At 1410 (local time), Sub-Lieutenant Yaguchi Shigehisa, Commander of the 5th Kenmu-tai, flew his Mitsubishi A6M5 Rei-sen aircraft into the starboard side of USS KIDD (DD-661), then patrolling the waters off Okinawa. Upon impact, the plane disintegrated, killing Yaguchi immediately. The plane’s debris tore through KIDD’s forward fire room, rupturing steam lines and killing everyone in the space. The 500kg bomb carried by the Rei-sen detached and continued through the ship, exiting out the port side and detonating close aboard. The explosion flayed open the port side of KIDD, killing and wounding more, including the ship’s commanding officer, Commander Harry G. Moore. Thirty-nine men (including Yagushi) were killed in that moment, another 55 were wounded. Had he not died that day, Yagushi would have celebrated his 23rd birthday less than 2 weeks later. The Americans he killed that day also never got the chance to grow older. Today, only the USS KIDD, still scarred herself from that attack, remains to tell the story. A single frame salvaged from the burned camera used by KIDD’s doctor during the attack run captures Yaguchi’s last moment of life.
Most kamikaze pilots died in anonymity. We know about Yaguchi thanks to the thorough and dedicated research of a Japanese-American lawyer from San Diego, California, Katsumi Hiragi, who happened to visit the USS KIDD Veterans Museum in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, while on a research visit for another topic. Hiragi began his search with KIDD crewmembers who were there on that day in April 1945 and his investigation led him to Kanoya Air Base in Japan, the airfield from which Yaguchi launched to conduct his attack, and ultimately to Yaguchi’s younger brother, who described the bright engineering student from the Ibaragi province who willingly sacrificed his life for his country.
For many years, the USS KIDD Veterans Museum could not tell Yaguchi’s story because the memory of the attack and lost shipmates was too painful for the surviving crewmembers who made the Museum their home. But as those veterans faded away, one in particular stated that after they were all gone, the Museum should recognize Yaguchi because, in his words, “he didn’t want to be there any more than we did.” When I became Executive Director of the Museum in 2022, I put together as respectful a display as we can currently afford – spending thousands of dollars of my own money to re-create Yaguchi’s flight gear – with plans to expand the display when we can raise more funding.
Telling Yaguchi’s story is just as important as telling KIDD’s. There are two sides to every conflict and rarely is one side “good” while the other is “evil.” Everyone who died or was wounded aboard KIDD that day was fighting to protect their home, their way of life. Good men who were divided only by propaganda and political machinations would in another time be staunch friends and allies. This is the lesson that we should all learn that makes Yaguchi’s sacrifice still relevant and profound to this day.
@USSKIDD_DD661
English
