Last of Japan’s Pearl Harbor attack force, dies at 106

[oldbrownhat]

I read about this on the WaPo (who now require you to provide an email to read "free" articles ) but fortunately they provided a link to a full interview with him made last year. He died Aug.28.

As a bombardier, he launched a torpedo that hit the battleship Utah where 58 men lost their lives. "I think of the people who died because of me," he said.

Here's the 2023 interview from the WaPo article:

Masamitsu Yoshioka, 105, on What Happened In the Skies Over Honolulu

 

[Rudi]

Amazing times. Such brave men on all sides. All the vets I've spoken with still had very strong feelings about their war.

 

[Warren Sear]

Japan in WWII was a special kind of evil, no matter how they might try to re-write history. I'll leave it at that.

 

[BLACKHAWKNJ]

He did his duty, he came from a culture, a society where from the moment you were born you were taught to obey, to conform, if you did not, you were punished severely.

 

[Warren Sear]

He did his duty, he came from a culture, a society where from the moment you were born you were taught to obey, to conform, if you did not, you were punished severely.

That is irrelevant. It certainly does not mean he was brave or honorable.

Notice the passive language he uses, where he said he was sorry for the people who died. Never mentioned the Americans he helped kill, or asked for any forgiveness for his deeds or that of his country's in that cowardly sneak attack, or their barbaric and savage behavior during that war.

In the 1930s that nation started the deliberate bombings of civilians. Yet when the Japanese got on the excrement end of the stick later in the war, they were the first to condemn the American bombings as war crimes and piracy, all while America did what it could, at its own peril, to avoid civilian deaths. Later on, the US made the wise decision to just get the damned war finished ASAP and bombed until there were very few targets left to bomb.

The honor belongs to US servicemen, not the sack of excrement in the first post.

 

[Onomea]

From the article linked above:

"We were trained to attack ships," he says. "The order came down to hit battleships, and we did. Nobody ever told us to go out and kill. That was never our mission.

"But now I think of the men who were on board those ships we torpedoed. I think of the people who died because of me. They were young men, just like we were. I am so sorry about it; I hope there will not be any more wars."

Next, I ask Yoshioka if he ever returned to Hawaii after December of 1941.

"Never," he says.

"America at all?" I follow up.

"No."

His time in the air over Oahu was the first and last he ever saw of United States territory.

I then ask if he has ever thought about visiting Pearl Harbor. He wonders how he would be received. But I say that he would be welcomed most warmly.

"I don't know… I wouldn't know what to say."

He pauses.

"Yes," Yoshioka continues after reflecting a bit. "If I could go, I would like to. I would like to visit the graves of the men who died. [And] I would like to pay them my deepest respect."

 

[LVSteve]

A few things can be learned from this thread.

1) Different cultures can have wildly different ideas on what is acceptable conduct.

2) The victor of any war gets to write the history.

3) One man's 'sneak attack' is another's 'carefully planned first strike'. Given the well known timeline of the Pearl Harbor strike and events in Washington DC, I know which way I lean.

 

[Warren Sear]

A few things can be learned from this thread.

1) Different cultures can have wildly different ideas on what is acceptable conduct.

2) The victor of any war gets to write the history.

3) One man's 'sneak attack' is another's 'carefully planned first strike'. Given the well known timeline of the Pearl Harbor strike and events in Washington DC, I know which way I lean.

1) It has NOTHING AT ALL to do with culture. The murdering, raping, torturing savages did not want to be treated that way, or have their loved ones treated that way.

2) Anyone can write history books, accurate or not.

3) A sneak attack is a sneak attack, no matter whose side does it.

I don't tolerate moral relativism from anyone.