Akiro Mitamura in 1941.
Akiro Mitamura (1882-19??) was a Japanese Imperial Navy Officer who surved in the Pacific during World War II.
Biography[]
Mitamura was born in Japan in 1882. He joined the Imperial Navy in 1899. Mitamura's family come from a clan of samurais. He partipated in World War I fighting Germans in Tsingao.
On Saturday, December 13, 1941, at 7:01 a.m. (six days after the attack on Pearl Harbor), an Imperial Japanese Navy submarine surfaced off the Californian coast. A naked woman swimming in the water was trapped atop the submarine, which was commanded by Akiro Mitamura and carrying Nazi Kriegsmarine officer Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt. Wanting to destroy something "honorable" in Los Angeles, Mitamura decided to target Hollywood.
Later that day, the Japanese submarine had become lost trying to find Los Angeles after the ship's compass malfunctions. A landing party went ashore searching for "Hollywood" and instead discovered lumberjack Hollis "Holly" Wood, who was selling Christmas trees. After being taken prisoner aboard the sub, Hollis was searched and the crew was excited to find a small compass which was the toy surprise inside a box of "Popper Jacks". Hollis snatched the compass and swallowed it. After the crew attempted to make Hollis pass the compass by forcing him to drink prune juice, he managed to escape from the submarine and swam to shore.
That night the Japanese were discovered by American worker Ward Douglas who saw the submarine with his binoculars and he alerted his neighbours. On board the submarine, von Kleinschmidt tried to do a mutiny but he was thrown overboard by Mitamura, tired of his complains. Back at the Douglas home, Ward began firing one anti-aircraft gun at the submarine, almost consequently destroying his house. The sub returned fire, hitting the Ferris wheel of Santa Monica Pier, which caused it to roll down a pier and into the ocean. Later a Lee Tank arrived and fired at the sub and then sinks when the pier collapsed and the crew jumped into the ocean. Mitamura satisfied with the mission decided to go back to Japan but an American pilot Wild Bill Kelso entered the sub and he was taken prisoner.