World War II captain honored aboard USS Missouri
By Dan Nakaso
Advertiser Staff Writer
Fifty-six years later, former chief gunners' mate Walter Lassen still believes his captain was right to bury an enemy at sea with military honors.
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu AdvertiserBy Dan Nakaso
The battleship USS Missouri was under attack by Japanese fighter planes during the battle of Okinawa when a kamikaze pilot carrying a 500-pound bomb crashed into the starboard side of the Missouri just 50 feet from Lassen's position on the No. 3 turret.
Walter Lassen, 81, who served as a chief gunners' mate aboard the USS Missouri, was part of the burial detail for a Japanese kamikaze pilot that crashed into the battleship.
Even though the Missouri remained under attack, then-Capt. William M. Callaghan organized a funeral detail the next day — April 12, 1945 — complete with a Japanese flag sewn together by Missouri sailors.
It was a little-known footnote to World War II that got lost in history because it happened on the same day that Franklin D. Roosevelt died.
"There's a code of ethics where we honor each other," said Lassen, who is now 81 years old.
Yesterday, just a few yards from where the kamikaze's damage to the Missouri has become a tour stop on the floating museum, Navy brass and Japanese dignitaries stood on the battleship's teak deck to honor Callaghan for his gesture 56 years later.
The identity of the Japanese pilot has never been established, but it could well have been Lt. j.g. Shigeju Yaguchi, who commanded the 5th Kembu Squadron that attacked the task group that included the Missouri.
Yesterday, his brother, Siro Yaguchi, took part in the ceremony to thank Callaghan.
"To order in the midst of battle a proper and reverent sea burial for the pilot speaks of the ultimate in chivalry and compassion," he said. "Admiral Callaghan's action, as we have only recently been made aware of, brings forth from the families of all the special-attack force pilots a great feeling of gratitude and deep appreciation. ... May I again say thank you on the deck of this famous battleship where the surrender documents were signed to end World War II, and in sight of the USS Arizona wherein are enshrined the remains of those who perished during the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941."
Sen. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawai'i, a Medal of Honor winner who lost his right arm fighting with the all-Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team in World War II, said that combat forces soldiers to confront their values.
"You're flooded with so many competing emotions — hate, fear, anger, triumph," Inouye said. "And the line between right and wrong, decent and obscene blurs, especially, if you had already watched your fellow brothers die at the hand of the enemy."
The decision to honor the dead pilot divided the Missouri crew, said retired Vice Adm. Robert Kihune, president of the USS Missouri Memorial Association.
It must have been particularly difficult for Callaghan, Kihune said, because his brother — Rear Adm. Daniel J. Callaghan — was killed in 1942 during the battle of Guadalcanal.
Kihune quoted Gen. Douglas MacArthur in saying, "The world is in a constant conspiracy against the brave. It's the age-old struggle — the roar of the crowd on one side and the voice of your conscience on the other."
Callaghan, the Missouri's first commander, retired in 1957 as a vice admiral. He died in 1991 at age 93.
His act still holds lessons for the military of today, Inouye said.
"Technology allows us to hit a target from a thousand miles away," Inouye said. "We, in many ways, desensitize this action, and there's a growing tendency for it to become nothing personal."
