Sakamaki Kazuo

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Sakamaki Kazuo as a prisoner of war, late 1941 or 1942.

Kazuo Sakamaki ( jap. 酒巻和男 * 8. November 1918 , † 29. November 1999 in Toyota-shi , Aichi Prefecture ) was a Japanese naval lieutenant , who as commander of one of the five Japanese two-man - submarines during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Despite a damaged gyrocompass, he attempted a torpedo attack in the harbor, but was discovered and attacked by a destroyer . During the evasive maneuvers, the submarine got stuck several times, damaging the torpedo tubes and water penetrating the pressure hull. The batteries also emitted toxic fumes. Since this made it impossible to continue the attack, Sakamaki decided to return to the mother submarine. The submarine finally got stuck so that he and his crew member Inagaki Kiyoshi were forced to disembark and swim ashore, where he was picked up by American soldiers and the Americans' first Japanese prisoner of war in the Pacific War . Inagaki Kiyoshi was later found dead. He drowned while swimming with Sakamaki to the bank.

In 1946 Sakamaki returned to Japan after being a prisoner of war and joined the Toyota company , where he worked in the export department. He reported on his imprisonment in his 1949 book horyo daiichigō ( 捕 虜 第一 號 , "Prisoner of War No. 1"), which was also published in English with the title I Attacked Pearl Harbor . From 1969 to 1983 he headed Toyota's Brazilian subsidiary. He then worked again in Japan until his retirement in 1987. At a historians' meeting in Texas in 1991, he saw his submarine for the first time in 50 years.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Honolulu Star Bulletin News. Accessed January 31, 2018 .

Web links

Japanese name: As is common in Japan, the family name comes before the first name in this article . Thus Sakamaki is the family name, Kazuo the first name.
personal data
SURNAME Sakamaki, Kazuo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 酒 巻 和 男 (Japanese)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese naval lieutenant
DATE OF BIRTH November 8, 1918
DATE OF DEATH November 29, 1999
Place of death Toyota-shi , Aichi Prefecture