No one can ever forget one of the most significant events that happened in American history, wherein around 2,403 people died during this attack and 1,178 were wounded. The attack was made by Japan when they made a surprise attack on the Naval base of the United States in Hawaii. It lasted for around 1 hour and 15 minutes. With this raid, they hoped to disable the strength of the U.S. Navy and have control over vital oil supplies. After the war, millions of people died, and many were homeless and out of a job. The Soldiers involved in the war went back home, but some stayed. Masamitsu Yoshioka was the last living survivor of Pearl Harbor. He would die at the age of 106 on August 29th, 2024.
Pearl Harbor Memories
The day was December 7, 1941. It was a good day with partly cloudy weather when the skies of the United States Naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu Island, Hawaii, were filled with Japanese attack airplanes. In a second, bombs came falling from the sky. The first and second waves of attacks were coming from all directions, targeting ships, airstrips, storage areas, and buildings. Along with the gruesome attack is a 23-year-old navigator and bombardier, Masamitsu Yoshioka. He was the last living survivor of the Japanese Imperial Army.
The Japanese fighters began bombing the area at 7:55 am HST, and the fleet was launched from the north of Hawaii. It consisted of 6 aircraft carriers, 35 submarines, 2 heavy and light cruisers, 2 battleships, 9 oilers, 11 destroyers, 40 torpedo planes, 79 fighters, 103 level bombers, and 131 dive-bombers. Showing that they are prepared to do the attack and would want to cause huge damage to the U.S. Naval Forces.
The President then was Franklin D. Roosevelt. In response to the attack, he requested Congress to declare war against Japan. It was a long battle, but eventually, they surrendered due to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the Soviet Union joined forces with the United States and Great Britain.
Masamitsu Yoshioka: The Last Man Standing
He was young at the time when he joined the Japanese forces in an attack on Pearl Harbor. Before the surprise attack, he practiced for months without knowing his mission, but when he was told that his fleet and the other 300 Japanese would strike the U.S., he was stunned. Yoshioka even recalled that blood rushed through his head, and he knew that this would cause a huge war. He torpedoed the battleship USS Utah, which was used for training by the Navy.
A total of 58 men were in the battleship and died because of him. Masamitsu Yoshioka recounted this in an interview in 2023 with the Japan Forward. Yoshioka was recognized as the last living Japanese veteran of the Pearl Harbor attack at that time. He also mentioned during the interview how sorry he was and hoped that there would be no more wars as he had witnessed the horrors it could bring.
Even though the war was gone, Yoshioka gained attention due to the fact that he was the only living survivor who witnessed the Pearl Harbor attack. It is also impressive that at the age of 106, his memory of what happened during that fateful day is still vivid, even with the bite of the strong easterly wind. But everything came to an end when his death was announced on August 29th, 2024.
Childhood and Life After the War
Masamitsu Yoshioka was born on January 5, 1918, in the Ishikawa Prefecture, and he joined the Imperial Japanese Navy in 1936. He started as a ground crew, but was later accepted as a navigator and went to training in 1938. After a year, he was assigned to the aircraft carrier Soryu. In 1941, he was then shifted to another training involving torpedoes and was taught how to properly angle and launch it.
After the war, Yoshioka lived a simple life and worked at a transport company. He remained silent about his experience in his younger years about the war. Not until he was older, when his past was found out, did he share his experiences. He kept everything a secret. This is because he was ashamed that he was the only one who survived and lived a long life.
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Image Source: Japan Forward