6.+Kamikaze+Attacks+and+the+Battle+of+Leyete+Gulf

Jordan Spusta 10/21/2008

Lieutenant John Smith Born July 12th 1922 Died November 7th 1944

I sit here now recovering in a hospital with nothing to do but write about the horrifying events that gave me this shrapnel imbedded in my side. I was on the Saratoga during the battle of Leyte Gulf on October 23rd. The Japanese determination there was incredible, instead of surrendering the Japanese pilots would fly their planes into our ships (Bruce and Cogar, Kamikaze). The few surviving Japanese we managed to pull out of the water during the fight called the attacks Kamikazes. They said it refers to a storm that destroyed invading ships in the twelve hundreds, they also said Kamikaze translated into “Divine Wind” (Danzer, page 581). The battle of Leyte Gulf was fought for control of the Philippine Islands, which the Japanese had invaded earlier. The battle was big, filled with over a hundred ships on the allied side alone; the Japanese forces were out numbered, some of the crew said it was going to be one of the biggest modern navel battles in history. The Japanese had four different forces though and used them to hit us at different angles to try and gain an advantage. As one Japanese fleet attacked us another fleet appeared to the north, part of our fleet under the command of Admiral Halsey broke off to attack this new threat. The fleet to the north turned out to be a decoy as it turned away and fled from admiral Halsey, before Halsey’s ships could return a third fleet came in from the north east hitting us on our north side and cutting off Admiral Halsey. The Japanese were still outnumbered however and were soon forced to retreat (Leonard). The Japanese suffered heavy losses but not before the ship I was on was hit by a Kamikaze, I was hit with shrapnel and lost consciences, when I woke up I was in this hospital. It is November 5th today and tomorrow I have more surgery to remove some more of the shrapnel in my side.
 * Citations**

Bruce, Anthony and William Cogar. “Kamikaze” An Encyclopedia of Naval History. New York: Facts on File, inc. American History Online.

Danzer, Gerald, et al, __The Americans.__ Page 581, McDougal Little, Houghton Mifflin Copamy, Boston.2003.

Leonard, Michael. “Battle of Leyte Gulf.” In Jeffries et al Encyclopedia of American History: the Great Depression and WWII, 1929 to 1945, New York: Facts on File, Inc. American History Online.

Picture http://www.battleship.org/images/leyte1a.gif