'kamikaze'

[Unkotare]

Tokkotai (the real name, not 'kamikaze') pilots were not, despite popular impression, akin to the suicide bombers of radical Islam today. Of the 4000 or so young men conscripted into service and 'volunteered' for this duty, about 1000 were drawn from the best schools in the country and were highly educated. These young men left behind extensive writings that indicate a complex and tortured struggle between their intellectual foundation, will to live, patriotism, rejection of the war itself, and accpetance of the finiteness of life that do not fit the broad characterizations of popular conceptions about this aspect of WWII.

 

[Againsheila]

They believed their Emperor to be God. He ordered them to die for him, they died for him.

 

[Amelia]

Interesting topic.

 

[ThirdTerm]

They believed their Emperor to be God. He ordered them to die for him, they died for him.

Those Kamikaze pilots were young college students who had to be drafted to make up for the manpower shortage in the final phase of the Second World War and they were not well-trained pilots and their only way to contribute to Japan's war efforts was a suicide mission and the pilots did not even know how to land a plane as they were only trained for takeoffs and basic flight maneuvers just like the 9/11 hijackers.

 

[Mr. H.]

Sounds like the suicide bombers of radical Islam to me.

 

[Douger]

Tokkotai (the real name, not 'kamikaze') pilots were not, despite popular impression, akin to the suicide bombers of radical Islam today. Of the 4000 or so young men conscripted into service and 'volunteered' for this duty, about 1000 were drawn from the best schools in the country and were highly educated. These young men left behind extensive writings that indicate a complex and tortured struggle between their intellectual foundation, will to live, patriotism, rejection of the war itself, and accpetance of the finiteness of life that do not fit the broad characterizations of popular conceptions about this aspect of WWII.

They were meatheads. They would have made great military officers in The Great Satan.

 

[Unkotare]

They believed their Emperor to be God. He ordered them to die for him, they died for him.

Not at all that simple. That's what I'm trying to tell you.

 

[Sunni Man]

The only difference between the two is method and motive.

The end result for both is exactly the same.

 

[Unkotare]

Sounds like the suicide bombers of radical Islam to me.

Would the suicide bombers of radical Islam write something like:

"I do not want to die...I want to live...I feel so lonely..."


or


"I pray we will see the day as soon as possible when we welcome a world in which we do not have to kill enemies whom we cannot hate."

or


"I resolutely declare my antiwar stance."


All taken directly from the diaries young tokkotai pilots.

 

[Sunni Man]

It's clear that you admire one group and despise the other.

 

[Unkotare]

The only difference between the two is method and motive.

The end result for both is exactly the same.

Many pilots died trying to avoid their 'mission.' Some tried to land on water near the shore so they could survive, but generally crashed and died that way anyway. Some turned around after take off and buzzed the quarters of the officers who had brutally 'trained' them, before flying off to their fate.

 

[Unkotare]

It's clear that you admire one and hate the other.

I don't admire either one. I reserve my hate for the one that hates us (to the extent that I hate at all).

 

[Sunni Man]

Many pilots died trying to avoid their 'mission.' Some tried to land on water near the shore so they could survive, but generally crashed and died that way anyway. Some turned around after take off and buzzed the quarters of the officers who had brutally 'trained' them, before flying off to their fate.

There are always cowards in every military unit.

 

[Unkotare]

Tokkotai (the real name, not 'kamikaze') pilots were not, despite popular impression, akin to the suicide bombers of radical Islam today. Of the 4000 or so young men conscripted into service and 'volunteered' for this duty, about 1000 were drawn from the best schools in the country and were highly educated. These young men left behind extensive writings that indicate a complex and tortured struggle between their intellectual foundation, will to live, patriotism, rejection of the war itself, and accpetance of the finiteness of life that do not fit the broad characterizations of popular conceptions about this aspect of WWII.

They were meatheads. They would have made great military officers in The Great Satan.

Many of these young conscripts expressed their feelings in their diaries by referencing philosophers and writers - in Latin, French, German, and English. They were among some of the most highly educated young men in the country.

 

[regent]

Just after Pearl Harbor America needed heroes, for example the Padre that praised the lord and passed the ammunition. Another American hero was reported to be an American pilot that dove his bomber into a Japanese ship. The place, as I remember, was off the Philppines. The pilot was America's first hero of the war, and then the story was discovered to be a myth.
Anyone remember the name of the American pilot or the news story?

 

[percysunshine]

They believed their Emperor to be God. He ordered them to die for him, they died for him.

Those Kamikaze pilots were young college students who had to be drafted to make up for the manpower shortage in the final phase of the Second World War and they were not well-trained pilots and their only way to contribute to Japan's war efforts was a suicide mission and the pilots did not even know how to land a plane as they were only trained for takeoffs and basic flight maneuvers just like the 9/11 hijackers.

Sort of early 'Occupy Wallstreet' protesters.

 

[Unkotare]

One of these 'volunteer' pilots, shortly before his death, wrote a long poem about what he foresaw as "The End of Imperial Japan."

 

[MaryL]

It is a little known fact that failed and suicidal American attacks "inspired" the Japanese kamikaze to begin with. Every nation had pilots that crashed planes into their opponents out of desperation or when their ammunition ran out. Russians used it as a weapon of last resort. Other pilots did so out of desperation or just being caught up in the moment. Only the Japanese accepted this as a tactic, and they started the war to begin with. And they were creating a empire and slain countless folks in indo china since 1933.

 

[Unkotare]

Only the Japanese accepted this as a tactic.

That is not accurate.

 

[MaryL]

Only the Japanese accepted this as a tactic.

That is not accurate.

Care to elaborate? I learn from mistakes.