent helped him take guard against other locals. Later, the imperial Japanese pilot was killed, those who helped were wounded and one individual took their own life. After these two acts of violence, the American people and the United States government felt vulnerable to the Japanese. (Hallstead W.

Although the Japanese believed it was dishonarable to surrender and probably thought they made the best decision, I am sure they didnt think about the lives they were putting in danger. The civilians that died were not to blame, and shouldnt have had to endure the devastions of the war but sadly they did live on a military port.

Japanese men had a unique way of fighting. Their soldiers were demanded to kill at least 10 Americans before they died. But the thing was the Japanese men weren’t afraid of dying so it made the war harder to win when you have an enemy whom is not afraid to die. The Japanese also fought in camouflage places. Such as caves, trees and concrete bunchers

The exact number of casualties are very high. By 9:55 that morning 2390 people were killed and 1178 more were wounded. With those number, only 68 civilians were killed. While that seems like a lot there was very high numbers for cost of the damages. 21 Ships were sunk and 323 airplanes were damaged or destroyed. It cost roughly $100 million to make a battleship which 8 were sunk, $2.5 billion dollars for a destroyer which 3 of were sunk. That is only 11 of the 21 ships and it is already $8.3 billion dollars and around 1.5 million gallons of fuel which would be $2.9 million dollars in today’s

They would rather die than be taken by the enemy as a prisoner of war. This has been a very old Japanese tradition, which has dated back centuries. This idea that death is better than capture is one of the main reasons why the U.S. government wanted to end the war early. The government wasn’t willing to spend that much of their resources on a war. That after the first year, there would be no public support for it.

The Japanese people are stoic patriotic people. They did come together as a community to assist each other but they suffered through their pain alone. They did not look for sympathy or a shoulder to cry on. Mr. Tanimoto wrote in a letter describing how some Japanese died without yelling out for help. He wrote, “They died in silence with no grudge, setting their teeth to bear it. All for the country (Hersey, p. 69)!” They were proud people for their country and didn’t want to appear weak. Mr. Tanimoto also wrote in his letter, “Look, I lost my home, my family, and at last bitterly injured. But now I have got my mind to dedicate what I have and to complete the war for our country’s sake (Hersey, p. 69).” Hersey also informs us of thirteen year old girls singing their national anthem while being crushed to death. Not concerned about their well-being but for the love of their beloved country. To know that you’re going to die yet sing something that means so much to you shows heroism. It is as if the thirteen year old girls died for

Even after the surrender of Germany, Japan continued to put up a fight. According to Decision B, “ The Japanese viewed surrender as dishonorable. They fought with fantastic resistance and believed it was more honorable to commit suicide than to surrender to enemy forces.” Because of this, Japanese pilots crashed planes into American naval vessels to destroy ships. This proves that the Japanese had no intention of surrendering any time soon.

“As the war progressed and it became obvious that American technology was superior to Japan’s, the Japanese began utilizing kamikaze pilots to attack Allied ships in the Pacific to balance the power” (Document 3). The Japanese were sending their troops on these planes knowing they would not make it out alive, and the men knew it too. They were practically sent on suicide missions. They already did not value each individual life and while what we did to them may have seemed extreme, it protected our men.

Paul Fussell article states that in PFC E. B. Sledge memoir With the Old Breed at Pelieu and Okinawa. As the U.S military fights closely to the mainland of Japan, the fighting in the surrounding islands in Iwo Jima and Okinawa was getting more vicious than in previous fights and that having a new land invasion would be a “ghastly bloodletting” and would shock the American public and the world ( Fussell, pg. 16). The Japanese were ruthless fighters and would never give up and would die for their country. It was said that every Japanese soldier, woman and children would fight from coast to coast (Fussell pg. 17). The Japanese code bushido meaning “the way of the warrior” meant that surrendering was absolutely dishonorable to the Emperor and the country and most soldiers would prefer to take their own lives rather than surrender to the enemy (Correll Enola Gay). The Japanese were prepared to take as much casualties as possible with an estimation of commitment of 2.3 million troops (Correll Enola Gay). Yes the atomic bomb would kill thousands of civilians but these civilians may have been trained to commit suicide runs against the allies if an invasion was put through (Fussell pg. 17). With the

On May 4-6th General Ushijima ordered his troops to commence a land and sea kamikaze air counter offensive. The impossible purpose behind this was to recapture all ground lost to the Allies. All efforts ended in extreme disappointment to the General. The kamikazes were annihilated and their land troops devastated by mortar, artillery, and machine gun fire. Col. Hiromichi

Given all these reasons, what would you have done? Had the decision been made to invade the Japanese mainland with the loss of hundred of thousands more GI’s and seamen, ask yourself this. Look around. How many of your friends, your mom, your dad, and yes, even