Yukio Araki

Yukio Araki (Japanese: 荒木 幸雄, Araki Yukio, March 10, 1928 – May 27, 1945) was a Japanese aviator of the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. As a kamikaze pilot and member of the 72nd Shinbu Squadron, Araki died on May 27, 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa when he deliberately crashed his bomb-laden Mitsubishi Ki-51 into the USS Braine. It is speculated that Araki and one other pilot hit and damaged the ship, killing 66 of its crew. At 17, Araki was one of the youngest kamikaze pilots.

Yukio Araki
Portrait of Corporal Yukio Araki. c.1943
Born(1928-03-10)March 10, 1928
Miyamae-cho, Kiryū, Gunma, Japan
DiedMay 27, 1945(1945-05-27) (aged 17)
USS Braine (DD-630), off Okinawa, Japanese Empire
Allegiance Empire of Japan
Service/branch Imperial Japanese Army
Years of service1944–1945
RankCorporal
Unit72nd Shinbu Squadron
Battles/warsWorld War II
Corporal Yukio Araki (centre) holds a puppy in a group photo taken one day before his death, 26 May 1945.

Biography

Araki Yukio was born on March 10, 1928, in Miyamae, Kiryu, Gunma Prefecture. At the age of fifteen he joined the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service's Youth Pilot Training Program.[1] In or around September 1943, he began training at the Tachiarai Air Base. After he graduated he started working at Metabaru Air Field, and in 1944 he got work at Heijo (now known as Pyongyang), Korea.[2] On 27 May 1945, Araki took off from Bansei Airfield, at Bansei (now part of Minamisatsuma), Kawanabe District, Kagoshima Prefecture in a Mitsubishi Ki-51 on a kamikaze mission.[3] At the age of seventeen, Araki is one of the youngest known kamikaze pilots. It has been speculated that his plane was one of two that struck the USS Braine, killing 66 of its crew; however, the ship did not sink.[1][2]

Araki had been home in April 1945, and left letters for his family, to be opened upon the news of his death. The letter to his parents noted:

Please find pleasure in your desire for my loyalty to the emperor and devotion to parents.
I have no regrets. I just go forward on my path.[3]

Prior to his mission, and in accordance with the custom of the kamikaze pilots, Araki cut a lock of his hair and clipped his fingernails, which together were to be sent to his parents following his death. These were sent to his family for burial in a cemetery in Kiryu.

Cultural references

In 2004, Tsuneyuki Mori published Araki's biography, entitled Yuki Died at 17 in a Kamikaze Attack (ユキは十七歳 特攻で死んだ – 子犬よさらば、愛しきいのち). Mori is one of Japan's most noted authors of books about the kamikaze pilots and their world.[4]

See also

References
  1. "Yuki wa juunanasai tokkou de shinda (Yuki died at 17 in a kamikaze attack)". Kamikaze Images. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  2. Bos, Carole. "Kamikaze Attacks – Pacific Theater, WWII". AwesomeStories.com. Archived from the original on 4 April 2016. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  3. Gordon, Bill (May 2005). "Last Letters of Corporal Yukio Araki". Kamikaze Images. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  4. Yuki Died at 17 in a Kamikaze Attack Archived 2018-12-25 at the Wayback Machine from the Kamikaze Images website accessed on June 12, 2016.
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