A Japanese ex-soldier who shot down 19 Allied aircraft as a pilot of a Zero fighter plane during World War II. He is now on what he calls his final mission: using his wartime experiences to warn Japan against ever going to war again. He says:
I fought the war from the cockpit of a Zero, and can still remember the faces of those I killed. They were fathers and sons, too. I didn’t hate them or even know them. That is how war robs you of your humanity, by putting you in a situation where you must either kill perfect strangers or be killed by them.
Exactly. This is why I warn Americans about joining the military–they are putting themselves in a situation where they may have to kill someone they have no business killing in a place where they have no business being, or be killed themselves.
3:49 pm on April 5, 2015
