For That One Day: The Memoirs of Mitsuo Fuchida, Commander of the Attack on Pearl Harbor Read online

  Copyright © 2011 Douglas T. Shinsato and Tadanori Urabe

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 0984674500

  ISBN-13: 9780984674503

  eBook ISBN: 978-0-9846745-1-0

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2011940507

  eXperience, inc.

  Kamuela, HI

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  List of Photographs

  Foreword by Daniel Martinez, Chief Historian, World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument

  Translators’ Note

  Preface by Seiichi Nakata

  Part One: For That One Day

  1. Born Under a Good Star

  2. I Want to be a Full Admiral

  3. Bashful Boy

  4. Your Enemy is the United States

  5. Aspirations for the Sky

  6. Spirit of Perversity

  7. Forced Down in the Taiwan Strait

  8. Versatility Theory of Aviation

  9. Commander of the Akagi’s Air Squadron

  Part Two: Tora, Tora, Tora

  10. Assigned Once Again as the Chief Aviation Commander of the Akagi

  11. General Chief Aviation Commander

  12. A Bolt Out of the Blue

  13. Water Depth 12 Meters

  14. Daikairei Dai-Ichi-Go Order No. 1, Naval Department, Imperial Headquarters

  15. Hitokappu Bay

  16. Mission to the Rough Seas

  17. Z Flag on the Pacific Ocean

  18. Glad I Was Born a Man

  19. Oahu Island in Sight

  20. Our Surprise Attack Succeeds

  21. Lions Retreat After Attack is Accomplished

  22. Audience with the Emperor

  23. The State of Mind of the Air Squadron Crews

  Part Three: Sudden Darkening

  24. Naval Battle off Malaya

  25. Campaign in the South

  26. Air-Raid Over Trincomalee

  27. Hashirajima Fleet

  28. Doolittle Air-Raid on Tokyo

  29. Midway Operations Planning

  Part Four: Sunset of the Empire

  30. Appendectomy

  31. Defeat at the Battle of Midway

  32. Operation I-Go

  33. Operation Sho-Ichi-Go

  34. Guts in Battle

  35. The Day After in Hiroshima

  36. Coup d’Etat

  Part Five: Under the Name of Occupation

  37. Paving the Way for a Grand Peace for All Generations to Come

  38. Dispatch of Surrender Mission to Manila

  39. Mutiny at Atsugi Base

  40. It Was a Long Road to Tokyo

  41. The Surrender Ceremony

  42. Admiral Nimitz and War Crimes Issues Regarding the Emperor

  43. Amateur Farmer

  44. Same-Year Baby Born in the Year of the Tiger

  45. War Crimes Tribunal

  46. Defense of Admiral Soemu Toyoda

  Part Six: Conversion

  47. Margaret Covell

  48. I Was a Japanese Prisoner of War

  49. Oh, the Bible!

  50. Baptism

  51. Pearl Harbor is Alive

  52. Wings for Christ

  53. Billy Graham’s Crusade

  54. A Child Whose Father Died on the USS Arizona

  55. Advice from President Truman

  56. President Eisenhower

  57. Annapolis Naval Academy

  58. New York

  59. Yesterday’s Enemy is Today’s Friend

  60. Dying for a Great Undertaking

  61. Incident on the Island of Niihau

  62. Myocardial Infarction

  Postscript by Seiichi Nakata

  Appendix: Notes on Discrepancies

  Editor’s and Translators’ Backgrounds

  List of Photographs

  1. Taking Charge of Special Training for Pearl Harbor Air-Raid, Kagoshima Air Base—October, 1941

  2. Kasumigaura, Naval Flight Student, Lieutenant—1928

  3. Mitsuo (Right), 3-Years Old, with Brother, Takeo—September, 1905

  4. Naval Academy Days, Proud with Dagger—August, 1921

  5. With Family (Wife, Daughter, Fuchida, Son) at Residence Tamagawa-Okuzawa, Tokyo—1938

  6. After Solo Flight on Type 13 Seaplane Trainer—January, 1928

  7. First Carrier Division Chief of Staff before Sortie to Marianas—November, 1944

  8. With Flight School Students at Kasumigaura Naval Air Station—December, 1927

  9. Day before Attack on Pearl Harbor at Akagi’s Control Center—December, 1941

  10. In America, In Front of the Sky Pilots Bye-Bye Plane

  11. After the War, Returned to Nara Prefecture to Become a Farmer—March, 1946

  12. At Receiving Line for Traditional Christian Service

  13. Relaxed Talk with Destined Lifetime Friend, DeShazer—April, 1950

  14. Family Picture, Daughter (Miyako), Wife (Haruko), Fuchida, Son (Yoshiya)—November, 1953

  15. Burial Site on Oahu of 4 Downed Crew Members—July, 1953

  16. Naval War College Student Days—Around 1937

  17. Carrier Division 1 Officers, at the Command Center—Rear Admiral Kakuji Kakuta (front row, center), Chief of Staff Captain Yoshio Miwa (front row, left) Senior Staff Commander Fuchida (front row, right)

  18. Aviation Staff Officer of Entire Naval General Headquarters—Early Summer, 1945

  19. Standing While Giving Testimony at Tokyo Court (© Kyodo News)

  20. In Idaho Doing Missionary Work—July, 1959

  21. With James Doolittle of First Air-Raid on Japan—March 9, 1953

  22. Easter Sunday with Reverend Toshio Saito—March 25, 1951

  23. Fuchida’s Inscription in Bible from Chapter of Luke

  24. Captain Mitsuo Fuchida—Date Unknown

  Taking Charge of Special Training for Pearl Harbor Raid,

  Kagoshima Air Base—October, 1941

  Kasumigaura, Naval Flight Student, Lieutenant—1928

  Mitsuo (Right) 3-Years Old, with Brother, Takeo—September, 1905

  Naval Academy Days, Proud with Dagger—August, 1921

  With Family (Wife, Daughter, Fuchida, Son)

  at Residence Tamagawa-Okuzawa, Tokyo—1938

  After Solo Flight on Type 13 Seaplane Trainer—January, 1928

  First Carrier Division Chief of Staff before Sortie to Marianas—November, 1944

  With Flight School Students at Kasumigaura Naval Air Station—December, 1927

  Day before Attack on Pearl Harbor at Akagi’s Control Center —December, 1941

  In America, In Front of the Sky Pilots Bye-Bye Plane

  After the War, Returned to Nara Prefecture to Become a Farmer —March, 1946

  At Receiving Line for Traditional Christian Service

  Relaxed Talk with Destined Lifetime Friend, DeShazer—April, 1950

  Family Picture, Daughter (Miyako), Wife (Haruko), Fuchida,

  Son (Yoshiya)—November, 1953

  Burial Site on Oahu of 4 Downed Crew Members—July, 1953

  Foreword

  by Daniel Martinez

  Chief Historian, World War II Valor in the

  Pacific National Monument

  In the aftermath of the Pacific War, investigations looked into the military conduct of war. The Tokyo War Crimes Trials were conducted by the Allied victors of the conflict. For the United States a moment of particular interest was Pearl Harbor.
The fact that the attack was carried out by surprise and resulted in the destruction of the main battle line of the Pacific Fleet was a matter of keen interest. How was it done? Who was involved? And was a crime committed by the actions of the Japanese Navy on December 7th? All these were questions which haunted Americans and Japanese in 1945 and in many ways still do. Interrogators would soon interview the key players who survived the war.

  One of those men was Mitsuo Fuchida. How this loyal son of Japan survived the war is a mystery and a miracle unto itself. So many times he cheated death. His life could have easily ended at Pearl Harbor, Midway or Hiroshima. His survival left him with a sense of purpose. He felt that he had been spared to accomplish other achievements in his life. Survivor’s guilt was common among war veterans. I believe it had a place in his life after the guns fell silent.

  After the war was over in 1945, Mitsuo was a broken man. His country was in shambles. Almost all the major cities had been ravaged by the war. Two of them, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, had been struck by atomic bombs. Many of his friends and classmates at the Etajima Naval Academy had been killed or maimed. This proud naval aviator who once led thousands of men was now destitute and lost. By chance, he picked up a pamphlet in 1949 at a Tokyo rail station, and this led to a meeting with an American prisoner of war who was a member of the famed “Doolittle Raiders”—Jacob DeShazer. A relationship between these two veterans took Mitsuo on a journey of finding a new faith, Christianity. Fuchida the bomber pilot had transitioned himself into a “Sky Pilot” for Christ.

  In my view, Mitsuo Fuchida was a remarkable man. This autobiography gives the reader a deeper insight into the inner man and how he viewed his existence in the aftermath of World War II. As I read the draft of this book I was struck by his thoughts and feelings about his life and actions. As the leader of the attack on American forces on the island of Oahu he would become the focus of news stories, folklore and myth. Scholars first learned of Fuchida in 1955 when he co-authored the book Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, the Japanese Navy’s Story. Published by the Naval Institute Press, it has been in print for the last 56 years.

  Most Americans didn’t know who he was until the film Tora! Tora! Tora! was released in 1970. This remarkable film portrayed the attack on Pearl Harbor through the perspectives of Japanese and American filmmakers. The role of Commander Mitsuo Fuchida was played by the famed Japanese actor Takahiro Tamura. It moved the character of Mitsuo Fuchida into popular history. The strong visual image of Fuchida as flight leader with a manicured mustache and a leather flying helmet wrapped in a traditional “hachimaki” (white cloth headband) became an indelible icon in the cinematic world of film history. The film’s popularity continues to this day.

  This year, which marks the 70th anniversary of the attack, the DVD will be released in Blue Ray format. It will be a Director’s Cut with 17 minutes of added Japanese film footage. It seems assured that this popular film will keep Fuchida’s character alive. With that in mind, it is my hope that popular culture will transmit important information to those who will seek to learn more about this fascinating character of history. This autobiography would be a wonderful start.

  Mitsuo Fuchida’s name is also assured in the scholarship of history. His role in the Pacific War will be studied, debated and remembered for the decades to come. Commander Minoru Genda remembered him in this way:

  “Fuchida had a very strong fighting spirit…his best quality. He was also a gifted leader with the ability to understand any given situation and to react to it quickly. He was not only our best flight leader but a good staff man as well…cooperative, with a clear head. The success of the Pearl Harbor attack depended upon the character and ability of its flight leader, and that is why Fuchida was selected for the job.”

  We who love history were blessed when his son, Joe Yoshiya Fuchida, preserved his father’s manuscript, notes and precious photographs. The meticulous translation by Douglas T. Shinsato and Tadanori Urabe deserves praise and admiration. The memory of a man’s journey is compelling if the story is frank and honest. It provides us insights and revelations. The life of Mitsuo Fuchida is captured in a fashion that lives up to that standard.

  Daniel A. Martinez

  Author & Pacific War Historian

  Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

  September 28, 2011

  Translators’ Note

  This book is a translation of the autobiography of Mitsuo Fuchida. We decided to commit our time and energy to this book because it was written by one of the key players of the Pacific War; and, until now, his memoirs have not been available in English.

  The reader is reminded that this is a translation of reminiscences that were written in Japanese over a period of years. No attempt has been made to confirm the historical accuracy of the statements made by Fuchida. Fuchida died in 1976, and historical research since then has reached different conclusions in certain areas. For those points where there is dispute, we have added an appendix summarizing the main issues.

  One of the issues that is cited by several authors and newspapers is Fuchida’s purported US citizenship. According to his son, Joe Yoshiya Fuchida, his father had a green card but never obtained US citizenship. In the summer of 1966 he obtained an immigrant visa at the US Consulate General in Kobe. It seems that some writers mistakenly thought that obtaining an immigrant visa is equivalent to citizenship.

  Names for Japanese individuals follow the Western practice of given name first and family name last. Most dates follow the Western calendar. Ships’ names are printed in italics.

  This translation was the result of the joint effort of a Japanese national and a US citizen. We both acknowledge that we would not have been able to complete this task if we had not met in 1974 at a university alumni party in Tokyo, and developed and sustained this friendship across several continents over the next thirty-seven years. This friendship allowed us to conduct and close many passionate discussions about the “correct” way to express in English what Mitsuo Fuchida conveyed in his mother tongue.

  We would both like to express our gratitude to Joe Yoshiya Fuchida and Seiichi Nakata for entrusting us with the task of translating Captain Fuchida’s manuscript.

  We hope that this addition to the historical record will fill a gap for the English-reading public.

  Douglas T. Shinsato and Tadanori Urabe

  August 2011

  Joe Yoshiya Fuchida, his wife, Marie, my wife, Jennifer, and I attended last year’s opening ceremony of the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center on December 7th as the guests of Daniel Martinez. We sat in the middle of the survivors’ group. The following day, we went back to Pearl Harbor to thank Daniel. He was with several people when we saw him, and he waved for us to join him.

  “Don,” he said, “this is Joe Fuchida, the son of Captain Mitsuo Fuchida. Joe is a US citizen.”

  Donald Stratton was a 19-year old Seaman First Class on board the USS Arizona on December 7, 1941. He lost 1,177 of his crew members in the attack that day; he was one of 335 survivors. I looked at Joe, who was clearly nervous about how Stratton would react. After what seemed liked minutes—but was actually only a few seconds—Stratton extended his hand, and Joe took it. After Stratton shook our hands, he and his family left.

  Daniel told us that Stratton, until that day last year, probably had never talked to or touched anyone who looked Japanese.

  No one was there to visually record that moment, but the images will always remain.

  Douglas T. Shinsato

  September 2011

  Preface

  by Seiichi Nakata

  This book is about a man who followed a unique destiny and life—incredible but not unbelievable because he tells his factual story in the pages that follow. That man—who became famous outside Japan virtually overnight at the end of the war because of the coded telegraph message, “Tora Tora Tora”—is Captain Mitsuo Fuchida. He is the author of this book, and he led the attack on Pearl Harbor.

  In the pre-dawn hours of December
7, 1941, Fuchida, leading 360 planes of the Imperial Japanese Navy Task Force, spearheaded the surprise attack operation on Hawaii. It was again this man—Fuchida—who witnessed the surrender ceremony theatrically orchestrated by General MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, on board the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.

  There is more. Here are some other significant historic events described in Fuchida’s autobiography:

  • He was badly injured at the Battle of Midway and was on the aircraft carrier Akagi before it sank, but he managed to survive.

  • He drafted the battle plan of operations for the Battle of Leyte, code-named Sho-Ichi-Go, and he tells the true story behind the battle.

  • He was in Hiroshima on the day before and the day after the atomic bomb was dropped; he describes the devastation of the explosion.

  • He describes the day he met General MacArthur at the Atsugi Air Base as a member of the Japanese delegation.

  • He talks about his testimony at the Tokyo War Crimes Trial and his arguments and counter-arguments with the prosecutors and judges.

  • He explains his encounters beyond love and hate with President Dwight Eisenhower, Admiral Chester Nimitz and Admiral Raymond Spruance (the US fleet commander at Midway).

  In March 1951, Fuchida abruptly converted to Christianity, becoming an evangelist of peace. The following year, he crossed the same Pacific Ocean where, 10 years earlier, he headed for Pearl Harbor to destroy his former enemy. This time, he was on a Christian mission of peace.

  The man who went through the smoke and death of war lived his post-war days as an ardent Christian, exhorting people to have “No more Pearl Harbors” and emphasizing the necessity to cut the chain of hatred. He continued to preach this message of peace until his last day. What was the reason behind this? What happened in the life—more dramatic than a TV drama—of Mitsuo Fuchida?