Monday, September 11, 2017

The Kamikaze and “Mighty Moe.”




The Kamikaze and “Mighty Moe.”

Those familiar with World War Two history (or “Greater East Asia War” for the Pacific theater) are aware of the role the battleship USS Missouri played.  The battleship nicknamed “Mighty Moe” or “Big Moe,” on 2 September, 1945 was in Tokyo Bay where the Japanese surrender was signed ending the War in the Pacific and concluding World War Two.

Five months prior to the surrender the USS Missouri was in the waters off Okinawa during the battle for Okinawa (April 1, to June 22, 1945).  During this fierce battle on 12 April, 1945 a Kamikaze piolet named Setsuo Ishino (石野節夫) flew his Mitsubishi A6M Zero “Zeke” onto the deck of the Missouri.  The wreckage was strewn across the battleship’s deck. 

The crew was in the process of throwing the wreakage overboard when they discovered the partial remains of the Kamikaze piolet Setsuo Ishino (石野節夫).  They were going to toss his remains overboard when Captain William M. Callaghan ordered them not to discard the piolet’s remains overboard.  He ordered a proper burial at sea for a “fellow warrior.”

A sailor sewn together a Japanese flag to be respectfully displayed over the canvas bag with the piolet’s remains within.  Before sliding the remains ceremoniously overboard as is a Navy tradition, a Christian minister said a few words, then a gun salute for the “fellow warrior.”  The ship’s Chaplin Roland Faulk said, “We commit his body to the deep.”       

Saeko’s video:

Link to video mentioned at the beginning:

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