last surviving Japanese aircrew at Pearl Harbor has died

[old iron]

Yochioka Masamitsu, who was navigator for a Kate that torpedoed the Utah at Pearl Harbor and the last Japanese survivor of that attack, has died at age 106: https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2024/09/27/yoshioka-japan-pearl-harbor-dies/

On a similar note, Lou Conter, who was the last survivor of the attack on the USS Arizona, has recently died at age 102: https://www.npr.org/2024/04/03/1242430911/lou-conter-uss-arizona-pearl-harbor

Thoughts on the lives and sacrifices of both men.

[Mark Allen M]

A strange feeling of sadness.
An unexpected feeling of sympathy.
A conflicting sense of remorse.
A distant memory, yet still vivid.
History before my existence, yet the son of a participant.
What could have been, yet was prevented.
What was prevented, yet still exists.
To never forget, yet to forgive.
For some forgiveness is possible, for others impossible.

Now the last of the warriors depart, to carry with them the memories of a world at war ….. and to leave us still wondering what was it for.

[JohnB]

Many of us here grew up when WWII survivors were common, most had fathers, uncles or other relatives who were vets.
Some had moms or aunts who were involved in the war effort.
So it seems strange to know most of that generation are gone.
In the various places I've lived in there has been a "Pearl Harbor Survivors" group which you'd see in local parades.
Within the last year or two, the local group lost its final member.


When I was in Texas, the local CAF squadron was given a neat artifact from the attack.
A local man was onboard a ship, and recover a RT (radio Telegraph) key assembly from the wreckage of a aircraft (presumably a Kate or Val) which crashed on the pier.

It was a finely machined piece of brass with a plastic alike key mounted on a piece of polished wood. On the underside was a thin paper label filled with Japanese characters and part numbers.

Naturally you thought of the Japanese crewmen who used the key, and who perished when their plane was brought down.

[Xray]

I remember as a kid in the mid 70's me and a friend would sit around the local grocery store [A&P] in Detroit and we'd wait for ladies/seniors coming out with a load of groceries and we'd go up to them and ask if they needed help loading them in their vehicle. Of course we were looking for tips and usually made $5 or so each after a few hours, not bad considering back then you could buy a pop and bag of chips for $1.
Watching people like that all day you can't help but observe, and there was loads of veterans back then, most of them you could tell because they were often mutilated, missing limbs, noses, faces reconstructed. It was so common that I never thought twice about it, when I was real young I just figured they were born that way, as I got older I figured out and/or was told that they were injured in wars. WW2 vets were around 45 years old, Korean even younger, and Vietnam vets not far out of their teens. WW1 vets for that matter were not rare but rapidly dwindling, 75 to 85 years old.

Guy who lived next store to us was Puerto Rican, named Mr Cruz. He only had 1 leg, even had a handicapped parking space which was rare back then. Never thought about it as a kid but for sure, he lost his leg in WW2 or Korea. Had a son named Tommy, I remember the guy, kind of hippyish, had long black curly hair. Nice guy, probably in his late teens, I helped him clean his porch with water one time and he gave me $1, after that I'd often ask him if he had any jobs for me, he always encouraged my growing work ethic and come up with something, bagging leaves or whatever.

One day we were pulling up to our house and I noticed something, I said hey ma, how come Mrs Cruz has a gold star hanging on her door ? She said um well ,, Do you remember Tommy ? I said yeah. She said well, he was in a war and got killed, and the government gives parents of sons killed in wars gold stars. Didn't really comprehend but it sunk in over time, this was a family that gave their all, and they were the rule rather than the exception. Another guy down the block had both legs completely blown off but ambled around faster than anyone could walk with his arms, I guess its good that things like this aren't commonplace anymore.

[Ztex]

When I was in Texas, the local CAF squadron was given a neat artifact from the attack.
A local man was onboard a ship, and recover a RT (radio Telegraph) key assembly from the wreckage of a aircraft (presumably a Kate or Val) which crashed on the pier.

John,

Which local CAF museum was that artifact in?

Zane

[JohnB]

It was with the Big Country Squadron in Abilene,
Circa 2004.

[old iron]

One of the last original Navajo code-talkers has also recently died, at age 107.

<https://edition.cnn.com/2024/10/21/us/navajo-code-talker-john-kinsel-death/index.html>

We are getting closer to that point that we saw not too many years ago as the last of the surviving WWI veterans diminished to a rarity, and then to none left.

If I remember right, the French I think late in their process gave high medals to all surviving WWI veterans, about 200 at that time if I remember right. Maybe the US should do something like that. I know that some of these would not necessarily be combat veterans, but still a ways for a final blast of recognition to go out to the members of that generation.

[Chris Brame]

2007 doesn't seem that long ago, but... In line to get into Chino: