Captain Fuchida Mitsuo 淵田 美津雄

Captain Fuchida Mitsuo will forever be remembered for the leading part he played in a pivotal moment of world history. It was he who led the first wave of planes into the attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, 1941. He was instrumental in one of the greatest victories in the military history of Japan. Additionally, after the war, he would win another type of victory, a moral victory, in setting an example that helped many Americans see Japan in a new way and to realize that the Japanese were not enemies but valued friends. He was born on December 3, 1902 in Nara Prefecture and from early in life was filled with the zeal of a patriot who wanted to serve his country and the Emperor. In 1921 he enrolled at the naval academy in Etajima, Hiroshima and was passed as a midshipman in 1924. While there he befriended a brilliant fellow classmate, Genda Minoru, who would be the one to plan the intricate attack on Pearl Harbor two decades later.

Ensign Fuchida chose to specialize in naval aviation and as he worked his way up the chain of command, becoming a lieutenant by 1930, he was especially expert at horizontal bombing. His skill was so great that he was chosen to be an instructor in this field later in 1936. In the meantime, however, he gained his first combat experience during the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1929, serving on the aircraft carrier Kaga and leading bombing missions in the Hankow region while stationed at Nanking. Further promotions and different assignments followed and he was also accepted into the Naval Staff College. In 1939, by then Lieutenant Commander Fuchida was transferred to the aircraft carrier Akagi, a ship that would always be special to him. In October of 1941 he was promoted to full Commander in charge of the Akagi's air group. When it became known that he would lead the attack on Pearl Harbor if a peaceful settlement with the United States could not be reached, he was honored. He knew the United States had Japan outmatched in military terms but was confident that Germany would win the war in Europe and that would enable Japan to win in Asia.

He trained his pilots diligently for the operation and on the morning of December 7 led them into the home base of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. Everything went exceedingly well. The American forces were taken by complete surprise and the U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbor was decimated. Commander Fuchida returned to the Akagi to wild cheers for the part he had played in the victory. Privately, however, he was disappointed that Admiral Nagumo decided to withdraw rather than sending in a third attack wave to destroy the naval infrastructure facilities. The problem was that no American carriers were found at Pearl and Admiral Nagumo was concerned that if they should appear while his planes were attacking Hawaii, the Japanese fleet could be wiped out. In any event, the victory had been great enough on its own and Commander Fuchida was a genuine war hero. Upon his return to Japan he was summoned to the Imperial Palace for an audience with the Emperor. Later, Commander Fuchida recalled how interested His Majesty was in the details of his report and that he was very concerned about any American civilian casualties. Fuchida assured His Majesty that no civilian areas were hit during the attack.

With the Greater East Asian War underway, Commander Fuchida participated in the bombing attacks on Darwin, Australia. Later he served with great success in the air attacks on British naval bases at Ceylon. He was wounded at the pivotal Battle of Midway, preventing him from flying afterwards and when the Akagi sank he broke both his ankles in an explosion. Afterwards, he served for the remainder of the war as a staff officer and in 1944 was promoted to captain. He was in Hiroshima the day before the atomic bomb was dropped for a naval conference but was called back to Tokyo on the day of the attack. The day after Hiroshima was destroyed, he was sent to the city to report on the damage. Everyone else in his party would eventually die of radiation poisoning but Captain Fuchida was spared. When the end of the war came, Captain Fuchida was most enraged by the last-minute declaration of war by Soviet Russia. It was a dishonorable "stab in the back" that he would never forget and it encouraged him to join with the rebel faction that wished to continue the war. However, he was able to speak to HIH Prince Takamatsu who told him that it was the will of the Emperor that there be peace and this convinced Fuchida, dutiful above all else, to accept the surrender. It probably saved his life.

After the war, things were difficult for him as they were for almost everyone. He resented the occupation and the Tokyo War Crimes Trials where he was called to testify. However, he also heard first hand accounts from close friends that caused him to see his old enemy in a new way. He heard from men who had been captured that the Americans had not tortured them and one group talked about a girl volunteer who helped take care of them even though her parents had been killed by the Japanese during the fighting in The Philippines where they had been working as missionaries. The story of an American veteran of the "Doolittle Raid" who had been captured by Japanese forces but who bore no ill-will toward his captors also intrigued him. After being introduced to Christianity, he began to study the religion further and in 1949, after reading the Bible completely for himself, Captain Fuchida converted to Christianity (Protestant Evangelical). This set his life on a new course from that time on.

Captain Fuchida came to be widely known in the Christian evangelical movement in Japan and the United States. He traveled extensively in America and became friends with the America's most famous evangelist Billy Graham. His story touched the hearts of Americans who had been taught during the war to view the Japanese as wicked and treacherous enemies. That a man like Captain Fuchida could become a Christian and view them as his brothers and sisters illustrated that they had allowed hatred to overcome them. This man from the outside had showed them what they should have known all along and Captain Fuchida became very famous and beloved in the Christian evangelical community in the United States. He also visited Europe and was horrified by the stories of the poverty and oppression from the other side of the "Iron Curtain". It reinforced his view that communism was a fundamentally evil doctrine, in the eyes of man and God alike. Although he lived in the United States for a time, Captain Fuchida lost none of his old loyalties. He said, "When I became a Christian, I remained a patriot of Japan. I still love my country and my people." He worked to convert people to Christianity all over the world and hoped for peace but he knew that the nature of man would mean war would not go away and so he also stated that he thought Japan should have its own nuclear weapons to deter any acts of aggression by other powers.

Fuchida Mitsuo died in Kashiwara on May 30, 1976 after a lifetime of dedicated and successful service. As a naval officer, he had served his country to the best of his ability and contributed to some of the greatest victories in Japanese military history. As an evangelist he had won hundreds of converts to Christianity by his sincerity and powerful personal story. His devotion, to his country and his God also helped to heal the wounds of war and bring Japan and the United States closer together on a personal level. From start to finish his life had been one of service and he pursued every goal, in war or peace, with zealous dedication.