Battle of May 4, 1945

This webpage includes some of the information I am preparing for a book on the battle on morning of May 4th, 1945.
I am very intersted in interviewing veterans of this battle, photographs, or any information concerning this battle to inlude in my book.

Photo of USS Ingraham sitting very low in the water at Kerama Retto undergoing repairs, date is sometime between May 6th to May 19th. Immediately behind Ingraham is USS Harding (DMS-28). She is mostly hidden behind the Ingraham. The USS Harding was a Gleaves class destroyer minelayer damaged by kamikazes on April 16th. Behind USS Harding is USS Natrona (APA-214). She is a Haskell class attack transport -- a modified Victory ship. Natrona brought Marine night fighters and men of the 77th Infantry Division to Okinawa during the invasion. Then she anchored at Kerama Retto to serve many purposes including serving good hot meals to the crew of the Ingraham who lost their mess hall in the May 4th kamikaze attack. Photo courtesy of Art Jones, USS Ingraham WWII veteran.
click to enlarge photo.

• Pilot lists. pilots who participated in the battle.
  • IJAAF Shinbutai - japanese transcriptions may be inaccurate, but list shows complete official list of Army tokkotai pilots.
  • IJNAF Kamikaze - work in progress of Navy tokkotai pilots.
  • Victories - listing of Japanese aircraft shot down by US aircraft, morning of May 4th, 1945.
  • Summary - summary of Japanese aircraft losses, morning of May 4th, 1945.



• French Magazine - Airmag #2: Okinawa La Bataille Des "Kamikaze". Downloaded from rapidshare.


• Kamikaze Seaplanes - information from US action reports and japanese sources.




• Map showing approximate radar picket positions, radar ranges, and initial Japanese plane sightings.
  click to enlarge map.
  



• Photos from a Lt(jg) William K. Peisch, Ingraham WWII veteran. These shows Ingraham's damage while she is at Kerama Rhetto where damaged US warships went to for repairs during the Okinawa campaign.



• ACTION REPORTS from kamikaze attacks on Radar Picket station #1, May 4, 1945 (.zip file download, 2.5MB) This file contains scans of the following reports:
  • USS Ingraham's Action Report 29 April 1945 to 4 May 1945.
  • Drawings from USS Ingraham's War Damage Report
  • Action Report from USS Morrison (sunk)
  • Action report from LSM(R)-194 (sunk)
  
  
  
• ACTION REPORTS from attacks on Radar Picket stations #12 and #14, May 4, 1945 (.zip file download, 1.5MB) This file contains scans of the following reports:
  • USS Shea DM-30 anti-aircraft report .
  • USS Shea DM-30 War Damage Report detailing damages from Okha (Baka) bomb.
  • Action Report from USS Luce DD-522 (sunk)
  • Action Report from USS Sangamon CVE-26
  
  
  
• AIRCRAFT ACTION REPORTS from the air battles on May 4, 1945 over Okinawa (.zip file download, 3MB) This file which includes:
  • VF-9 (USS Yorktown, Hellcats) which first encounterd the Kamikaze planes over the USS Ingraham at radar picket #1. VF-9 was lead by legendary navy ace Lt. Valencia.
  • VF-85 (USS Shangri-La, Corsairs) which also fought over radar picket #1.
  • VMF-323 (Marine Corsairs) which also fought over radar picket #1
  • VF-9, VBF-9 and VF-12 (navy Hellcats) which fought an bombed bases at Kikai and Amami-o-shima islands and fought the elite Japanese Navy's Kokutai 323 flying in the Shinden Kai "Georges". The kamikaze float planes that sunk the USS Morrison at radar picket #1 past right under this air battle in progress en-route to their target.
  • VB-12 (USS Randolph, Helldivers) which bombed Japanese troops on Okinawa.
  • VF-83 (Hellcats), VBF-83 (Corsairs) from USS Essex CV-9, 34 victories over RP#1 on May 4, 1945.
  • Action reports from Bunker Hill CV-17, Essex CV-9, Independence CVL-22, Bataan CVL-29, Langley CVL-27 to be added soon. These were the other carriers in the Okinawa theatre that day.
  
  
  
• WWII USN Warship damage reports see p. 70 of Summary report (Report Number A-4(424)) for Ingraham's kamikaze damage 5/4/45 near Okinawa.

Kanichi Horimoto, April 1945

Letter 1 found on kamikaze pilot (Kanichi Horimoto), as translated by Naval Intelligence. This comes from a book published by John Charney, Ingraham veteran. Letter 2 Kanichi Horimoto's lett er home just before he took off May 4, 1945. Sakurai-san's 244 Hikosentai website -- Japanese page that lists a Kanichi Horimoto flying on May 4, 1945 at 0635 hours from Miyakonojo East on his kamikaze mission. Kanichi's unit was the Army's 60th Shinbu (kamikaze) unit flying the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate ("Frank"). He trained at Akeno Flying School in Mie Prefecture. The 60th Shinbu Squadron was formed March 29, 1945 for tokko (suicide) attacks. The other pilots on the May 4 mission were Hirayanagi, Shibata, Tanaka, Yoshinaga, Wakasugi, Nagata and two others that did not complete the mission due to crashes or mechanical problems. These are some of the approximately 40 kamikaze pilots who fell to the guns of naval AA or Combat Air Patrols at RP#1 that day. Shinbu 60 photos taken before their deployment to Miyakonojo in early April 1945 at Kumomoto. 4.jpg photo of all 12 members of the squadron. Kanichi Horimoto is on left, first row. Squadron leader Hirayanagi is top center. 8.jpg letter that shows a drawing of their distinctive unit insignia painted on the tail.

• Michiaki Tojo Japanese veteran, Michiaki Tojo, recollection about the battle on May 4, 1945.



• Spreadsheet for May 4, 1945 -- timelines, orders of battle, etc.

Off-site links on May 4, 1945: