Samurai!
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4.6 • 17 Ratings
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- $0.99
Publisher Description
Saburo Sakai became a living legend in Japan during World War II. Pilots everywhere spoke in awe of his incredible exploits in the air.
Sakai enjoyed a singular and most cherished reputation among fighter pilots. Of all Japan’s aces, Saburo Sakai is the only pilot who never lost a wingman in combat. This is an astounding performance for a man who engaged in more than two hundred aerial melees, and it explains the fierce competition, sometimes approaching physical violence, among the other pilots who aspired to fly his wing positions.
The reader will doubtless be surprised to learn that Saburo Sakai never received recognition by his government in the form of medals or decorations. The awarding of medals or other citations was unknown to the Japanese. Recognition was given only posthumously. Where the aces of other nations, including our own, were bedecked with rows of colorful medals and ribbons, awarded with great ceremony, Saburo Sakai and his fellow pilots flew repeatedly in combat without ever knowing the satisfaction of such recognition...
Customer Reviews
A insight on the Japanese perspective of the Pacific
There are some notions that this book is drawn out or has some false elements in the amount of aircraft destroyed by this pilot, etc. Likewise, sometimes this feels more like a novel rather an a translated autobiography/memoir. However, there are excellent insights to be had and lots of Western myths to be dispelled about Japanese pilots during WW2. The bravery from both sides is unmatched, The Greatest Generation. An eye opener for me was how many saw Guadalcanal as a turning point in the war. Just like the Germans saw the amount of sheer quantity of American/allied equipment in Normandy with no use of horses, such was a realization at Guadalcanal with how quickly the Americans set up AA, flak, and the sheer size of the invasion force for the Japanese. Lastly, there is definitely something to be said about how the Zero was still being used that late in the war (44/45) and capable of holding further aerial victories. For a nation that entered the Industrial Revolution late and was pressured to do so, the Japanese are a fascinating nation.
Enthralling
I first read Samurai! as a teenager, and now have read it again for the first time in decades. I know of no other book like it. It takes you from Sakai’s earliest flying days, all his fighting experience in WW2 from Japan’s earliest triumphs to its final crushing defeat. Throughout, Sakai and his co-author Martin Caidin deftly alternate between the ordinary human side of the pilot’s life and the impossibly rapid-fire action in the cockpit where any error or hesitation meant death.