LAST WRITINGS OF JAPAN'S SPECIAL ATTACK CORPS MEMBERS by Bill Gordon Submitted to Wesleyan University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy in Liberal Arts January 2020 Bill Johnston Wesleyan University Professor of History Copyright © 2020 Bill Gordon ii Contents Page Tables ............................................................................................................................................ iv Preface............................................................................................................................................ v Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter 1. Historical Background .................................................................................................. 4 Special Attack Corps Operations ....................................................................................... 4 State Influence and Control ............................................................................................... 9 Writings When Facing Death........................................................................................... 21 Collecting Last Writings .................................................................................................. 25 Chapter 2. Literature Review ....................................................................................................... 31 Japanese Publications....................................................................................................... 31 English Translations......................................................................................................... 38 General Analysis of Writings........................................................................................... 42 Research on Common Attributes ..................................................................................... 50 Chapter 3. Research Methodology ............................................................................................... 59 Criteria for Selection ........................................................................................................ 60 Selection Translations ...................................................................................................... 63 Limitations in Writings .................................................................................................... 68 Population and Attributes ................................................................................................ 75 Chapter 4. Common Themes ....................................................................................................... 85 Frequency of Topics ........................................................................................................ 85 Enthusiastic Commitment ................................................................................................ 93 Thanks and Appreciation ................................................................................................. 99 Comparison to Other Studies ......................................................................................... 102 Chapter 5. Mixed Feelings ......................................................................................................... 110 Traces of Dissatisfaction ................................................................................................ 111 Considering Death ......................................................................................................... 117 Married or Engaged ....................................................................................................... 123 Family Concerns ............................................................................................................ 128 True Beliefs .................................................................................................................... 132 Conclusion. United Determination ............................................................................................ 138 Appendix .................................................................................................................................... 140 Notes .......................................................................................................................................... 145 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 169 iii Tables Table Page 1 Percentages of last writings with certain themes of Army Air Special Attack Corps members based on rank and training background ............................................................. 51 2 Percentages of last writings with certain themes of Navy and Army Air Special Attack Corps members who were college students ........................................................... 52 3 Percentages of coded items with specified thematic content: kamikaze pilots (n: 661) and rank-and-file military men (n: 402) ............................................................................ 54 4 Sources of writings ............................................................................................................ 70 5 Last writings by military branch and special attack unit ................................................... 76 6 Ages of Special Attack Corps members ............................................................................ 77 7 Sortie air bases of Navy Kamikaze Special Attack Corps members ................................. 77 8 Sortie air bases of Army Air Special Attack Corps members ........................................... 78 9 Last writings by rank and training background of Navy and Army Air Special Attack Corps members .................................................................................................................. 79 10 Higher education institutions (not including military academies) of Special Attack Corps members with writings in present study ................................................................. 79 11 Length of Special Attack Corps member writings translated to English .......................... 80 12 Month of death of Navy and Army Air Special Attack Corps members with writings in present study .................................................................................................................. 81 13 Home prefecture of Special Attack Corps members with writings in present study ........ 81 14 Primary addressee in writings of Special Attack Corps members in present study .......... 82 15 Themes directly related to death and mission in Special Attack Corps member writings .............................................................................................................................. 83 16 Other themes in Special Attack Corps member writings .................................................. 84 17 Frequency of mention of selected themes in Special Attack Corps member writings ...... 86 18 Frequency of themes in Special Attack Corps member writings by rank and training background ........................................................................................................................ 89 19 Frequency of themes in Special Attack Corps member writings by military branch ........ 90 20 Frequency of themes in Special Attack Corps member writings by age at death ............. 91 21 Frequency of themes in Special Attack Corps member writings by month of death ........ 92 iv Preface My initial exposure to last letters written by Japanese kamikaze pilots came in April 2000 at a special exhibition held at Yasukuni Shrine's Yūshūkan Museum in Tōkyō. I first toured the regular museum exhibits, which told a narrative that exalted Japanese militarism and justified Japan's actions in World War II. This chronicle differed greatly from history that I had learned when growing up in former President Harry S. Truman's hometown of Independence, Missouri, which stressed why his decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki prevented even more deaths from the Japanese military's strategy of suicide attacks near the end of the Pacific War. When I entered the room where kamikaze pilot letters were displayed, the number of Japanese people who were weeping while reading them astonished me, but my emotions were conflicted. I bought a book of these letters and decided to translate and publish online the book's first selection, a touching letter from Ensign Masahisa Uemura to his baby daughter that reflected human emotions that I had not associated previously with kamikaze pilots. In 2003 and 2004 as a final project for my MA in Liberal Studies degree at Wesleyan University, I researched the history and different portrayals of kamikaze pilots and others who died in suicide attacks during World War II. This study included meeting many former Kamikaze Special Attack Corps members and Japanese Navy veterans, who helped me better understand Japan's view of the war and what happened during the Kamikaze Corps operations. I created a website entitled Kamikaze Images to share my research results and have continued since 2004 to add pages to this site. Not many last letters and diaries left by Japanese Special Attack Corps members have been translated to English, and the few published studies to date on this topic in English cover only a small sample of writings or