Personal Kamikaze Story: Dad lived through WWII only because the pilot of a kamikaze chose to crash into the bridge of the ship following the one my dad was on. Killed everyone on the bridge of that ship, and my dad (radarman second class) worked on the bridge.
Amazing they could avoid all that flak and anti-aircraft fire. Same for our guys. Be a different story if they had todays gatling guns.
ReplyDeleteMy Dad's carrier at Luzon likely killed the pilot, so it hit just above the waterline, at his quarters. He was at his duty station in the radio shack, so he survived, as did CVE-76. We have a series of pictures of the kamikaze approaching and hitting the ship.
ReplyDeleteVery good. I've read many of the best popular histories of this period in the Pacific. This is among the best.
ReplyDeleteDuring the 50th anniversary of WW2, one of the TV programs chronicling the war had footage of a carrier deck&crew feverishly trying to get things under control. I recall maybe eight+ crew in a line bent to their tasks with their backs to the camera. A kamikaze passes low over their heads and goes over the side. They look up, and then immediately look behind them to see if there's another plane. Each man had a different look on his face.
ReplyDeleteAre we to assume everyone knows what a "Vengence" ship is?
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