Young Japanese student officers drank cold sake at their farewell parties the night before their suicide missions during WW2, but they were struggling with their loyalty to Imperial Japan, thinking of their loved ones and the lives they were about to give up.
In this excerpt, the speaker shares a story about the Baton Death March to emphasize the importance of not quitting and establishing a mindset of perseverance.
The idea of suicide pilots is often associated with military culture and machismo, but it's important to examine the factors that may have influenced these individuals. It's possible that, like in Nazi Germany, those who became kamikazes were chosen from groups deemed undesirable or discredited.
The podcast host talks about his trip to the birthplace of sumo wrestling in Japan, which was a farming town. He also mentions filming for the History Channel and being honored by the hospitality of the Japanese people.
A Japanese soldier believed that Japan would not surrender as long as any one Japanese remained alive, due to the phrase "100 million souls dying for honor" meaning that the population of Japan would fight until the last person to resist the American and English invasion during WWII.
A corporal in WWII recounts his experience in a grenade duel with the Australian rearguard, mentioning soldiers who lost their nerve and retreated from battle.