to the 1036 Kamikaze pilots who died during WWII. The Chiran air base was the launching point of 439 of these pilots. The Kamikaze campaign based in Chiran, began on March 26, 1945 near the end of the war when the Americans landed on the southern end of the Okinawa archipelago (the Americans encountered carrier-based Kamikaze for the first time at Leyte Gulf in October 1944). Kamikaze means "divine wind" and refers to the typhoons which scuttled two attempted invasions of Japan by the Mongols in the 1200's. 60 % of the Kamikaze were college-aged or younger. Many of them were teenagers who had become Air Force pilots at 14. The museum includes a photo of every pilot and the letters that they wrote their loved ones on the night prior to their death. Very sad.
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