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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 29, 1994)
Japan honors kamikazes WORLD C'.HIRAN lapan (AP) A final cup of sake still warm in his belly, Yoshio Nagai climbed into a < ex i. pit and headed south with just enough fuel for a one way trip to Okinawa Mis mission ( rash his plane and its single-bomb payload into an enemy ship. "Tin going to b*< scattered beautifully." the 20 year-old kamikaze pilot wrote in n goodbye letter to his family, comparing his final, explosive flight to a cascade of blossoms blown from a cherry tr»-e Nearly 50 years later, the runway where Nagai took off is covered with gravel and lined yvilh unis His letter is in a glass case under his photograph, preserved yvith hundreds of others at the Pern e Museum for kamikaze Pilots While much of the world remembers the thou sands of kamikazes sent against ti s and other Allied steps In the t toeing months of World w as suicidal fanatics, many Japanese s<s- them as inno cent. young victims of a senseless war “To protect this country, 20-year-old boys threw their lives away.” said photographer Toshifumi Fukumura as a group of Japanese, some wiping tears from their cheeks, bowed tiefore a bronze statue of a pilot in front of the museum Named after a legendary typhoon that foiled khuhlai Khan's attempt to invade Japan in 1281. the kamikaze, or “divine wind," attack force was a desperate attempt to stave of! sn Amerit an Inva sion of the Japanese home islands. The first “Special Attack” missions were flown in defense of Japanese positions in the Philippines in 1944. The number of fligJits increased drnmati t ally when American forces invaded Okinawa the following y ear Historians put the total number of kamikaze pilots near 4,000. The suicide planes took a heavy toll in Allied ships and lives: n single attack bv kazas m the aircraft carrier USS Franklin in March 1945 killed 80(1 sailors Nagai was one of 418 kamikaze pilots who took off from the military base in Chiran, on the south ern tip of the southernmost of Japan's main four islands, about 630 miles southwest of Tokyo Like memorials at the atomic bomb sites in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the central lesson of the kamikaze museum is pacifism. Several stone tablets around the museum grounds remind visitors of the great losses suffered in war. and a visitor*' log is filled with handwritten < alls for jhvu e "We're thankful for the |>eai e we have now, and we realize that peat e is important by coining here. " said Fukumura. who lakes group photographs in front of the museum Side by side with the pacifist theme, however, is a celebration of the kamikazes' bravery and sacri fit e Visitors are greeted in the museum lobby by a mural of a goddess rescuing the spirit of a pilot from a burning plane Uniforms, medals and rising sun Hags line the walls, and at the i enter of the hall is a World War I! era plane with saluting statues around it There are photographs of young women waving flowers at departing planes An m i .J !.«)»• pros ni.-d to v isitors tells hovs :w • Japanese pilots brought down a big Amerit an H .’9 bomber t>v ramming it in flight Televisions show footage of kamikazes in action The museum also tugs hard at Japanese heart strings. showing the pilots as cheerful young men, who would rather have ln>eu at home with loving families and friends instead of training for a fiery death Hmitlfds nl vfiHnitn.1' letters lire on disp! is In the lobby i* a piano that belonged to a pilot, and photographs on the walls show smiling aviators gjk . Ith a m b 1 bet ot petting puppies Items left Irehind by the pilots — goggles, books, hand-made dolls — Till display < ases Outside is a sftito'* ot I lap.if.ese mother, hei ii.uuls tolded out her fm v looking sadly toward the pilot's statue A plaque IhiIow her urges the world to live in pern e The museum grow out of the maternal senti ments of Tome Torihama a local innkeeper who housed, fed and bathed some of the pilots in their final mouths Site set up a small Sarin* fo kamikazes right after the war A larger shrine was established in 1955, and the museum opened in 1975 About 000,000 people visit a year, and memorial services for the pilots are held every Mav 3. The most gripping aspect of the museum are the pilots own words, and visitors crowd the display cases to read their "final statements " Perhaps aware military government officials would read the letters, the young men were stir prisingly poetic: and accepting of their fate Many said they gladly gave their lives for their i ountrv, though one pilot told his parents that he was on his was "to hell " Serb control of Bihac shows U.N. failure SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegov ina (AP) — Rebel .Serbs pounded the outskirts of a UN. safe haven in northwest Bosnia, proving on the ground what a U S. official has conceded: NATO is unable to stop the assault Defense Secretary William Per ry even suggested Sunday that the Bosnian gov ernment has lost the ) 1 month war The commander of U.N (on es in Bosnia, Gen Sir Michael Rose, said the 24,000 peacekeepers there may withdraw if fighting esi alotes further “If the scene gets much worse militarily, then 1 suspect the peacekeeping inis sion would find it very difficult to continue." he said. The Muslim-led Bosnian gov ernment said it would at cept a U N. proposal for a Bihar (.ease fire, demilitarization of the “safe area” and withdrawal of forties, said Michael Williams, spokesman for Yasushi Akashi, the chief U.N. envoy in former Yugoslavia. But Bosnian Serbs are demand ing a cease-fire nationwide, which would effectively seal their dominion over the 70 per cent of Bosnia they now control. Serb fighters from Bosnia and neighboring Croatia hold to to 40 percent of the U.N.-designated safe area at Bihar, the last Mus lim stronghold in northwest Bosnia The Serbs were torching most villages captured south of Bihac, said a confidential U.N. report obtained by The Associ ated Press “There is a fouling of deep fear.” said Monique Tuffulli. a U N aid worker who visited Bihar; on Sunday The capture of Bihac would he the strongest indication vet that the United Nations cannot stop the war with peacekeeping troops or even NATO airstrikes on the Serbs. “The mrstrikos cannot deter mine the outcome of the ground combat," Perry said Sunday “The Serbs have cm < upied 70 percent of the country." he said. “There's no prospect, us I see it. of the Muslims winning that hack" On Saturday, the U N Secu rity Council ignored Bosnian Prime Minister Haris Silujd/ic’s appeal for airstrikes to stop the Serb assault on Bihac. calling instead for a cease-fire Western military officials said NATO plans for air action Sat urday were vetoed bv U N offi cials who feared chances of a negotiated settlement would lie sunk. The U N officials were also concerned about reprisals against peacekeepers. Bangladeshi pMue keepers in the Bihac. region came under sniper fire, and Serbs fired as many as 10 missiles Sunday at Canadian peacekeepers near Sarajevo. Elsewhere, Serbs apparently took 102 Dutch and 62 British U N. soldiers hostage Sunday in eastern and central Bosnia, bring ing the number of peacekeeper* under their control to 400. Airline staff walks off job in Spain MADRID. Spam (API In a strike that paralyzed Spanish airports, workers of the national earner Ibenn walked off the job today to protest tlie company's phm to cut wages and will assets The strike grounded all outgoing Iberia nod inter national flights and seri ously delayed incoming flights from abroad The stoppage, called by tfie country's main unions to protest the airline’s plans to slash 5,200 of 24.000 jobs and sell its most profitable assets, was not authorized by labor authorities Hundreds of passengers were reported to have turned up for flights ut txith Madrid's and Barcelona's international airports. Dozens of police units patrolled terminals at Ixith airports, but no unrest was reported After a profitable period between 1986 and 1989. Iberia has slumped into enormous debt since the beginning of the 1990s. It lost $530 million last year and is expected to lose more than $300 million this year Company chairman Javier Salas said the airline would lie technically bank rupt by March 1995. Iranian critic dies in prison Sunday NICOSIA. Cyprus (Al*) A dissident Iranian writer arrest ed Iasi Man h for criticizing Iran s theocrntir government and its censorship policies has died in prison, The stale-run Islamic Republic News Agent \ said Ah Akbar Said! Sir}#m. n i. died nf a heart nti«< k Sunday The brief dispatch, moni tored m Cyprus, quoted on unidentified officio! source as saving "Sirgmi's general cnn ditions deteriorated in the ear ly hours of Sunday but despite physu ions' efforts he died of q heart attack International Pen. o Lon don-based group that cam paigns for writers' freedom of expression, said it u.is not aware that Sir|aiu had a heart problem Following his arrest. Sirjam wus i barged with homosex imhtv. gambling, smoking opt tun. rifivmg CIA con not turns and drinking alcohol, whit h is prohthitml in Islamic Iran lhe t linrgt's wort* later expanded to include activities against the Island* Kepublh In \tav, lht> guv«rnmt*nt s.iitl he hail ton fussed to the charges Si riant was held incommu nicado Under Iranian law. he i OUId have ret etved the death sentence I’odav. the Paris-based Organization (or Human Rights And Fundamental Freedoms for Iran expressed sorrow for ''the tragic death of a brave and popular Iranian novelist and writer in the hands of the axes utioners of the them ratic regime in Tehran,■’ v*s0R £$F*»a w! IX Jtstwaf of November 29 - December 3 Join us for a week of hands-on art events and demonstrations1 Wednesday, Nov. 30 TAJ Oil Bars 'OOr Thursday, Dec. 1 1 Watercolors & Mixed Media Friday, Dec. 2 Color Pencils 12 002 QOpm Saturday, Dec. 3 Acrylics & Mixed Media 12 002 00pm PwSo1 SALE! Winsor & Newton Watercolors, Acrylics, Oils, Color Pencils, Brushes, Inks, and more1 Tel. 683-2787, 720 East 13th Ave. Up*<*n rtw UntvaiMy Cmrtm Mdktg 8 JO-7 00 M-f 1000-5 JO Saf 12 00-5 JO Sun IAil UmITIO »0 STOCK ON KANO (NCI 12 04 94