Suicide/Kamikaze

Almost all Army Kamikaze pilots were between 17 and 22 during the Okinawan campaign in 1945. 16 years was the age of the youngest kamikaze pilot to die in a suicide attack.

Photo to the right shows Corporal Yukio Araki holding a puppy with four other young men of the 72nd Shinbu Corps around him. An Asahi Shimbun cameraman took this photo on the day before the departure of the 72nd Shinbu Corps from Bansei Air Base. Yukio Araki died at the age of 17 in a suicide attack on American ships near Okinawa on May 27, 1945.

Almost all Army kamikaze pilots during the Okinawan campaign were between 17 and 22 (Muranaga 1989, 12). The guides at the Chiran Peace Museum emphasize that the youngest kamikaze pilot was only 17 years old.