Posted on 04/25/2014 2:30:57 PM PDT by Jack Hydrazine
That’s the official version. My former landlord, who had run out of conscription deferrals, was training to be a kamikaze pilot when the war ended. He said the pilots put on a happy face for the officials and mostly for the sake of their families, but knew that there was no alternative. The planes carried only enough fuel for a one way flight and would explode if the tried to land. In short, there was less brainwashing than fear of the consequences if they didn’t do as expected.
Well, my usual line at this question is "Maybe I've never met a real woman before." You'd be astonished at what happens next. ;-)
What happens next???
Related to Pat from SNL? LOL!
I guess the trick was to be designated the one Kamikaze out of (?) five who circled above the main attack group & reported back as to their `success’ against the American ships.
FWIW my Dad was stationed in Japan 1956-58 when I was 7-9 years old. We played baseball with Japanese kids & knew nothing of WWII except it was America vs the Nazis because so many Dads had these neat German souvenirs. Knowledge of Pearl Harbor & what followed came only later.
Even when we began to learn about Kamikaze it was still the idealized version put out by Tojo & his warlords which depicted all those young men joyfully dying for the Emperor with their heads full of poetry about soaring cranes & cherry blossoms.
The soaring suicide rate in Japan then as now made it easier to believe the official version. Now we are at war with yet a different culture that also says that life is cheap & that violent suicide against its foes is a noble thing.
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