Yukio Seki

Yukio Seki(関 行男,Seki Yukio, August 29, 1921 – October 25, 1944)was a Japanesenaval aviatorof theImperial Japanese NavyduringWorld War II. As akamikaze pilot, Lieutenant Seki led one of the three fighter groups of the second official kamikaze attack in World War II (the first official attack was an unsuccessful attempt led byYoshiyasu Kunō[ja]on October 21, 1944). Seki's final action took place on October 25, 1944, during theBattle of Leyte Gulf. He led a unit of five bomb-armedMitsubishi Zerofighters, crash-diving his plane deliberately intoUSSSt. Lo's flight deck, being the first kamikazes to sink an enemy ship.
Yukio Seki was born on August 29, 1921 inIyo Saijō, a small town inShikoku.  His parents ran an antiques store specializing intea ceremony utensils. At an early age, Seki was exposed to naval training courses at his middle school and planned a career in the Navy. Since naval personnel were fully prepared to die in battle, and since Yukio was an only child, the family adopted a daughter nearly Yukio's age to carry on the family affairs.
In 1938 he applied to enroll in the War Academy of both theImperial Navyand the ground forces. He was accepted to both; he chose theJapanese Naval AcademyatEtajima. During this time, his father died and his mother closed the antiques shop and lived alone. In 1941, one month before thePearl Harbor attack, Seki graduated and was ordered to thebattleshipFusō. In June of the same year, he was promoted to lieutenant. Soon he was transferred to the seaplane carrierChitose.
Seki saw several naval actions, and participated in a minor role in theBattle of Midwayas his ship,Chitose, belonged to the second wave of Japanese ships.
In 1942, Seki returned to Japan and enrolled in the Naval flying academy atKasumigaura, Ibaraki. After basic training, he was transferred toUsainŌita Prefecture, to be trained as a dive bomber operating from carriers. In January 1944, he became an instructor at Kasumigaura. Seki became friends with the Watanabe family living in Kamakura and fell in love with their daughter Mariko. Once when he was out drinking with his colleagues, one of them suggested that all of them should get married on the same day. They all agreed. The same weekend, Seki went to Kamakura and proposed to Mariko while her mother was present. Mariko accepted, and they were married May 31, 1944. Seki's mother Sekae was the only relative from his side to take part in the wedding. After the wedding, she lived with the young couple for a month and then left saying, "Young couples need some time alone". Soon after, they moved into a house close to the flying academy.
In September 1944, Seki was transferred toTainan, a city inTaiwan. He had to leave his wife behind because Tainan was not safe enough for them to go together. Mariko followed Seki toYokohamato say goodbye to him. Three weeks after he had arrived in Tainan, he was transferred again, this time to the 201st Flotilla in the Philippines as leader of the 301st fighter unit. Their base was originally inNichols Fieldsouth of Manila, but was later moved toClark FieldinMabalacat, away from increasing attacks by the Americans.
During this time, Vice AdmiralTakijirō Ōnishihad been making plans for the first kamikaze attack, and Lieutenant Seki was given the opportunity by group commanderAsaichi Tamaito lead a special attack squadron that would end in the loss of his own life. Seki is said to have closed his eyes, lowered his head and thought for ten seconds, before saying to Tamai, "Please do appoint me to the post."Seki thereby became the leader of the squadron "Shikishima", which conducted the first official kamikaze attack, and the first to sink an enemy ship. Four times, his group returned to base in aborted sorties.
On October 25, 1944, Lt. Seki's squadron of five kamikaze A6M2 Model 21 Zeros,each carrying a 250 kg (550-pound) bomb, took off with an escort of 4 A6M5's flown by legendary aceHiroyoshi Nishizawa,Misao Sugawa, Shingo Honda andRyoji Baba.Their target was Vice AdmiralClifton Sprague's "Taffy 3" task force during their desperate defense of the landings in theBattle of Leyte Gulf, having only a short while earlier survived an attack by theImperial Japanese NavyCenter Force led by AdmiralTakeo Kuritathat included the IJN flagshipYamatoin theBattle off Samarbefore Kurita ordered the Center Force to return home after expending much of their ammunition meant for the Leyte landings against Taffy 3, only succeeding in sinking the escort carrierUSSGambier Bay, the destroyersUSSJohnstonandUSSHoeland destroyer escortUSSSamuel B. Robertsbefore withdrawing. At 1050, Seki's squadron made their attack on four escort carriers of Taffy 3:
According to US Navy reports, there were no other kamikaze hits on US ships that day, although there was a "suicide" near miss onKitkun Baywhich was destroyed by AA fire fromKitkun Bay. Since this was at 1120 – nearly one half-hour after Seki's attack – and all five of Seki's kamikazes were apparently expended and the airplane was aYokosuka D4Ydive bomber, it is unlikely it was part of Seki's group.
It is debated whether Seki's plane sankSt. Lo. Nishizawa survived the attack and made his report stating that Seki's plane glanced off the deck of a carrier but that the bomb did not explode. His description on this point closely matches the attack onSt. Loas reported by her captain. A second plane did score a hit on the same carrier that Seki attacked and that plane's bomb did explode. The only carrier with two hits wasKalinin Bay. However, the description is sharply different, since there was an immediate visibly large explosion following the first hit onKalinin Bay, and no portions of the plane were seen to go over the bow. So Nishizawa's description of Seki's hit most closely matches that onSt. Lo. A posting on an earlier USSSt. Losurvivor site showed a photo purported to be of the engine serial number plate of the plane which sank the ship found on the deck by a sailor about to abandon ship. It was stated that the serial number was later traced back through Japanese authorities to the plane and the pilot who flew it that day, Lt. Seki.
Prior to Seki's mission, Masashi Onoda, a Domei war correspondent, interviewed Yukio Seki and quotes him disparaging suicide attacks:
In this interview, he gave insight into his thinking on how the carrier force should be attacked: "If they would let me, I could drop a 500 kilogram bomb on the flight deck of a carrier without going in for body-crashing and still make my way back."During his flight, his commanders heard him say "It is better to die, rather than to live as a coward."
Seki's full quote from the interview is as follows:
Whichever pilot actually sankSt. Lodid so by releasing his bomb onto the flight deck, just as Seki described to the reporter, instead of crashing his plane directly onto the deck. The reports of the attack are consistent with that of a pilot who intended to return to base after successfully sinkingSt. Lo.