Mitsuo Fuchida

Born in Nara Prefecture, Japan, Mitsuo Fuchida was a clever, outspoken, and personally fearless pilot during World War II. He entered the Naval Academy in 1921 where he met and befriended classmate Minoru Genda and discovered the love of flying airplanes. Specializing in horizontal bombing, Fuchida gained such prowess that he was made an instructor. He was shortly after promoted to lieutenant-commander and was accepted into the Naval Staff College. Fuchida joined the aircraft carrier Akagi in 1939 as a flight commander where he was now an experienced pilot with over 3,000 hours of flight experience. He was the commander of the Japanese attack force during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. He then stayed on as the air officer of the Akagi's attack force and personally led air raids against American and other allied bases in New Guinea, Australia, and Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). Fuchida was sidelined during the naval battle of Midway on June 4, 1942 after an sudden attack of appendicitis, where he was wounded when be broke both of his ankles after he fell from a ladder during the fire fighting after the Akagi was hit by U.S. bombers. After spending most of 1942 in a naval hospital, he returned to active duty and was active as a staff air officer and squadron leader until the end of the war in 1945. During the late 1940's Fuchida became a minister and wrote about his life, all about the Pearl Harbor attack and Midway in a book titled "Midway: The Battle that Doomed Japan." Mitsuo Fuchida died in 1976.