Kamikaze Pilots must have been very brave young men when they left their aircraft carrier on their final mission. To write a letter to your wife and children or to your parents and tell them you would not be coming home, and to parcel your belongings to be sent home to them.
Knowing that you were flying out to your death must have been very hard to do.
A lot of them never completed their mission being shot down before they reached it or missing their target completely.
Numbers quoted vary, but at least 47 Allied vessels, from PT boats to escort carriers, were sunk by kamikaze attacks, and about 300 vessels damaged. During World War II, nearly 4,000 kamikaze pilots were sacrificed.
Pilot Kiyoshi Ogawa , who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945
USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa (photo above) and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600.
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Suicide Bombers do the same thing, set of on a mission knowing they are going to their death and leave a video tape or write a letter for their families.
Are they brave, well you could say that they are, but i think their bravery stems from their religion or being brain washed by their leaders.
And of course they have the added bonus of seven virgins to look after them when they get to heaven.
But no matter what, they carry on to the target, their death and the carnage that follows is usually very gruesome with dozens of deaths.
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