A 15-year-old boy soldier sleeps in Midway, August 9, 17:58

Midway Island, a small island with a circumference of several kilometers, floats in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 4,000 kilometers from Japan.

More than 3,000 people are still sleeping on the 5,000-meter seabed around it.

Exactly 80 years ago, in 1942, the Japanese army was defeated by the American army, and they were the dead at the Battle of Midway, a battle that marked a turning point in the Pacific War.

Among them, there was a man who died in battle at the young age of 15.

I learned about this for the first time when I read the book "Sleep on the Sea" written by Hisae Sawachi.

As for me, my son is now 15 years old.

Although he has grown up, he is still not an adult, both physically and mentally.

A boy of this age was forced to stand on the battlefield...

I felt like I could squeeze his chest.

Why a 15-year-old had to die in the middle of the Pacific.

I started interviewing.

(Chiyo Migita, NHK Special "New Document Pacific War" coverage group)

15 year old war dead

The Battle of Midway was the first time that the Japanese army, which had achieved a major victory in the opening battle of the Pacific War with the attack on Pearl Harbor and then expanded its power in the Pacific with the momentum of a breakthrough, suffered a crushing defeat to the American army for the first time.

The Japanese Navy mobilized all its major ships, including the battleship Yamato and aircraft carriers, but suffered a single defeat.

After this, the battlefield in the Pacific tilts toward Japan's defeat.

About 40 years ago, author Hisae Sawachi embarked on an extensive investigation after being shocked to learn that the exact number of Japanese and American officers and soldiers who died in the Battle of Midway was unknown.

It was an interview to mourn the deceased, searching for bereaved families in Japan and overseas, conducting questionnaires, and carefully reviving their lives.

Sawachi found that 362 American soldiers and 3,057 Japanese soldiers died, for a total of 3,419 people.

And it became clear for the first time that there were four 15-year-olds killed in action.

Why did the 15-year-old volunteer?

One of the four is Ryosaku Tsuchiya.

He was born into a farming family in Atami City, and had a large family of more than 10 people, including his grandmother, parents, and siblings.

Mr. Tsuchiya was the second son. He was good at sports and studied well.

About 40 years ago, when Mr. Sawachi interviewed him, both his parents were alive and well, and they were making a living in fields and mandarin orange fields.

His father, Bensaku, said, "Ryosaku is the second son, he's stronger than he was born, he's in the top physique even in elementary school, and he's good at sports." I am confiding in you.

However, perhaps because he was an honors student, his homeroom teacher approached him about a career path when he graduated from elementary school.

That was the "Navy Volunteer".

Even before the war began, the Imperial Japanese Navy had been recruiting volunteer soldiers for special skills such as signal soldiers.

In the 16th year of Showa (1941), navy volunteers were recruited from 15 to 18 years old for airmen (class B flight preparatory trainees) and from 15 to 19 years old for sailors (hand telegraph soldiers).

Mr. Tsuchiya's father, Mr. Bensaku, repeatedly appealed to his homeroom teacher, ``My brother is attending an agricultural school.

However, her homeroom teacher has been encouraging her to apply.

Mr. Bensaku said in an interview at the time, "It occurred to me that each school seems to have quotas for applicants."

It appears that the teachers encouraged the boys to volunteer in order to meet the number of "volunteers".

"Send me a picture of your parents" - a letter that makes you feel more about your family

Tsuchiya took the entrance exam at the Naval Communication School in Yokosuka.

More than 20,000 people from all over the country took the exam, and the competition rate was 20 times the narrow gate.

After two months of recruit training, Mr. Tsuchiya entered the Naval Communication School on July 1, 1941, as one of 1,336 trainees in the 58th General Course of Telegraphy.

It was only five months before the start of the Pacific War.

Although it was a school, it was an army, and according to the results of the exam, the iron fist sometimes flew, wrote a classmate after the war.

Tsuchiya often sends letters to his parents' home in between his tough training.

"Grandmother, have you changed since then? In my military service life, the things that make me happiest are eating, going to bed, and hearing news from home." (1941) June 7)

"I thought that the family was also harvesting and cultivating the rice, and it came to mind again. Also, please send me a picture of my parents." (October 26, 1941)

Then, when the Pacific War began, graduation was brought forward to March, and Tsuchiya headed to the front lines.

The first battle was the Battle of Midway.

Only one year after joining the military, Mr. Tsuchiya boarded the aircraft carrier Akagi, the flagship of the Japanese Navy's First Air Fleet, as a third class sailor.

The mission is "communication soldier".

It is the role of receiving telegrams brought to the warship, such as radio.

According to the ``Naval Volunteer Reference Book for Leaders'' at the time, it was an ``extremely important mission'' that required them to ``be the ears and mouth of naval ships or land units''.

It says, ``The brain must be as good as that of a human being, and in particular must have a keen sense of hearing, good sense of touch, and good judgment.''

Also aboard the Akagi was Kishichiro Totsuka (16), a third class sailor from Iwate who was in the same class as Naval Communication School.

The first battle for the two was the Battle of Midway.

At the end of May 1942, Akagi with two people on board set sail from Hashirashima in the Seto Inland Sea.

Mr. Totsuka describes an episode with Mr. Tsuchiya, who was in the same year as him, in his memoir "Youthful Reminiscences of Young Navy Soldiers" written later in his life.

“(June) 3rd, we continued to sail in thick fog. During lunch, senior noncommissioned officer Yuki said, ``This ship will soon enter the battle area. In order not to be embarrassed, even if it is, to take care of your hair, of course, prepare military uniforms and underwear for formal wear.'(Omitted) Hair clippers with Tsuchiya It was a good fit, and I had the dexterous Tsuchiya shave my downy hair, and I felt refreshed.”

Tsuchiya-san and Totsuka-san felt a sense of tension as they faced the battlefield for the first time, but they probably didn't even imagine the horrific situation that awaited them.

the receiving room was engulfed in flames

The strategy of the Imperial Japanese Navy was to attack the U.S. airfield on Midway Island, destroy the U.S. aircraft carrier forces that rushed there, and solidify their dominance over the Pacific Ocean.

In Totsuka's memoir, the beginning of the Battle of Midway is described as follows.

“It was 01:30 (Japan time), and the deck was silent for a while after the attacking party sent out a message.

After that, a telegram announcing Fuunkyu is brought to the receiving room.

"There is something that looks like an enemy aircraft carrier." The

Japanese side was thinking of a surprise attack on Midway Island, but in fact, the American side had detected the plan in advance.

The U.S. Navy deciphered the Japanese Navy's code and sent three aircraft carriers to the surrounding waters to ambush them.

The receiving room where Mr. Tsuchiya and Mr. Totsuka were located was a closed room separated by an iron door.

Because you have a hearing device (receiver) on your ear, it is a world isolated from the outside of the room.

Operational instructions may also be sent from the Imperial Navy Headquarters in Tokyo or the Combined Fleet Headquarters on the battleship Yamato.

The two of them nervously received the radio wave, organized the contents, and continued the task of handing it over to the non-commissioned officers.

Before long, the sound of Akagi's anti-aircraft fire began to reach through the receiver.

The two of them continued to work tensely as they heard that a fierce battle was going on.

Then, suddenly, I felt a shock that made my body float.

Smoke entered through a small window of about 30 centimeters that was opened and closed to process incoming telegrams, and the smell filled the room.

However, when I continued to work, the room suddenly became dark and the receiver stopped working.

"I'm going to go get a gas mask," said Mr. Totsuka, who had received permission from his superiors.

The fire quickly spread to the surrounding rooms.

The superior commander immediately abandoned the reception room and ordered them to evacuate to the outside of the room.

He was late when he reached the deck. He was relieved to see Tsuchiya-san, but found that Tsuchiya-san's clothes were burnt.

Two people who wandered the ocean

Akagi was bombed by a bomber that took off from an American aircraft carrier that was ambushing her, and her flight deck was severely damaged.

As a result, the bombs and torpedoes placed in the hangar exploded, causing "induced explosions".

Mr. Totsuka witnessed a thunderous roar, an explosion ripping through the outer wall of the ship, and debris flying into the sea.

Looking down from the anti-aircraft gun deck where they had evacuated, it seemed that the sea surface was 15 meters away.

In fact, Mr. Totsuka was not good at swimming.

However, as the ship was engulfed in flames and his body became scorching hot, Mr. Totsuka forgot that he could not swim and shouted, "I'll jump into the sea." is.

He sank deep into the sea, and when he finally emerged from the water while struggling, Mr. Tsuchiya was nearby.

Tsuchiya, who trained in the sea of ​​Atami, was a good swimmer.

Mr. Totsuka wrote about the situation at that time.

"Tsuchiya said, 'Let's leave the ship,' but I hesitated because I'm not a good swimmer, but there was a hammock floating in the sea, and I thought I'd use it to leave the ship, so I talked with Tsuchiya and clung to it. "Totsuka, come here quickly," he called out, and he was a good swimmer who grew up on the beach and was a skillful swimmer.

A 16-year-old witnessed the death of a 15-year-old in battle

Totsuka, who got separated from Tsuchiya, drifted alone for three and a half hours.

He saw a friendly ship many times, and raised her hand high to signal that she was not spotted.

Feeling dizzy from fatigue, I let go of the hammock and picked it up again with a sudden realization.

While repeating such things, I saw an allied destroyer nearby.

As he continued to wave his hand, he drew nearer, so with the last of his strength he approached the ship and was rescued on board.

All the clothes he was supposed to be wearing were washed away by the waves.

After receiving his clothes, I was in the troop room of the destroyer, remembering that I had been miraculously saved.

As soon as I headed there, a lieutenant medical officer opened the hatch saying, "Do you recognize this soldier?"

Then, Tsuchiya-san, who had jumped into the ocean and called out to me, "Come here quickly," was lying there without a word.

It looked like his stomach was hurt.

When Mr. Totsuka reported, "It's Ryosaku Tsuchiya," the Surgeon Lieutenant gave the order, "Take the things left behind."

Tsuchiya had a watch on his wrist.

When I looked, they both stopped at 9:13 when they jumped into the sea from the anti-aircraft gun deck.

As dusk approached, Tsuchiya was to be buried at sea.

Tsuchiya-san, wrapped in a blanket and placed in a hammock with cannonballs, quietly sank into the waters of Midway.

Mr. Totsuka had no choice but to pray for the fleeting farewell to his classmate.

After a while, I looked at the sea in the murmur of the surroundings, and on the horizon that was slightly bright, the huge body of the aircraft carrier Akagi, which had burned out and turned blackish brown, was quietly floating.

Shortly after, the disabled Akagi was sunk by a torpedo fired by a friendly destroyer.

Twenty-two hours after the start of the attack, four aircraft carriers, the pride of the Japanese Navy, were lost, and the battle ended.

lamentation of the family left behind

Mr. Tsuchiya and Mr. Totsuka were classmates at the Naval Communication School and participated in various battles for three years and five months until the end of the war.

549 people were killed in action or died of disease.

787 survived.

However, it is said that many of them died of illness soon after the war because of the harsh working conditions during the war.

Twenty-three years after the war, a group was established, and volunteers began searching for information about their peers.

Mr. Totsuka was also one of the participants.

His son, Yasuhiko Totsuka, 67, said, "After the war, his father spent his days consoling the spirits of his comrades-in-arms."

Mr. Totsuka never forgot Mr. Tsuchiya as a friend who saw his death.

He continued to search for Tsuchiya's bereaved family.

The clue was the word "next station from Ito" that Mr. Tsuchiya had told me before his death.

It was in 1970 that he finally met his bereaved family.

Twenty-eight years have passed since the Battle of Midway in which Mr. Tsuchiya died.

Totsuka told his parents that Tsuchiya had been buried with dignity, but was unable to tell his parents everything about his unforgettable friend's final moments.

When I searched for Tsuchiya's bereaved family this time, I found out that relatives live in Atami.

His parents had already died.

One of his relatives told me, "After the war, I always had a navy hat on my house. I was told that he was a proud son."

I visited Mr. Tsuchiya's grave.

Next to the grave of his family, there was the grave of Mr. Ryosaku Tsuchiya, which was nearly twice as tall.

According to the letters carved into the stone, it was erected in his father's name, Bensaku, on June 5, 1944, the anniversary of his death two years after his death.

His mother, Mitsu, is said to have told Hisae Sawachi when he was alive.

"I really want to see the sea of ​​Midway. You two said you wanted to go before the end of your life, but there's nothing you can do about it now."

"I wonder if they've become food for the fish, what are they doing on the bottom of the sea?"

What did my son see on the battlefield at the young age of 15?

The lamentation of a parent who can't even meet the remains.

As a parent of a 15-year-old son, just reading his mother Mitsu's words made me feel the deep sadness contained in them, and I wondered if this was why his heart was breaking. I couldn't help but feel it.

It is said that at the last meeting before going to the Battle of Midway, Mr. Tsuchiya said to his father, Mr. Bensaku:

"I want to die in a way that is filial to my parents. Live long even if I die."

When I saw the epitaph in the grave of the Tsuchiya family, I was taken aback.

His father Bensaku died in 1989 at the age of 90, and his mother Mitsu died in 2005 at the age of 100.

Her parents thought she had spent her whole life keeping the last promise she made to her beloved son.

Tsuchiya's grave is built facing the Atami sea and the Pacific Ocean where his ashes are still buried.

Chiyo Migita ,

executive director of the political, economic, and international program department

Joined in 1988 Produced programs related to the Pacific War, such as "Testimony of the Japanese Navy 400 Hours" and "What Happened Under the Mushroom Cloud"

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References

Hisae Sawachi "Sleep on Canghai, Life and Death in the Battle of Midway 6" (Mainichi Shimbun)

Kishichiro Totsuka "Youthful Reminiscences of Young Navy Soldiers"

Naval Correspondence School "Fifty-sixth Period History"