{Book Review} God's Samurai: Lead Pilot at Pearl Harbor by Gordon W. Prange

This is a scheduled post, as I'm currently on "maternity leave". :-) I'm looking forward to popping back on here and introducing our new baby! 

I’ve been interested in learning more about this amazing man since I read a biography about Jacob Deshazer - one of the Doolittle Raiders (a group of airplanes who flew over Japan dropping bombs two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor) whose airplane malfunctioned and had to be crash landed in Japanese-occupied China. Long story short, during his capture and imprisonment by the cruel Japanese, he became a Christian and later returned to Japan to become a missionary. During that time, he met Mitsuo Fuchida, the man who led the attack on Pearl Harbor and who had also become a Christian (Amazing story, by the way!).

A few years later, we had friends over (my future husband and his brother - I had no idea then!) and Kris’ brother Matthew was telling us about a book he just finished reading about Mitsuo Fuchida (which he had purchased at the Pearl Harbor gift store at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii - how awesome is that?!). I was so excited - “Can I borrow it?” I asked enthusiastically. About a month later, when we visited the Langdon family (about 3 weeks before our courtship began), Matthew lent me the book. I read a little bit, but then was pretty occupied for the next 4 months ;-) Now that things have settled down a bit, I’ve had much more time to be able to finish the book.

Written by Gordon Prange, a man who worked alongside Fuchida in his later years, “God’s Samurai” begins with Fuchida’s childhood, military training, marriage, the war years, then his conversion to Christianity, and evangelism all over Japan, the US, and even Europe.

One thing that stood out to me was the miraculous events throughout his military career where God spared his life numerous times: God had a plan for him even before he had come to Christ! Another interesting angle was the Japanese point of view during the turbulent times surrounding the surrender, the emperor's announcement that he was not a god, and General MacArthur's occupation of Japan. Everything that the Japanese built their lives on was ripped away. They had worshiped their emperor and war was a way of life and one of the highest honors was to die in battle for their emperor (that’s why so many men willingly gave their lives as kamikazes). The American occupation struck a familiar chord since my Grandpa and his family were stationed in Japan during that time, helping to rebuild the Japanese economy.

Overall, I thought the book was well researched and very interesting!