This is the catchphrase for the special feature. This year marks 77 years since the end of the war. It is not widely known that at the end of the war, there was a major bomber base called Genkai Air Base in Itoshima City, Fukuoka Prefecture. We will unravel the former air base from the testimonies of those who tell the story of that time, those who inherited their thoughts, and those who lived at that time.
This is the coastline located in the southwest of the Itoshima Peninsula in Fukuoka Prefecture. In this area between Hikitsu Bay and Funakoshi Bay, there was once the largest floating air base of the former Imperial Japanese Navy.
It was called "Genkai Air Base." However, most of the official information about the base was discarded, and its existence has been shrouded in mystery for a long time.
■Kenkichi Nakata (79)
"This is the monument to the former Genkai Air Base."
It was only in the Heisei era that the details of the base were revealed.
In March 1945 (Showa 20), as the situation in the Pacific War worsened, the former Imperial Japanese Navy needed a new air base base that would not be known to the enemy.
The plan to establish a new secret base was carried out in strict secrecy as a base for seaplane bombers that could take off and land on water and did not have a runway.
Most of the approximately 1,000 soldiers who were involved stayed in nearby houses and inns and carried out repeated attacks to defend the mainland.
■ Nakata
"In broad terms, it's a missing part of Showa history. In more personal terms, it's a page of local history that has been recorded here."
One of the members who stood up to erect the monument, Kenkichi Nakata (79), who lives in Shima Funakoshi, Itoshima City, Fukuoka Prefecture, has been researching the Genkai Air Base for over 20 years.
The trigger for this was a certain description left in the local town history.
■ Nakata
"I thought this was wrong."
The Shima Town History, compiled 27 years after the war, states that it was the "Navy Special Attack Force Funakoshi Base." In other words, it states that it was a base for the kamikaze forces.
■ Nakata
"You have to gather the evidence to say it's wrong."
Nakata collected the few records of the former navy and testimonies from former members and residents, and conducted extensive research.
■ Nakata
"Seaplanes took off from the west coast of the Itoshima Peninsula and set out to attack enemy ships around Okinawa. They were equipped with torpedoes and tried to fight back as torpedo bombers, totaling 100 planes."
The main force at Genkai Air Base was the "Zuiun" floatplane, equipped with bombing capabilities.
The planes were usually hidden in pine forests and stored, camouflaged with tree branches, and then loaded onto carts on rails laid from the beach to the sea and unloaded.
They set out after dark, flying from Funakoshi Bay, where Genkai Air Base was located, via Koniya Base on Amami Oshima, and repeatedly attacked enemy ships around Okinawa at night. A total of 111 sorties were made, of which 20 planes did not return.
Currently, a special exhibition on the Genkai Air Base, including materials collected by Nakata, is being held at the Shima Historical Museum (until September 4th).
■Museum Manager Satoshi Inatomi
"The Zuiun is the only plane in the world that would dive bomb a seaplane."
At the time the base was established, the navy had been successful in suicide attacks, using aircraft to ram targets. This air force also refused the orders of the military higher-ups to carry out suicide attacks.
■Inatomi
"We were not a suicide squadron, so we were told to always come back. The Zuiun Unit's policy was to go out on multiple sorties by ourselves, sink the enemy as many times as possible, and sink as many ships as possible."
There were no barracks, and instead local houses were used.
Near the monument, there are remains of a hearth from the kitchen where the troops' meals were prepared.
Amidst the harshness of their mission, the soldiers found solace in the interaction with the local residents who were staying with them.
The home of Setsuko Obe (85), who lives in Shimashinmachi, Itoshima City, Fukuoka Prefecture, was used as lodging for four maintenance soldiers at Genkai Air Base.
Setsuko was nine years old at the time, and her interaction with the soldiers continued even after the war.
■Setsuko Obe (85)
"My father said (when welcoming the soldiers) that it was for the soldiers who were working for the country, and (the soldiers) were kind. Everyone, especially Muneshige-san. They greeted us loudly, but they were kind-hearted."
Most of them were young people around 20 years old.
The soldiers only had a place to sleep, but the family was worried about the small amount of food provided by the military.
■Obe
"My grandmother used to say that there's no way that much would be enough for those young soldiers. So she would make sukiyaki and give them to them at night."
Setsuko testifies as follo...
