
Kiyoshi Ogawa (23 October 1922 – 11 May 1945) was an ensign of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service whose kamikaze attack onto the flight deck of USS Bunker Hill (CV-17) disabled the ship during the Battle of Okinawa of World War II.
Biography[]
Kiyoshi Ogawa was born on 23 October 1922 in Takasaki, Gunma Prefecture, Japan. He entered Waseda University in Tokyo, and he became a soldier during his academic years. He graduated from aviation reserve student flight training and joined the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service. During World War II, Ogawa enlisted in the Imperial Japanese Navy Kamikaze Special Attack Force No. 7 Showa-tai Force, one of the many students from Tokyo, Kyoto, Keio, and Waseda to volunteer as a kamikaze pilot. On 11 May 1945, he flew a modified Mitsubishi A60 Zero, with a 550-pound bomb stored under the fuselage, on a suicide mission against the US Navy off Okinawa. He dove on the USS Bunker Hill (CV-17), penetrating the flight deck before exploding. Vice-Admiral Marc Mitscher lost many of his staff officers and his personal medic, and Ogawa's attack killed 373 people, wounded 264, and caused 43 men to go missing.