Opinion | Horror of Japan's assault at Pearl Harbor only led to nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki

By Augustus K. Yeung

INTRODUCTION

Mr. Antonio Guterres, the humane UN Secretary General had earlier said at the start of this year's annual Non-nuclear Proliferation Conference that the world was "just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation."

Mr. Minoru Honda, the ace Japanese fighter pilot, said he twice "witnessed" the nuclear bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by the US NB-29…He regretted not being able to ram US heavy bomber as it dropped atom bomb over the city of Hiroshima, a former military base and seaport.

Honda, Japan's last surviving fighter ace of World War II died, shortly before his nation marks the 80th anniversary of the air assault on the US fleet anchored at Pearl Harbour on December 8.

In interviews, though, before his death on October 3, Minoru Honda, 98, said he "regretted" that he had not been able to ram his own fighter into the US NB-29 Superfortress that had dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. Three days later, another heavy bomber unleashed a second nuclear weapon on Nagasaki, a military port.

JAPANESE AIRCRAFT CRIPPLED THE BULK OF US PACIFIC FLEET AT PEARL HARBOR…

Honda was 18 when Japanese aircraft crippled the bulk of the US Pacifica fleet at Pearl Harbor, including sinking four battleships, destroying 188 aircraft and killing 2,335 military personnel. But as the war progressed and the US brought its industrial might to bear, Japanese losses began to mount.

After joining the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service as a pilot, he earned a reputation as a daring pilot in the campaign in the Solomon Islands. In one incident in September 1942, Honda made an emergency landing on the island of Kolombangara, where he used a bag of confectionery and a pistol to trick innocent local residents to help him escape.

Returning to his unit 10 days later, he was reprimanded by his superiors, who had assumed he had been killed and given a rare double posthumous promotion. Embarrassed, Honda's supervisors assigned him dangerous long-range combat missions into US territory for seven consecutive days when he returned unscathed each time.

In the following year, in the skies over Papua New Guinea's Rabaul, Honda became known as "the ace of aces," shooting down 17 American aircraft.

As Japan's strategic position deteriorated, Honda was asked to return to defend the home islands, where he flew a Zero or Shiden Kai fighter against waves of US long-range bombers.

THE US ATOMIC BOMBS FIRST HIT HIROSHIMA, THEN NAGASAKI…

In an interview in 2011, Honda described being the only Japanese fighter in the air above Hiroshima as the B-29 bomber nicknamed Enola Gay droned towards the target carrying the "Little Boy," the atomic bomb.

Honda told the Sankei newspaper that he was flying at an altitude of 5,000 meters above the city when his fighter plane was rocked by a powerful blast without warning, and he briefly lost control of the aircraft.

After he had recovered, Honda said he looked below to discover that the entire city had disappeared, and a towering white cloud was rising over it.

The pilot first thought that the city's armory had suffered a direct hit, and exploded and he reported what he had witnessed when he touched down on Omura Air Base, about 30km north of Nagasaki. Three days later, he was sitting in the base mess tent when it began to shake violently after the second atomic bomb detonated over the city.

Honda was later pressed into rescue efforts in Hiroshima where he helped to load victims onto freight cars to transport them to the Omura naval hospital.

"I lifted the arms of one to put him on the stretcher, but the flesh slipped away, leaving only the bare bone," he recalled, being horrified at the burns that they had suffered.

Honda's commanding officer was so infuriated at the devastation that he vowed to stop any further attacks by US bombers carrying atomic weapon. Honda said it would be his "honor" to accompany him on the suicide mission.

THE JAPANESE EMPEROR ANNOUNCED JAPAN'S SURRENDER…

Later that same day, the emperor announced Japan's surrender.

"Even now … I can still remember the tragedies of Hiroshima and Nagasaki," he said. "And I will never stop regretting not having the chance to sortie towards those bombers carrying nuclear weapons.

"I am really sorry for the people of Nagasaki that even though we were so close, we were unable to save them," he was quoted by Julian Ryall, reporting for the Post.

CONCLUSION

Mr. Honda, the ace pilot who eye-witnessed Hiroshima atomic bombing died at 98, hopefully taking with him the cruelty of the generation of his time, in which Japan unannounced and unprovoked assaulted the US fleet anchored at Pearl Harbor on December 8, sinking almost the entire US Pacific fleet, leaving service men and women and their battleships lying flat at the bottom of the blue sea, among them was Arizona, the unforgettable scene, which I visited with my young daughter – that still stirs my heart.

I was not old enough then to witness the Japanese atrocities of the Imperial Army – which had devastated Asia and a greater part of China for eight long years. However, my parents and their generation were war refugees, like the ones now in Ukraine, thanks to Japan.

Mr. Honda reportedly said he regretted about not stopping the bombing of Hiroshima in the nick of time, but did he and his countrymen ever say one word of "regret" to soothe China and its people?

While remembering Hiroshima, how can China and its people ever forget the "Massacre of Nanking", which deeply hurts the feelings of generations of our people – even to this day?!

The vivid pictures that Japan in WW ll, slaughtering the good-natured Chinese people in Nanking and the greater part of China, and scorching our "good earth" will long be remembered.

 

The author is a freelance writer; formerly Adjunct Lecturer, taught MBA Philosophy of Management, and International Strategy, and online columnist of 3-D Corner (HKU SPACE), University of Hong Kong.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

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