My names is Tamaka Ozairo, I am 56 years old, and I was a Japanese soldier in World War II.
I was born in the town of Hiroshima in Japan, to Hirai and Kyoya Ozairo. My mother, Hirai, took care of my older brother (Kiroya) and I from the moment we were born. My father, Kyoya, never really did seem to care for us. He was a general in the Japanese army, meaning he never had time to care or see us. Kiroya was a smart child from the start, beginning to play the piano at the age of 3, and solving complicated mathematical problems at the age of 8. While he was turning into the families prodigy, I was growing into an anything but normal child. It was clear that from the moment I turned 4, I had somewhat of a more complex capability of thinking things through, although it wasn’t much of a useful skill, it helped me through elementary and high school.
When I graduated from high school in 1939, my father pulled me into the army. “The army is good for you, Ozairo, it will help you turn into a smarter and stronger man.” He had said the day he snatched me away from my mother. I was the last person who was at home living with her, since my brother was already married and working as a busy doctor, and when my father took me away, she was left alone.
My father was disappointed in my brother, Kiroya, wanting him to also join him in the army. But Kiroya never did want to join him. Therefore, he dragged me into it, naturally. I had no choice but to train and do what I was told to do. I passed the brutal training with flying colors, but I never stood on the same side as my father. My father was good friends with Emperor Hirohito, as well as Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and Commander Mitsuo Fuchida.
In 1940 I became aware that my father, Admiral Yamamoto, and Commander Fuchida were evidently up to something. They had more than a dozen meetings, all of which I had not been invited to. I did my best to prove to my father that I was trustworthy enough, although I was never able to kill a single living soul on this earth in any of our invasions. But I proved useful enough to him when I showed strength in battle strategy.
That was when my father told me of their plan to attack the pacific fleet of the United States of America in a surprise attack in Hawaii. I didn’t want to take any part in the idea, knowing that if our army was to attack America, the ending result would be our lose in the war. However, my father found a way to drag me along anyway. And on December 7th, 1941, I was dragged onto one of the many ships and brought along.
“If you do this you will all bring our empire to ruins!” I yelled at my father as he passed by my room. The room was filled with complete silence as I tried to calm myself. After a few seconds he slowly walked into the room, hands behind his back.
“It is not your place, to judge decisions made by people more important to you.” He said, keeping his eyes at me. That was when for the first time I saw who my father truly was. As he looked into my eyes I saw nothing but complete darkness in his. I saw no sign of a soul, or a sign or any compassion towards me. Just a completely ignorant man who would stop at nothing to gain all the power in the world. I shook my head in complete disgust.
I glared at him and with all the calm in the world, fought for the first time. “And who are you to try to say what I can or cannot do, Kyoya.” I said staring straight into his eyes furiously. His eyes widened in surprise as I continued to speak, “You just want all the power in the world, just like Adolf Hitler in Germany. Tell me, father, is he one of your close allies, whilst your wife has been at home since you joined this hell all alone! Waiting for you!” I yelled straight at him, hoping my words would hit their target. “She sits there by the window every single day! Talking nonsense about how you will someday return and be with her once again! You did that to her!” I yelled as loud as I could this time, glaring him straight in the eyes without breaking any contact. For a few moments, the room was filled with nothing but complete, breaking, deafening silence.
He was the first to jump at me, raising his fist at me with an angered expression on his face. I quickly ducked down and grabbed him by the wrist, pulling him onto the ground below me and placing my knee firmly at his throat. He stared at me in surprise and I watched slowly as his expression changed into a small hideous smile as he began to chuckle. I started at him in confusion, trying to slowly catch my breath.
“Ozairo, you are just like me, what makes you think you're any better?” He said smiling at me. My heart began to pound as I pressed my knee even firmer against his throat. “You're exactly like me. And one day, you will end up in my place.” He said glaring at me coldly. I slowly rose to my feet, letting go of him and walking out of the room, leaving him there alone.
As I made my way to the deck of the ship, I began to realize that now was the time to stop this madness, we were only a few hours from beginning the surprise attack, although I wasn’t a fan of Americans myself, I knew that it was the right thing to do. I silently walked made a right turn, instead of going straight and going to the ladder that led to the deck. I slowly walked into my father's room and closed and locked the door behind me, and made my way to his small trunk. I couldn’t just burst into the part of the ship where the three “demons” were working. I resented my father, and I was going to make him pay very soon for what he had done to my mother, brother, and I. I dug through my fathers truck, looking for the “perfect distraction”.
“You’re just like me.” I couldn’t shake off the feeling that he was right. I shook my head as I found what I was looking for and quickly shoved it underneath my shirt and ran off to my room. Soon enough, my father and his allies were going to see what kind of a man I could be.
After about an hour of waiting and planning in my room, I realized that there was not enough time to just wait any longer. I smoothly left my room at around 6:50 a.m. and headed straight to the deck, with my distraction pressed tightly against me. I ran up onto the deck and silently headed behind one of the large pillars at the back of the boat. I slowly placed the bundle onto the ground and took out a match, lighting it on fire as quick as I could, and running straight back down to my quarters. Just as I descended down the flight of stairs that led to the bridge, I could hear a high pitched crack and shooting noises, shortly after I could hear the panicked yelling and running of men, believing they were being attacked from above. My lips slowly curved into a smile of delight and satisfaction as there was another yelling from my fathers room, in a flash he ran past me and up the steps wearing only his pants, yelling at all the soldiers. When I realized I was the only one in the small hallway, I made my move, running straight to the control room and pulling out my pistol. There was no one around as I ran to the room, everyone one was upstairs trying to stop my surprise.
I slowly walked up the door and opened it, finding the Admiral and Commander in the room. My eyes widened as their eyes wandered to the gun in my hand. I froze and slowly turned around and took off running with all my might. I could hear footsteps running towards me from behind, and I shut my eyes hoping that they wouldn’t catch me. I kept on running until I got to my room, and I shut the door behind me, locking it quickly. I sighed as I heard footsteps running past my room and I silently walked to my bed and layed down, catching my breath.
“I wouldn’t relax just yet.” I heard a voice say. My head quickly snapped up looking in a corner, seeing my father. He had a calm expression and composure as he walked over to me and sat down in the bed beside me. “I am disappointed in you, Tamaka.” He said calling me by my first name for the first time. “You are already in your twenties and still playing with fireworks.” He said, staring at me. I looked away and kept my eyes on the top of the bed above me. “You are going home as soon as the invasion stops.” He said, getting to his feet again. “And you won’t be leaving your room until we arrive in Japan.” He said going to the door and walking out, closing the door behind him with a loud click.
I stayed in that room just as he said, not being able to find a way out. I stayed in there locked up, without being able to do a thing. And when news arrived about our success in Hawaii, I could not help but feel responsible for the death of all those who had died due to our attack. I had failed them all.
When we arrived in Japan later that day, my father personally drove me back to my mothers house, but he didn’t get out of the vehicle with me. He stayed in the drivers seat and waited till I got out, to drive off into the night. I slowly walked into the house and opened the door to find my mother sitting in a chair staring out the window. She turned to me and smiled, “Your father came to see me.” She said with the biggest smile on her face. I felt my heart break for her and I just smiled and got down to my knees and gave her a small hug.
“Yes mother, he did.” I said smiling, watching the tears of happiness slowly drip down her pale cheeks. This was the price my mother paid for my mistake, this was why my father came to leave me at home, he knew she’d be staring at the window. He knew she’d see him.
~August 6th 1945~
Our the next 4 years I took a womans hand in marriage and left home. My mother’s illness only got worse over the years and we were forced to have her move in with my wife, Ayuma and I. In 1943 my wife gave birth to my son, Tamaki, who resembled his mother more than me. My father never spoke to me after that, and when I finally saw him again. It was just at the right moment.
It was August 6th 1945 at around 5:30 a.m. when I was awakened by a sharp noise. The sound of fist hitting wood. I quickly jumped out of the bed and ran to the door and opening it quickly. I was surprised as I looked up to see my father there, trying to catch his breath as if he had been running. “General Ozairo..What are you doing here?” I asked, slowly beginning to from. He shoved past me and walked into the house without permission, walking to the bedroom where Ayuma was still asleep. “Excuse me but my wife is still sleeping!” I yelled running after him. He opened the door and began to grab all the clothes from the dresser and packing them into a suitcase.
“Everyone needs to leave. Now. Wake up your mother and get your son!” He yelled, grabbing more clothes and packing them up. My wife sat up in surprise and stared at me in fear.
“Wait, what in the name o--” He glared at me and began to yell.
“Don’t question me, Tamaka!!” He yelled shoving past me and running to my mothers room. I ran after him and pushed him against a wall.
“Don’t you dare.. You’ve hurt her enough.” I said, gritting my teeth. “Now tell me what in the blazes is going on!” I yelled. We both became silent as there was crying coming from my sons room. My wife quickly ran to his room to quiet him down. I stared at my father, awaiting an answer.
He slowly got to his feet, “The Americans are going to attack, we are not sure at what time, but we have to get you all out of Hiroshima.” He said, looking at me for the first time since he entered the house. He wasn’t lying, I could tell by the panicked expression he had in his eyes and on his face. Just as I was about to speak, the door beside us slowly creaked open and my mother slowly stepped out and stopped in her tracks when she saw my father.
“Hirai..” My father said staring at her. My mother’s face was blank for the few seconds until she slowly ran into my fathers arms. My father slowly frowned and returned her embrace, I stared at the two in shock. My father looked at me and nodded slowly, signalling me to pack her things up. I nodded in understanding and ran off to her room, grabbing a few clothes and garments and shoving them into a bag and running off to my son’s room.
“Tamaka.. What's happening?” Ayuma asked as I walked in. I stared at her, seeing her holding our son in one hand and a few suitcases by her side. I sighed and grabbed the suitcases.
“We have to go. The Americans are planning an attack.” I said grabbing her hand and walking towards the front door. My father and mother were already there, suitcases in hand. My father opened the door and drove us to a small airport nearby. To my surprise there was only one small plane. I looked at my father in confusion as he led my family into the plane. “Ozairo.. A word?” I said looked at him. He nodded as my family got themselves situated into the plane. I kept my eyes at them as I spoke. “A lot of people might die here. I am going to stay to try to get others out of here.” I said not even turning to look at him.
“If thats the case. I will stay to help as well.” I heard him say. I turned to stare at him.
“Have you gone mad?” I asked glaring at him. A smile tugged as his lips as he nodded towards the pilot. I turned to the see the plane taking off. I turned to stare at my father, “What in the h--”
“Quiet! We have to go wake up over 300,000 people!” He said. I quickly shut my mouth as we ran to the small station nearby and saw that it was 7:50 a.m already. My father stared at me, his face turning pale.
“What?! What is it!” I yelled staring at him. He shut his eyes for a second and let out a deep breath.
“We have less than 30 minutes to get all these people out of here.” I let out a sigh as I realized the amount of the time we had. We couldn’t possibly get everyone out of here in 30 minutes. I shook my head and took off running towards my neighborhood to wake up the few people who I knew. I got there within 10 minutes of running as I began to bang on all the doors. My father finally caught up to me, “Tell everyone to run to safety! Underground at least!” He yelled. We spent the next 15 minutes yelling at everyone to run to safety. That was when I heard it..
I heard a sharp noise than the sound of something falling. I looked up to see something coming from high above, and I quickly looked at my father. “You were the best son I ever had.” He said to me.
“And you were the best father I ever had.” I said with a small smile as I felt heat beginning to come up all around us. I felt as if I were burning. But I didn’t cry out, neither did my father. There was a deafening boom and i shut my eyes seeing a strong bright light. And then complete silence and darkness.
That was my last heroic act after that. I didn’t wake up. I never did. The bright light I saw in the sky was an atomic bomb that the United States of America had made to avenge what my father, the Admiral, and Commander had done to Pearl Harbor. The atomic bomb had consisted mostly of Uranium. And destroyed almost two thirds of Hiroshima, melting buildings and stone. It killed approximately 70,000 people, my father and myself included and later on 70,000 more lives were lost because of the radiation. Three days later Nagasaki was also attacked. There were less casualties but we were the last casualties of war. Because soon after, Japan finally surrendered, ending World War II. And the tragedies that happened were left in the dark, to be memories and reminders of what war does to those to ask for it and those who try to avoid it when they are the needed the most.