This episode begins with a brief background of a Japanese culture built on the worship of the nation. Hirohito, ruler of Japan's seventy three million people was revered as a warrior-god, priest and emperor. By the early days of 1945, Japan's air force was decimated and it's navy was sunk. American and Allied battleships were closing in on the island of Okinawa, three hundred miles south of the main island of Japan. With virtually no hope left and defeat imminent, the Japanese were relying on one last ditch effort to challenge their enemy.
With the fanaticism of their Kamikaze pilots, Japan raised suicide to the level of military strategy. These young men believed that by dying for the Emperor they would live forever. The segment presents these pilots preparing for their final mission, some by attending their own funeral, others by putting on their burial clothes and ornamental sashes for the final flight.
Okinawa would be the last major land battle of World War II. When Allied forces landed on April 1st (both Easter and April Fool's Day) they found little resistance. However as they moved inland, stiffer opposition developed leading to eighty three days of ferocious fighting. On the sea, fifteen hundred ships were delivering five hundred fifty thousand sailors, Coast Guard, soldiers and Marines to engage the Japanese forces. Five days later, thirty five hundred suicide planes departed the island of Kyushu for Okinawa. Round the clock fighting highlights this segment of the series. One can only gasp at the level of destruction wrought by the Kamikaze pilots as they crashed headlong into our fighting ships, while others were taken out of the sky by Allied naval guns. I can't imagine what it must have been like to have been there and lived through that horror. Though the Kamikazes destroyed themselves, the damage they inflicted included thirty ships sunk and two hundred twenty three damaged.
The date of his death wasn't mentioned in the segment, but President Roosevelt passed away on April 12th, 1945. His funeral procession, attended by hundreds of sorrowful mourners concludes this episode. It would be a few more months before the War would come to an end.
With the fanaticism of their Kamikaze pilots, Japan raised suicide to the level of military strategy. These young men believed that by dying for the Emperor they would live forever. The segment presents these pilots preparing for their final mission, some by attending their own funeral, others by putting on their burial clothes and ornamental sashes for the final flight.
Okinawa would be the last major land battle of World War II. When Allied forces landed on April 1st (both Easter and April Fool's Day) they found little resistance. However as they moved inland, stiffer opposition developed leading to eighty three days of ferocious fighting. On the sea, fifteen hundred ships were delivering five hundred fifty thousand sailors, Coast Guard, soldiers and Marines to engage the Japanese forces. Five days later, thirty five hundred suicide planes departed the island of Kyushu for Okinawa. Round the clock fighting highlights this segment of the series. One can only gasp at the level of destruction wrought by the Kamikaze pilots as they crashed headlong into our fighting ships, while others were taken out of the sky by Allied naval guns. I can't imagine what it must have been like to have been there and lived through that horror. Though the Kamikazes destroyed themselves, the damage they inflicted included thirty ships sunk and two hundred twenty three damaged.
The date of his death wasn't mentioned in the segment, but President Roosevelt passed away on April 12th, 1945. His funeral procession, attended by hundreds of sorrowful mourners concludes this episode. It would be a few more months before the War would come to an end.
