posted
The following information was located by my Japanese friend, Yukitoshi. He was able to locate the an IJA reserve officer, Mr. Shigetoshi Kawanabe, who served on Yap during the war and has memories about the American attacks:
Mr. Shigetoshi Kawanabe was born in 1914, he graduated from the school, and became a teacher. Then, he became the IJA reserve officer. When the 52. Field-Antiaircraft-Battalion was mobilized Manchuria to the Pacific Ocean area, he became Commander of the 1st Battery (later, AA unit/ 49th Independent-Mixed-Brigade).After the war, he became a teacher again. Now, he retires from the teaching profession and is passing every day calmly...
Kawanabe said to me... "My Battery performed the intense interception in July, 1944. We received the intense attack again in September, 1944. The cause of crash of the carrier-based aircraft shot down on September 6 will be our shooting. We reported having shot down four Grumman's on that day. (He was attending the officer commanding meeting and had not participated in the battle.) On the next day, the position received the intensive attack and one Section received the direct hit. Then, the IJA units lapsed into the food shortage and we performed farming. I want to hear from the pilots and crew who attacked Yap those days." <.I>
Copyright Notice: All images and text on this website are protected by U.S. and International Copyright Law. No images or text should be copied, downloaded, transferred, or reproduced without the written consent of Patrick Ranfranz/MissingAirCrew.com Images. If you wish to use any materials (images or text), please contact: webmaster@missingaircrew.com
® Copyright 2004-2005, MissingAirCrew.com®, All rights reserved.
Printer-friendly view of this topic