Today is the birthday of Saburo Sakai. For those who don't know him or of him, he was a Japanese Fighter pilot and a great warrior. He had a wealth of harrowing experiences during the war and after the war became became a Buddhist acolyte and vowed he would never again kill any living thing, not even a mosquito. Sakai harbored no animosity toward those who had been "the enemy" during WW2, and urged others not to do so either. When asked about Japan's eventual surrender, he responded: "Had I been ordered to bomb Seattle or Los Angeles in order to end the war, I wouldn't have hesitated. So I perfectly understand why the Americans bombed Nagasaki and Hiroshima."
Times were difficult for Sakai; finding a job was difficult for him because of conditions imposed by the Allies, and because of anti-military provisions placed into the new Japanese Constitution. He eventually started a successful printing shop, which he used to help his former comrades and their families with employment. Sakai's wife died in 1954 and he later remarried. He visited the U.S. and met many of his former adversaries, including the tail-gunner who had wounded him. I had the privilege of meeting him several times in 2000. Sadly that same year, he passed away right after a Navy dinner we hosted, and had invited him to as an honored guest. I am among the last people who saw him alive. As fate would have it- I got to be the American Naval Officer who delivered a message of memoriam at his funeral and subsequent public memorial service.
So in his honor I am reposting this post I wrote in October of 2008:
Finally , got my man-cave put together . So rather than blog, I watched old movies as I cleaned it up. My plaques are up, shadow box mounted-I’m still hunting for a place to put the table I got from my squadron, a long time ago in a galaxy far away-and also some of my precious souvenirs from the Japanese are in place. One of which I really treasure-it is a gift from Saburo Sakai. I had the privilege of meeting him several times in 2000. Sadly that same year, he passed away right after a Navy dinner we hosted, and had invited him to as an honored guest. As fate would have it- I got to be the American Naval Officer who delivered a message of memoriam at his funeral and subsequent public memorial service. It was one of several things I found as I unpacked the last “office” box. I’m glad it survived the move intact.
The gift is two things actually-a framed picture of his helmet. (It can be seen in the link). And a paper with this inscription on it:
It means : Never give up!
Good words-his words.
Read his book sometime. That picture now hangs proudly in my new “study”.
Domo arigatou, Sakai-sama.
Skippy,
I was listening to a radio station from LA and one of the hosts is a former Army Officer. He mentioned this book: "The Last Zero Fighter: Firsthand Accounts From WWII Japanese Naval Pilots." He had the author in for an interview, and he discussed how he spent time in Japan and personnally did the interviews. He did one interview with a surviving pilot from the Battle of Midway that was part of the squadron that shot down all of the plance in the squadron that left only ENS Gay as the lone survivor. Japanese pilots were happy to go against the earlier aircraft we had at the beginning of the war, but when faced with the Hellcat they didn't think that their Zero's were worth it.
He also mentioned that some of the pilots really wanted to go up against the Americans in a fair fight, but that their own equipment and to an extent their leadership hindered them. By the time of the Marianna's Turkey Shoot, USN pilots had at least 300 hours of flght training time, while the Japanese pilots only had about 60.
It was a good interview and seems like it will be a good read, so I ordered it from Amazon. I'm not into technology, so I have to wait for it in the mail, and not download it.
Terrific work! This is the type of info that should be shared across the net.
Shame on Google for not positioning this post higher! Come on over and visit my site .
Thank you =)
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