29 Facts About Mitsuo Fuchida

Mitsuo Fuchida was a Japanese captain in the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and a bomber observer in the Imperial Japanese Navy before and during World War II.

Mitsuo Fuchida is perhaps best known for leading the first wave of air attacks on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941.

Mitsuo Fuchida was born in what is part of Katsuragi, Nara Prefecture, Japan to Yazo and Shika Fuchida on 3 December 1902.

Mitsuo Fuchida entered the Imperial Japanese Naval Academy at Etajima, Hiroshima, in 1921, where he befriended classmate Minoru Genda and discovered an interest in flying.

Mitsuo Fuchida gained combat experience during the Second Sino-Japanese War, when he was assigned to the aircraft carrier Kaga in 1929 and then to the Sasebo Air Group, Mitsuo Fuchida was promoted to lieutenant commander on 1 December 1936 and was accepted into the Naval Staff College.

Mitsuo Fuchida joined the aircraft carrier Akagi in 1939 as the commander of the air group.

Mitsuo Fuchida ordered "Tenkai", and upon seeing no US activity at Pearl Harbor, Mitsuo Fuchida slid back the canopy of his Nakajima B5N2 torpedo bomber, tailcode AI-301, and fired a single dark blue flare known as a "black dragon", the signal to attack.

Mitsuo Fuchida, thinking Lt Cmdr Shigeru Itaya's Zeroes had missed the signal, fired a second flare.

Mitsuo Fuchida knew there was a misunderstanding which could not be rectified, so he led his torpedo bombers into attack positions.

At this point, Cmdr Fuchida's pilot, Lieutenant Mitsuo Matsuzaki, guided their bomber along with the remaining horizontal bombers in a formation sweep around Kaena Point and headed down the western coast of Oahu.

Mitsuo Fuchida returned to his carrier only after the second wave had completed its mission.

Mitsuo Fuchida inspected his craft and found 21 large flak holes: the main control wires were barely holding together.

On 19 February 1942, Mitsuo Fuchida led the first of two waves of 188 aircraft in a devastating air raid on Darwin, Australia.

On 4 June 1942, while on board Akagi, Mitsuo Fuchida was wounded at the Battle of Midway.

When flames blocked the exit from the bridge, the officers evacuated down a rope, and as Mitsuo Fuchida slid down, an explosion threw him to the deck and broke both his ankles.

Mitsuo Fuchida received a long-distance phone call from Navy Headquarters asking him to return to Tokyo.

Mitsuo Fuchida was surprised to find his former flight engineer, Kazuo Kanegasaki, who all had believed had died in the Battle of Midway.

Mitsuo Fuchida then went on to tell him of a young lady, Peggy Covell, who served them with the deepest love and respect, but whose missionary parents had been killed by Japanese soldiers on the island of Panay in the Philippines.

For Mitsuo Fuchida, this was inexplicable, as in the Bushido code revenge was not only permitted, it was "a responsibility" for an offended party to carry out revenge to restore honor.

Mitsuo Fuchida became almost obsessed trying to understand why anyone would treat their enemies with love and forgiveness.

Mitsuo Fuchida created the Captain Mitsuo Fuchida Evangelistical Association based in Seattle, Washington and spoke full-time of his conversion to the Christian faith in presentations titled "From Pearl Harbor To Calvary".

Mitsuo Fuchida remained dedicated to a similar initiative as the group for the remainder of his life.

Mitsuo Fuchida's autobiography, titled "Shinjuwan Kogeki no Sotaicho no Kaiso", was published in Japan in 2007.

In 1959, Mitsuo Fuchida was among a group of Japanese visiting the tour of US Air Force equipment given by General Paul Tibbets, who piloted the Enola Gay that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.

Mitsuo Fuchida died of complications caused by diabetes in Kashiwara, near Osaka on 30 May 1976 at the age of 73.

Mitsuo Fuchida was the author of three books: one on the Battle of Midway, one a memoir, and one on his conversion to Christianity.

Mitsuo Fuchida was an important figure in the early portion of the Pacific War, and his written accounts, translated into English and published in the US, were highly influential.

Alan Zimm's 2011 Attack on Pearl Harbor: Strategy, Combat, Myths, Deceptions, reinforced and enlarged these earlier criticisms and added new charges, including Mitsuo Fuchida having fabricated a battle damage assessment that was presented to Emperor Hirohito.

Zimm subsequently accused Mitsuo Fuchida of lying about important decisions and signals he made as strike leader immediately prior to the attack, while blaming others for his own errors.