Last Letters Home From Kamikaze Pilots by jnow1101

The most compelling section of THE DIVINE WIND is the last chapter, which includes actual letters that kamikaze pilots sent home to their parents prior to launching their final missions. I have selected excerpts from five of these letters, and committed them to audio here. One can see that these men range widely in personality and belief; one of them even sounds quite cynical, attacking "wily politicians" and expressing skepticism in the myth of "the purity of (his) ancestors," and "feeling a strong attachment" to life, earnestly asking, "Is that a weakness on my part?" Others, however, are more uncomplicatedly devout in their zeal. "Please congratulate me," one writes. "I have been given a splendid opportunity to die... I wish that I could be born seven times, each time to smite the enemy!"