USS Missouri ceremony remembers kamikaze attack during Battle of Okinawa

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A solemn anniversary and milestone will be observed this week on board the Battleship USS Missouri.

Eighty years ago, on April 11, 1945, the USS Missouri was involved with the Battle of Okinawa when kamikaze pilot Setsuo Ishino slammed his plane into the Mighty Mo’s side.

The Mighty Mo was part of the Pacific Fleet as the forces of Japan deployed kamikazes to sea when she was hit.

Ishino’s plane was destroyed upon impact. The young pilot was killed instantly, his body ejected from the plane, landing on board the Missouri.

“Most of the plane just went into the water, the bomb did not go off but the pilot’s body was recovered,” said Michael Carr, president and chief executive officer of the USS Missouri Memorial Association.

Carr said in the aftermath of the failed kamikaze maneuver against the Mighty Mo, “in an act of compassion and humanity, the captain of the ship, William Callaghan, decided to give that young man a proper burial at sea.”

The captain’s actions were not met with total acceptance by the Mighty Mo’s crew. Some sailors really just wanted to toss Ishino’s body overboard and be done with it.

But Callaghan persevered, believing in his heart it was the right thing to do even if this fallen warrior was not American.

His grandson, Carey Callaghan, says this topic was never discussed with the family.

“He, as I said, never, never spoke about this. I think he just thought it was the right thing to do, didn’t think it was a particularly remarkable, perhaps because he, you know, he just did it, thought it was the right thing to do,” said Carey Callaghan.

But to others, this was a remarkable story about compassion and dignity for the fallen.

“When you pay it forward in terms of the dignity of others, it ultimately reflects on your own dignity and honor,” Carey Callaghan said.

Carey Callaghan will be one of the keynote speakers at this week’s commemorative ceremony at Ford Island. It will be a time to reflect 80 years later on this act by his grandpa and why it still has a lasting effect on the relations between the U.S. and Japan.

“That story, I think, led to in great part, to the beginning of the great partnership between Japan and the U.S. and we’re still some of the closest partners today,” he said.

This story about Captain Callaghan, who went on to become an admiral, was lost in great part because the day after this attack, President Franklin D. Roosevelt died while in office.

While the nation mourned the lost of FDR, all eyes were once again on the USS Missouri a few months later.

On Sept. 2, 1945, the Japanese surrendered when official documents were signed on the deck of the battleship with President Harry Truman proclaiming victory over Japan and the end of World War II.