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The Curious Case of Mitsuo Fuchida The Curious Case of Mitsuo Fuchida By Gary Frueholz, Dilbeck Realtors Truth can be stranger than fiction. The story of Mitsuo Fuchida falls into this category. Fuchida was one of the operational architects of the attack on Pearl Harbor for the Japanese Navy. He would be one step ahead of death throughout World War II. Fuchida flew in the lead plane during the Pearl Harbor attack. He was at the Battle of Midway, in Hiroshima the day before and the day after the atomic bomb was dropped, and became a convert to Christianity after the war while becoming an evangelist. As we as a nation remember the bombing of Pearl Harbor and it profound impact on our world, an interesting and little known sidebar is the story of Mitsuo Fuchida, Japanese aviator and Christian evangelist. Mitsuo Fuchida was born in 1902 in the Nara Prefecture of Japan. His father was a principal of a grammar school and Fuchida himself was a very solid student who gained admission to Japan’s Naval Academy, Eta Jima, in 1921. Early in his training at Eta Jima, Fuchida volunteered for flight training. He would excel at this and his skill as a pilot would position himself to be a part of history. And in 1941, Mitsuo Fuchida was given the principle responsibility for training flight crews and coordinating the aerial attack on Pearl Harbor. Top levels of the Japanese naval hierarchy were strongly influenced by seniority, however, key operational aspects of the Pearl Harbor attack were turned over to two relatively young professional military officers, Minoru Genda, 37-years-old, and Mitsuo Fuchida. Fuchida was designated the commander of the aerial attack on Pearl Harbor and his plane would personally lead the first wave of 187 planes. Fuchida had the authority to cancel the attack had he determined that US forces were prepared and odds of Japanese success low from his initial observation of the situation. The phrase “Tora, Tora, Tora” translates to “Tiger, Tiger, Tiger”. The significance of this message meant that the American forces had been caught by surprise at Pearl Harbor and the attack would go through as planned. Fuchida’s lead plane was a Nakajima B5N2 Type 97 torpedo bomber, called a Kate by the U.S. military. Fuchida occupied the middle seat of the plane behind the pilot and in back of him sat the radio operator, Petty Officer Tokunobu Mizuki. As his plane came through Oahu’s Koli Koli pass on the morning of December 7th and into Pearl Harbor, Fuchida was positioned in the lead plane to make this momentous decision that would shape world history. Scanning the scene in front of him, Fuchida instructed Mizuki to radio the message ,”Tora, Tora, Tora” to the attack planes. The attack then unfolded as planned and was a tactical victory for Japan while becoming one of the most documented events of history. Fuchida was on an aircraft carrier sunk in the Battle of Midway, six months after Pearl Harbor, survived six airplane crashes at sea, and was exposed to radiation in Hiroshima the day after the atomic bomb was dropped. Somehow through all of this he was not killed and would be a member of the Japanese contingency on the deck of the USS Missouri at the surrender ceremonies in 1945. After the war Fuchida became a farmer. Also during this post war period he would be extensively interviewed by General Douglas MacArthur’s chief historian, Gordon Prange, author of At Dawn We Slept. In October 1948 Fuchida passed through the Shibuya train station in Tokyo, on his way to Prange’s residence for another interview. Next to a bronze statue dedicated to a loyal dog that would see his master off each day and meet him at night, was an American handing out pamphlets. The American was from an organization called the PTL. Long before the acronym PTL was associated with questionable televangelists and campy TV shows, the PTL had a much more distinguished profile as the Pocket Testament League. The PTL was composed of World War II veterans who shared their Christian faith with post war Japanese. The pamphlet told the story of Jacob DeShazer, a member of the Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in 1942, and how he had become a Christian while in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Fuchida greatly respected the members of the audacious Doolittle Raid. He was astonished that military men who had been his enemies would volunteer time after the war to share their religious faith to a conquered nation. He took one of the pamphlets and started reading it. In the years following the war Fuchida had struggled with the future of humanity, “as long as mankind remained in opposition to one another within the frame of nationality”. As he met with members of the PTL and learned about this new religion, he was profoundly impressed by its message of peace and forgiveness. He would ultimately meet DeShazer and develop a lifelong friendship with him. And as Fuchida became convinced that the way to no more Pearl Harbors was sincerely embracing this new religion, he accepted Christianity in his life. Never one to do anything half heartedly, within a few years Fuchida became an evangelist and would deliver his testimony on both sides of the Pacific. He continually worked with the Pocket Testament League and at times shared the pulpit with individuals such as Billy Graham. To top all of this off, in 1966 Fuchida became an American citizen (Harper Encyclopedia of Military Biography, page 267) and so did his two children. And like Benjamin Button, Fuchida would be born again later in life. For Fuchida, this rebirth resulted from his Christian faith. MItsuo Fuchida earthly journey came to an end in 1976 as he passed away from diabetes in Japan. Gary Frueholz is a realtor with Dilbeck Real Estate, a past member of the Alhambra Planning Commission, a certified Senior Real Estate Specialist, and can be reached at 626-318-9436. .
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