Kamikaze Pilots: If ever you wondered why.....

[Fozzer]

A look back in history.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-26256048

Includes the video of the meeting with a Kamikaze Pilot.

Kamikaze Pilots actions similar to the Allies suicidal Trench Warfare actions during World War I......With the cry: "Over the Top!".

I wonder if modern Western folks would still do it nowadays?....

Paul.

[ozzy72]

I was just reading this during my lunch break Paul, an interesting read on and a thought provoking article. I doubt many would do what they did in this day and age.

[boromir125]

I think you need only ask a Medal of Honor winner about that, gentlemen. I believe the difference is that one is an act of madness, the other, an act of heroism.

[Hawkeye07]

I think you need only ask a Medal of Honor winner about that, gentlemen. I believe the difference is that one is an act of madness, the other, an act of heroism.

What really is the difference between madness and heroism? Weren't the Kamikazes revered in their homeland as heros sacrificing themselves for the Empire? We (The Allies)had a few Kamikazes too. For example young airmen who flew their stricken aircraft into an enemy ship or bomber to prevent it from killing their countymen, but we call them "Heros." Isn't that exactly what the Kamikazis thought they were doing?

Is a Japanese Kamikazi pilot any less a hero because he fought as a member of a military establishment that committed gross atrocities against civilians and POW's and ultimately lost the war? Should hero's be defined by the nobility of their act or the nobility of their cause? And who defines that nobility of cause, all propaganda aside?

Anyone else's thought on this?

[Fozzer]

I could never understand the worth of someone committing suicide to prove/make a point.

I am always curious as to what goes through a suicide bombers mind just before he/she presses the button on their vest.

Do they really think they are going to "Heaven", or whatever else they call it?

Paul.... ....!

[Jetranger]

1942

worth watching , bout' an hour long !!

few people should be made to watch it everday for a month - wake em' up !!!


1942 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_EOpfIbod0&feature=c4-videos

[Bass]

I could never understand the worth of someone committing suicide to prove/make a point.

I am always curious as to what goes through a suicide bombers mind just before he/she presses the button on their vest.

Do they really think they are going to "Heaven", or whatever else they call it?

Paul.... ....!

Yes, they do!
Belief and brainwashing. The Japanese (and others) did the same.

[logjam]

Notice that they were all young men/boys, asked to give their lives. What is outstanding, is that none of these attacks were led by mature leaders willing to give their lives too.
Same thing with Islamic militant fanatics. Notice the lack of mature rational thinking men willing to wear the vest of death.

[C]

Kamikaze Pilots actions similar to the Allies suicidal Trench Warfare actions during World War I......With the cry: "Over the Top!".

Apart from the loss rate in WW1 was (unhappily for certain elements of society it seems who'd like to think 95% of all men were lost on the Western Front) far less than that of the Kamikaze brethren!

I think you need only ask a Medal of Honor winner about that, gentlemen. I believe the difference is that one is an act of madness, the other, an act of heroism.

You have to hope the MoH winner is still alive to ask. Same with the VC...

Plenty of VC winners could reasonably easily be compared to Kamikaze operators, in that they knew full well their deed would result in death, both of themselves, but also others (in the case of some, particularly the WWII RAF VCs). Lt Basil Weston VC springs to mind, putting a grenade into a bunker, and sealing the opening with his own body to maximise the damage inside. Sqn Ldr Bob Palmer VC, holding a dead course on a daylight bombing run, under attack from air and ground, and mortally on fire well before the target, yet still pressed on...

The Kamikaze mentality was different in that it was a Corps of those all with the same resolve and belief, but I think there were plenty on both sides who would go beyond the reasonably expected behaviour of a frontline soldier, sailor or airman.