Yukio Seki Early life . Yukio Seki was born 1921 in Iyo Saijō , a small town in Shikoku . His parents ran an antiques store specializing in tea 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 tried to get to the War Academy of both the Imperial Navy and the ground forces . He was accepted to both of them and he chose navy , attending the Japanese Naval Academy at Eta - Jima . During this time his father died and his mother closed the antiques shop and lived alone . In 1941 , one month before the Pearl Harbor attack , Seki graduated and was ordered to the Battleship " Fusō " . In June of the same year he was promoted to Lieutenant . Soon he was transferred to the seaplane carrier " Chitose " . Service in World War II . Seki saw several naval actions , and participated in a minor role in the battle of Midway as his ship , " Chitose " , belonged to the second wave of Japanese ships . In 1942 Seki returned to Japan and enrolled in the Naval flying academy in Kasumigaura , Ibaraki . After basic training he was transferred to Usa , Oita to be trained as a dive bomber operating from carriers . In January 1944 he became instructor in 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 the proposal 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 to Tainan , a city in Taiwan . He had to leave his wife behind because Tainan was not safe enough for them to go together . Mariko followed Seki to Yokohama to say goodbye to him . Three weeks after he had arrived in Tainan he was transferred again , this time to the 201st flotilla in Philippines as leader of 301st fighter unit . Their base was originally in Nicholas , but was later moved to Mabalacat away from increasing attacks by the Americans . During this time Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi had been making plans for the first Kamikaze attack , and Lieutenant Seki was given the opportunity by group commander Asaiki Tamai to 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 . The Kamikaze attack on Taffy 3 . On October 25 , 1944 , Lt . Seki ' s squadron of 5 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 ace Hiroyoshi Nishizawa , Misao Sugawa , Shingo Honda and Ryoji Baba . Their target was Vice admiral Clifton Sprague ' s " Taffy 3 " Task force during their desperate defence of the landings in the Battle of Leyte Gulf . At 1050 , Seki ' s squadron made their attack on four escort carriers of Taffy 3 : According to the US Navy reports , there were no other kamikaze hits on US ships that day , although there was a " suicide " near miss on the " Kitkun Bay " which was destroyed by AA fire from the " Kitkun Bay " . Since this was at 1120 - nearly one half hour later after Seki ' s attack , and because all 5 of Seki ' s Kamikazes were apparently expended , and because the attacking plane was a non kamikaze type Yokosuka D4Y dive bomber , it is unlikely this was a member of Seki ' s group . Controversies . It is debated whether ' s plane sank the St . 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 on " St . Lo " as 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 was the " Kalinin Bay " . However , the description is sharply different , since there was an immediate visibly large explosion following the first hit on the " Kalinin 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 on the " St . Lo " . A posting on an earlier USS St . Lo survivor 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 . " " Japan ' s future is bleak if it is forced to kill one of its best pilots . I am not going on this mission for the Emperor or for the Empire . . . I am going because I was ordered to ! " " In this interview , he gives 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 . " Whichever pilot actually sank the " St . Lo " did 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 sinking the " St . Lo " .