COMPASSION

Chapter 28

The Japanese Zero

Tom and Catherine are sitting at their desks in their library writing in their journals and Schiller’s Miles and Miles is playing in the background. Both are shocked over their son Joe’s thoughts of suicide and despair.
 
Catherine stops her writing and asks Tom, “What are we going to do about Joe?”
 
Tom in frustration throws down his pen and shouts, “I am sick and tired of you constantly worrying about the boys. For Christ sake, their full grown men in their thirties. All you ever do is worry about baby Joe. Is Tommy beating him up? Is that Blonde Bitch you and that moron dentist fixed him up with going to destroy him? Who is going to clean their house? Who is going to cook their food? You must think you are still alive and have to take care of them. Don’t you remember you are dead! Your job is done. You had your chance to make an impact on them. Let the boys find women on their own and or stay single. I don’t care...I am sick and tired of going on and on about them! Those vampires sucked everything out of you. When I left you were a beautiful woman. Those three blood sucking Vampires drained everything out of you and put you in an early grave!”
 
Catherine asks, “Could you turn off the music. Well, you did not help the situation by going out drinking and raising your blood pressure then dying on me leaving me alone with them in the first place! They missed out on all your guidance and training about women.” 
 
Tom begs his wife, “Please all I am saying is I am tired of talking about the boys every single minute!”
 
“Okay, I will change the subject. Who were those Japanese people at my viewing?”
 
“I told you they are Mrs. Asaki’s son and daughter.”
 
“Every time I asked you about your life in the Navy you told me you did not want to talk about it. Now that we are dead are you ready to tell me?”
 
Tom replies, “What do you want to know?” 
 
“I want you to tell me the whole story from the day you joined the Navy to the day you were discharged. Neither one of us is going anywhere so I want to hear it all now.”
 
“You really want to hear this?”  Tom asks.
 
 “Yes, everything. Even the women.”
 
“Well, I enlisted into the Navy January 1944. I picked the Navy because Billy picked the Army. They put me on a train to Camp Peary, VA for basic training. I was part of Company 739 C7. I was in good shape so basic training was easy. I made friends quickly and to tell you the truth it was fun being assigned to the U.S.S. Randolph Aircraft Carrier. The ship was built in Newport News, VA. It was liberating being on a ship and most of the guys did not even think about the war we were in. After Basic Training, we took the train up to Newport, Rhode Island that summer sweating it out as the Pre-Commissioning Detail at the Naval training Station there. All we thought about was waiting to get up for morning drills and the beer and the babes of Newport. It was a Blast! Then we came the train ride back to Newport News.”
 
Catherine wanted to know, “Was it fun riding on the train? I have never been on a train.” 
 
“It was long and tiring and we wanted to get to our ship after training for so long. The train took us right into the shipbuilding yard in October and we boarded the Randolph that day. Most of the guys were never on a ship. We were that green. The Captain gave
a speech that day telling us he wanted to get the ship into combat as soon as possible.
 
We headed for Trinidad, West Indies and it was like we were all on an ocean cruise. The food was great, my shipmates were great. Navy Life is the best. I saw palm trees and ate coconuts for the first time. Great parties on the beach and the women were beautiful. The training was intense on a ship but when it came time to party we did. We did not know it at the time but a Naval Team from Norfolk flew down and inspected the ship and judged us ready for the Pacific. We then headed for the Panama Canal. Our ship was so wide it barely fit through the locks. We docked at Balboa and I must say Liberty in the Canal Zone was crazy. It was like the honky-tonk bars made you think of the saloons you would see in the movies about gold-rush Alaska.”
 
“Did you sleep with any women?”  Catherine asked.
 
“I did not actually sleep with them,”  Tom replied. “I Fucked the shit out of them!”
 
 Okay, I do not want to know more about the women.” 
 
Tom continues, “It was Christmas when we left the Canal and we headed up to San Francisco arriving New Year’s Eve. The ship was moored at The Naval Dry Docks at Hunter’s Point deep inside the bay. We had a blast in San Francisco. We were there for three weeks while the ship was fitted with 40mm and 20mm guns. Then in January we set sail for Ford Island, Pearl Harbor. We moored there late January 1945. In early February we pulled into the Naval Anchorage at Ulithi, in the Western Caroline Islands. We counted at least eight Essex-Class Carriers. There were new battleships, cruisers, destroyers, tankers, supply and repair ships. Scores on landing crafts. We knew something big was going to happen. You could feel it. Then we set sail for HELL!”  
 
Tom takes a break from his telling Catherine about his time in the Navy. The next part has upset him for years and he has tried to forget the day his ship was attacked by the Japanese Planes.
 
Catherine asks him to continue and tell her, “How did you meet Hiko?”
 
Tom takes some deep breaths and continues the story. “It was late February when our pilots made a raid against the Tachikawa Engine Plant West of Tokyo. We waited for the Japanese to fly out to our ships and attack us. We had heard of the word Kamikaze which means Divine Wind. We have seen Japanese planes in the area but our guns had kept them away. During the next three days, missions were flown in support of the occupation of Iwo Jima. Our planes rocked caves on Mount Suribachi. When the planes were returning back to the Randolph a squadron of Japanese Planes called Zero’s followed them.” 
 
“Tom, why did they call the plane Zero?” 
 
“Most people think it was because of the Red round zero on the side of the plane. It really refers to the last number of the year it was put into service 1940. I guess the Japanese planes flew under our radar and started to attack the ship. Two planes choose our ship and made several passes over us. I was in the boatswain’s mate gang in the Fifth Division Gear Locker. The first plane crashed nearly 25 feet from our Gunnery Turret into the ship deck killing 26 of our shipmates. There was a huge fireball because the plane exploded the bombs we had on deck. The second plane made a pass on our Turret opening fire and killing my four mates in my Turret. I don’t know how the bullets missed me. I grabbed the 40mm gun and was never so terrified in my life. The plane was heading right for our Turret again so I just pulled the trigger and kept firing. The Japanese pilots were fearless and would not stop. The Plane started to pour out black smoke and crashed onto the edge of the flight deck but missed our ammunition locker. The plane did not catch on fire at first. I ran out of the Turrett and made my way to the plane. I had to see what Monster was flying the plane.
 
Then the plane caught fire and I could see the Pilot’s Face. He was laughing like he was not a Man but a Demon from Hell. No man would laugh just before he was about to be burned to Death. He looked at me and saw I was terrified and just laughed. He made me so angry I just started to Laugh back at him. I never felt a Rush like this in my whole life. Two fools about to die laughing.
 
I hated this man and wanted to tear him apart with my hands. I know this sounds strange but deep down I respected him because he was Fearless. I was frozen in place and had to see this Horrific Event to the end even if it meant I would die with him in the final explosion. Then one of my shipmates tackled me and we rolled away from the plane when it exploded. I turned to the hero who saved me but his chest was blown open and he was dead.
 
I later learned the Pilot's name was Hiko Asaki. When I died I learned his family had a memorial grave site in Tokyo for him. I went there to visit his grave and that is where I met his sister Sakura who introduced me to her brother Hiko. We have gotten to know each other over the years. I consider him to be my Japanese Brother. We will be Friends for Eternity.”
  
“That was nice of them to come to my funeral,”  Catherine tells her husband.
 
“The Captain of our ship asked for volunteers to help with the bodies and take them below deck down to the ship’s morgue. Most of the crew never saw a dead body. I said I would help and that's when I became interested in learning how to become a Mortician. When the war ended I came back home and went to The Eckels School of Mortuary Science in Philadelphia. I got my Mortician’s License came back to Plains to find work. Then I met you and you know the rest. You know it is nice to talk about something other than the boys for a change.”
 
“You are right Tom maybe I am obsessed with our sons. I am going to rest now.”
 
“Can I turn back on my music?”  Tom asks.
 
“I never knew you to be such a music fan when we were married,”  Catherine comments.
 
“I have learned to love music more and more especially since my funeral. I think sometimes if it was not for music I would go mad.”