Becoming a Japanese Soldier and Being Assigned to the Special Attack Force

I applied for the position of the Army Ship Officer Candidate
In April of 1944 (Showa 19)
I went to a school in Toyohama in Shikoku Region
The school was a training school for NCOs (Non-commissioned officers)
But before I knew it, we moved to Shodojima Island
I became part of the Special Attack Force there
I didn’t know the reason at the time
But young officers and trainees came
And the Special Attack Force was organized
Captain Noda was the captain of the company
There were 104 soldiers
A fleet of 100 ships and 104 soldiers

Understanding the Meaning of “Special Attack”

I didn’t have any particular feelings when I became part of the Special Attack Force
Because I was ready to give my life ever since becoming a soldier
Because I volunteered to become a soldier
Knowing I would die in the war

Fellow Soldiers Assigned to the Special Attack Force

There were people that were determined survive the war
“I’m not going to die in the war. I’m going to study until I’m satisfied.”
That is what they said
There were people studying physics and law even after enlisting
Someone that passed in foreign language
Could no longer study English (after enlisting)
He couldn’t forget about studying English
There were people that carried dictionaries to study
English had been abolished then, but after the war,
That person became a translator for the GHQ
An Allied Institution that the American government had established
Which carried out the occupation policy of Japan

The Marure Ship Tactics and Training

There is an island called Teshima near Shodoshima Island
That island was the training base
That’s when I first found out
That Marure was a boat made of plywood
The plan was to carry 250 kilograms of depth charges on it
And go crash into the enemy
The training wasn’t during the day but at night
It was hard to imagine what the training would be like
We were only told to crash into the enemy
We were never taught how
It was set up so that it would detonate when it hit a ship
I used the depth charge once in Geruma,
It was an experiment
The explosion was so large a great number of fish floated on the surface

To Naha Port in November of 1944

I arrived in Naha after the 10.10 Airstrike
There were ships laid out at the port so other ships couldn’t dock
It was pretty bad after the 10.10 Airstrike

The Ship Hit By a Torpedo

A transport fleet was on its way to Okinawa when the torpedo attack happened
There was a ship that was burning
There weren’t any airstrikes, but we were on the watch for planes with anti aircraft equipment
We didn’t know of airstrikes before then
I saw a ship burning from a torpedo attack

Second Lieutenant Someya

When the U.S. Forces landed on Aka Island
Second Lieutenant Someya went straight for the special attack
In a school in Kansai, Second Lieutenant Someya was an officer
He would always say that the war was a loss
He became a captive soon after finding out the U.S. Forces landed
Upon becoming a captive in June
He became part of the pacification unit for U.S. Forces
He was recommending to surrender
Because the war in the main island of Okinawa was over

Impression of Aka Island

It was like I came to a foreign country
The atmosphere was very different
I thought the ocean was beautiful
I remember hearing from the people on the passenger ship that
The ocean’s transparency went out 60 meters and there were only few in the world
The ocean was beautiful, even the fish were beautiful

Day in Aka Island

There was no work, so I would just check if the ship was repaired
And check whether the batteries were charged
I’d carry the battery from the maintenance squad to the ship
There was a ridge between the village and the bunker
We called it the Ariran Ridge
There was one Korean in our unit
He taught us things like Korean folk music
When the officer wasn’t around
We would take breaks at the ridge because we would get tired
That’s when we sang the Korean folk music
After some time, we began calling that ridge the Ariran Ridge

Interactions with the Yonamine Household

I first went to the Yonamine house
At the time, the restroom and pigsty were in the same place
There was no light, but a lamp
It was November but there were mosquitoes
I remember that
It was hot even on New Years
It didn’t feel like New Years at all

Secret Bunker and Marure Boat

There were 2 or 3 boats in the secret bunker
In the big ones there were 3, and 2 in the smaller ones
We pulled them out from where they were stored with a small dock
A Korean military porter came but didn’t know how to pull the ship out
Once it was pulled out, it needed to be put up
But we didn’t know if we’d be able to pull the ship up
There was never training for that

March 24, Preparing the Marure for Sortie

I went to the bunker to prepare for an attack
There were tons of incendiary bombs near it
There were a few incendiary bombs that hadn’t exploded yet
When I got to the bunker, the entrance was closed off
I couldn’t get inside so we didn’t know whether the boat was safe
The attack ended up being cancelled

March 27, The First Attack

The first attack was on the 27th
The U.S. Forces landed so we hid towards the takotsubo
Since planes were flying overhead
Even if we wanted to get onboard (the enemy ships)
The Grumman jets were flying above us
We couldn’t move forward with the attacks from ships and jets
If there were orders to attack
Then we could take the risk and attack
But our unit was separated and we couldn’t hear the orders
I didn’t know where the commander was
When I was trying to figure out what to do,
A senior soldier in the unit suggested that we retreat
So we decided to go back

The Second Attack

We were all separated when we went for the second attack too
We would lose track of the person in front us when walking in the mountain because it was dark
So we had to move in groups of 4 or 5
We didn’t know who we were with
There were no ranks, no organization
So couldn’t fight an organized battle