As hard as life was growing up a fatherless boy under the code of Hagakure, it was not hard enough to prepare him for the brutality of his basic training. Recruits were severely beaten with rattan sticks for the slightest perceived infractions. "I remember sometimes passing out from the blows. The body and mind can take only so much punishment". When a recruit passed out they'd throw cold water on him to revive him. It was not uncommon for the petty officers to drag a man from his bunk in the middle of the night and throw the beats on him. If any man cried out he was given more "discipline". Said Sakai - "We were to suffer in silence. Period". Peer pressure was considered the best medicine for correcting "mistakes" so when one recruit screwed up they all paid. "Although there were some who were sadistic, there was a method in all of this madness. It made us tough as nails, and in battle this is often the decisive factor. After the first six months we were completely automated in our manner. We dared not, or even thought about questioning orders or authority, no matter how ridiculous the order". Saburo soon (but probably not soon enough) graduated from basic training and was assigned to the battleship Kirishima as a turret gunner. The treatment there was no better. Wanting to raise his status in life, Saburo studied long and hard and in 1935 he passed the Naval Gunnery School entrance exam. After which he was assigned to the battleship Haruna as petty officer 3rd class."This ship had sixteen-inch guns, the largest in the world at that time; this class of battleship would only be surpassed by the Yamato and Musashi, and all the world knew we had the best great ships."

Sakai speaks of the flight school recruiting process: "there were three ways to enter flight school in the early days. Remember that the recruiting method in the time before 1941 was very different than after we were at war with your country. The need for pilots caused the quality to drop steeply as the war went on. However, in 1937 when I was selected, there were three ways to get in: Officers graduating from the Naval Academy at Eta Jima, petty officers from the fleet, and young men recruited from the schools who would start their careers as pilots, similar to your ROTC program today. Pilot selection was very strict; the men chosen in 1937 when I was selected were a different breed. The men selected to fly in 1944-45 would not have been qualified to even pump fuel into my aircraft at this time, if that shows you how select the program was. I remember that 1,500 men had applied for training, and seventy had been selected that year. I was one of them, and all were non-commissioned officers from the fleet. This does not include the ensigns coming from the academy; they had their own selection process. That year I do not believe any civilian recruits were chosen, but that would change as the war with America continued. I was twenty years old; I knew that my acceptance into flight school dismissed my previous dishonor, and my uncle and family were so proud of me. The entire village was proud of me. I knew this was my greatest and last chance, and when I reported to Tsuchiura, I knew this was a completely different world."
In 1936 he began flight training. After graduation, "We had additional training in land and aircraft carrier landings at the Naval bases of Oita and Omura in Kyushu, and instrument flying was stressed heavily. This cannot be underestimated, for it saved my life in 1942 I can tell you. This training lasted three months, although I never flew from a carrier during the war. Then I was sent to Formosa (Taiwan) where we had a base at Kaohsiung. Then I was sent to southeastern China and in May 1938 I had my first combat."

Rising Sun by Robert Taylor

On December 8, 1941, only hours after Pearl Harbor, Sakai flew one of 45 Zero’s from Tainan Squadron that attacked Clark airfield in the Philippines. "We started our day at 0200 hours. Our take off was ordered by the commander Saito, but a fog came in and we were delayed. We stayed with our planes waiting, and had breakfast. We received the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor and the Aleutians, and we wondered if the Americans would be expecting us during our attack. Finally at 1000 we were ordered to take off. The mission started badly when a bomber crashed on take-off killing all of the crew. We took off and reached 19,000 feet when I saw a formation of American bombers coming towards our airfield. The Americans always had great reconnaissance and knew where we were. Our orders as the top fighter cover were to attack any aircraft coming towards the base, so we attacked and allowed the others to continue on. Then we saw that these planes were Japanese Army bombers on a routing flight, and no one had informed the navy that they were coming or even in the area. This was almost tragic. We reformed and continued on. When we arrived over Clark Field we were amazed that we had not been intercepted, although there were five American fighters below us who did not attack, and we could not; our orders were to not engage until all of our bombers were in the area. I was also amazed that all of the American planes were in perfect alignment for an attack, and we strafed and bombed, and thoroughly destroyed everything. After the bombers destroyed the base I saw two B- 17s and went into a strafing attack.

We had already dropped our empty external fuel tanks, and we swept in with guns blazing. My two wing men and I shot them up, and as we pulled out the five P-40s we had seen jumped us. This was my first combat against Americans, and I shot down one. We had destroyed four in the air and thirty-five on the ground. This was my third air victory, and the first American, but not the last. I flew missions the next day, and the weather was terrible, a rainstorm that blinded us. The third day was 10 December and we had twenty-seven fighters on this sweep, and this was when I caught a B-17 that was flown by Captain Colin P. Kelly. This was the first B-17 shot down during the war." Japan destroyed most of the Allied Air Force in the Pacific in just a few months and Sakai’s Tainan Squadron became known for destroying the most Allied planes in the history of Japanese military aviation.

The Legend of Colin Kelly by Robert Taylor

On August 7, 1942, 18 Zeroes received the order to attack Guadalcanal (see bottom of page). The range from Rabaul was 560 miles, barely within the range of the Zero fighters.Sakai shot down 3 F4F's in this battle and then found 8 enemy planes in the distance, which he presumed to be F4F’s as well ... he was wrong.
They were SBD Dauntless dive-bombers, with eager rear machine gunners. Sakai's Zero became a target for 16 guns. Never the less, Sakai shot down 3 SBD’s before being hit in the forehead by a bullet which almost blinded his right eye and left him somewhat paralyzed. He survived, flying 4 hours and almost 600 miles back to Rabaul. He barely had eyesight but was able to land his plane. By the time he landed, his gas tank was empty.

Sakai resumed flying air combat, but his bad eye sight got him into trouble. On June 24 1944, he approached 15 planes that he thought were Zeros, but were U.S. Navy Grumman F6F Hellcat fighters. In a high-flying chase that has become legendary, Sakai eluded every single attack from 15 Hellcats for over 20 minutes, returning to base untouched.

Now that's something to smile about !

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Here's an interesting story ...
Several years ago, a former Dutch military nurse contacted the Japanese Military, attempting to locate a Japanese fighter pilot that spared her life over New Guinea in 1942. She was flying in a Dutch military C-47 at low altitude over dense jungle. On board were 11 wounded soldiers and 6 children being evacuated from a combat area. Suddenly, a Japanese Zero appeared alongside the plane. It is not hard to imagine their panic as she and the children began frantically waving, hoping to ward off an attack. After a few moments of terror, the Zero pilot waved back, gave a quick wing wobble and flew away. The C-47 erupted with cheers.
For over fifty years, this Dutch nurse wanted to meet the pilot who had spared their lives. The Japanese Military located that pilot and it was none other than Saburo Sakai, who had been flying combat air patrol on that day. Sakai had thought about downing the C-47 for a moment as was the order of the day, but seeing the waving hands and terrified faces, he was moved to mercy.
Here's how Saburo tells it in one of his last interviews conducted for Microsoft's "Combat Flight Simulator 2" video game:

Update

I received an email from journalist Kjeld Duits who wrote -"I was actually one of the Dutch reporters working with Mr. Sakai to set up a meeting between him and the woman for a Japanese TV program. As I recall it was not a nurse, but a woman claiming to be the daughter of the woman Mr. Sakai had seen in the plane. At the time he told me he had seen a woman with a child. My newspaper researched the background of the woman and discovered the whole thing was a fraud.

I had regular and intensive contact with Mr. Sakai at the time, and visited him at his home. He told me the story about the woman and the child he had seen several times, so that part of the story appears to be correct.

Incidentally, he was a real gentleman and I came to greatly like and admire him."

Thanks for the info Kjeld !

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After 7 years and some 200 combat missions resulting in an estimated 64 (some sources go as low as 20) kills, Saburo Sakai flew his last one on August 17, 1945. (Japan surrendered August 14, 1945, announced publicly on the 15th) "I had a chance to combat the B-29 formations, and I must say that their speed and altitude were incredible, and their defensive fire was very accurate and heavy. I assisted in the destruction of one bomber that crashed in the ocean. This mission was launched after we were ordered to stand down and surrender, so it never went into the official records, but the USAF records recorded the loss over Tokyo Bay.

Saburo Sakai was indeed an Ace, downing 64 Allied aircraft, and most of all, never losing a wingman in over 200 missions. He experienced injuries, but always brought his aircraft home. After WWII, Sakai’s writings described the cruel reality of war and combat. Starting from his book "Samurai", he kept writing and lecturing on leadership based on his experience.

On September 22nd, 2000, he attended a party at the American Atsugi Military base. He had dinner, but felt sick and was taken to the Hospital. During various examinations, Sakai asked the Doctor "May I sleep now?" and his Doctor responded "Yes, you can sleep while we proceed". Saburo Sakai closed his eyes and never opened them again. Japan’s legendary Ace had died at the age of 84.

Saburo, not too amused To the right is Saburo's autograph (left side of image) and Motto (on the right) as painted by him. The Motto reads roughly - "Never give up"

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Saburo Sakai - August 16, 1916 - September 22, 2000

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Victories Include :

Roughly 64 Victories - Details to come

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Thanks go out to

Cy Stapleton of the House of Gutenberg for providing me with the Sakai interview

Article by Glenn T. Heyler &  joe fukuto

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