In 1942, Saburo Sakai, one of Japan’s greatest flying aces, was on a mission over the Solomon islands when he encountered a group of Navy SBD Dauntless.
During the dogfight, he was hit in the head by a 7.62 mm bullet, blinding him in the right eye and paralyzing the left side of his body (the metal frame on his goggles prevented a complete bullet penetration). His Zero rolled inverted dive and was unable to see out of his uninjured eye due to blood from the head wound. Regardless, he was able to pull his plane out of the dive.
With his extensive injuries, a blown off cockpit and a bullet riddled plane, he considered ramming his aircraft onto the nearest US warship, to die an honorable death, but then realized that he had enough fuel to make it back home.
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Sakai managed to fly his damaged Zero on a 5 hour flight over 640 mi back to his base on Rabaul, using familiar volcanic peaks as guides. After landing, he insisted on making his mission report to his superior officer before collapsing.
He survived his injuries and the war.
Sakai retired from the Navy. He became a Buddhist acolyte and vowed he would never again kill any living thing.
On Memorial Day 1982, Sakai met with Harold J Jones...the rear SBD gunner who shot Sakai back in 1942 and became good friends.
Sakai was respected, not only by his men, but also from the American pilots. He displayed tremendous admiration for American planes, the pilots and their dogfighting skills.
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