Kamikaze

　　A Kamikaze from Kanoya Air Station crashed into the Battleship Missouri about this time on this day, Apr. 11th in HST (Hawaiian Standard Time) in 1945 near Okinawa. It was just 73 years ago. The Kamikaze pilot successfully avoided the anti-aircraft fire and hit the side of the Missouri with his talented technique. Unfortunately, however, his bearing bomb didn't work and he could only set fire to the spilt fuel. His body seemed to have been torn into two parts. A cameraman captured the scene of the collision in the first picture. The second one is the scar of the collision. The scar didn't affect the ship's function and was left untouched. The boyish-looking man in the 3rd picture was the pilot. He was young and must have wanted to do lots of things. With gratitude and a condoling tone, I offered 30 seconds' silence to him who had to throw his life away due to the small number of mad people who wanted war on the 73th anniversary of his death.

　
７３年前、米国ＨＳＴ（ハワイ標準時）で１９４５年４月１１日のちょうど今頃、鹿屋基地を飛び立った神風特攻機がこの船に激突した。沖縄近海でのことだ。抜群の操縦技術で対空砲火をくぐり抜け、船縁に激突した。搭載していた爆弾が不発で漏れた燃料に引火した火事で済んだらしいが、パイロットは胴体が二つにちぎれていたという。１枚目がまさに激突の瞬間の写真。２枚目がその痕跡。これは船の機能に影響しないので修復せず今まで残ったという。
　
３枚目の写真にある幼い表情の若者が操縦していた。やりたいことはたくさんあったろうに戦争を望んだ一部の人間達のために命を捨てざるを得なかった彼に、感謝と哀悼の気持ちを込めて７３年目の命日に、現場で約３０秒の黙祷を捧げた。