Pearl Harbor's Missing Aircraft - 7 Dec 1941

[wit61owl]

Thank You very much. From my analyse of Your article it seems PO2c Hirata made a 8th hit on West Virginia. am I right or wrong ?
B rgds

[wit61owl]

Than You very much. I was amazed how precisily You have reconstructed those eleven minutes. From my analyse of Your article it seems Nitto Hio Heiso Hirata made 8th hit on USS West Virginia.
What is going to happen with skull recovered from Pearl Harbor's bottom?
B rgds

[David_Aiken]

Than You very much. I was amazed how precisily You have reconstructed those eleven minutes. From my analyse of Your article it seems Nitto Hio Heiso Hirata made 8th hit on USS West Virginia.
What is going to happen with skull recovered from Pearl Harbor's bottom?
B rgds

Thank you for the kind words...
The number of veterans of that action on BOTH sides helped to 'flesh' the skeleton which gave a better understanding.
To those men, most now gone, I salute.
Mahalo nui loa,
Cheers,
David Aiken

Oh, you mean there is a "skull" from a JAPANESE veteran of the Pearl Harbor Attack actually IN Pearl Harbor? I had thought that it was just a fancy piece of tabloid, yellow journalism. See:
http://www.hawaiireporter.com/skull-dis ... -pilot/123

[David_Aiken]

Aloha All,

Now...I am at liberty to reveal the names for these in the above photos...
Their history is told in "Torpedoing Pearl Harbor", MILITARY HISTORY, Dec 2001.

The diver made two dives on KAGA B5N2 AII-356 serial 3178 ... about a week after the attack.
The first was an orientation trip and he found the decapitated pilot...
He cut the harness and the pilot popped to the surface.
PIlot was Taii (Lieutenant) Mimori Suzuki
No film or still camera was present on that first dive.

The "floater" in the movie still is the radioman (gunner) on board:
Nito Hiko Heiso (Petty Officer Second Class) Yoshiharu Machimoto
This film was made during the second dive when the diver located the radioman.
The diver had cut the harness and Machimoto popped to the surface, loosing his boots in the process.
Apparently, the hachimaki headband is still wrapped on his head, or his neckscarf has moved.

The diver missed that third man...it was too murky on the harbor bottom.
The cable was finally installed to recover the aircraft...
The plane bent in two as the plane broke the surface.

The third man was found in the wreckage after they finally raised the plane...
the photo is quite grisly due to the crabs eating the facial features...
Koku Heisocho (Warrant Officer) Tsuneki Morita was the "Observer"/navigator/bombardier

http://japaneseaircraft.multiply.com/ph ... R_-album_4

http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675 ... ese-attack

Sincerely,
David Aiken, a Director: Pearl Harbor History Associates, Inc. http://www.pearlharbor-history.org/

[heimwehr danzig]

So...if the pilot of this aircraft was decapitated then this could be his skull?

[David_Aiken]

yep...yet we must await the OFFICIAL verdict.

[David_Aiken]

pilot: Taii (Lieutenant) Mimori Suzuki

The common spelling is "Mitsumori", yet I was corrected by the late Zenji ABE, who was classmate to SUZUKI...The spelling and pronunciation that the FAMILY used was "Mimori".

PHOTO CREDIT: from the memorial for Lt. Mimori Suzuki at Aoba-ku Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture.
http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~un3k-mn/saki-umiwasi.htm

[OpanaPointer]

Good job as always, David!

[PF]

Postscript
2013 Story on IJN Losses {reference only}
http://www.menafn.com/2515194d-aefa-457 ... u?src=main

[ChristopherPerrien]

From that link PF

"For a long time, we didn't even know the names (of the Japanese losses)," said Daniel Martinez, chief historian for the World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, which includes the Arizona Memorial. "And I can be honest with you, at a given point in our earlier history, we didn't care, because of the nature of the attack."

A proposal is in the works to have an exhibit at the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center with the names of all the fallen Japanese from Dec. 7, "which will bring total closure to the casualty list that actually exists right here on our grounds," Martinez said.

[David_Aiken]

The remaining PHSA will NOT have such a JAPANESE list at the memorial.

Despite the position of the quoted person...there has already been for many decades such a list in Hawaii.

The list is quietly meant for Japanese veterans and families. The Nichiren Mission of Hawaii, http://www.nichiren-shu.org/hawaii/ , has this book of the Shinjuwan Sakusen (Pearl Harbor Operation) deceased. In 1991, I made an offering to the Mission and obtained permission for the book to be retrieved (only exhibited on select days) for my viewing.

HTH,
David Aiken

[PF]

Postscript
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/0 ... 63113.html

[OpanaPointer]

Postscript
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/0 ... 63113.html

Thanks for that.