| USS Missouri (BB-63) about to be hit by a Japanese AGM “Zero” Kamikaze. The plane hit the ship’s side below the main deck, causing minor damage and no casualties on board the battleship. The photographer was either Photographer’s Mate 3rd Class Leonard J. Schmidt (November 15, 1923 – January 30, 2002) or Baker 2nd Class Harold I. “Buster” Campbell (February 17, 1919 – July 31, 1955). Campbell recorded in his diary: “1400 Hours: Well this day will live forever in my memory as the most exciting incident I’ve ever experienced! Pat and I were in the Photo Lab. 1404 Hours the ‘Air Alert’ was sounded and we both ran up to the bridge [Level Eight] and broke out our cameras. I used the K-20 as always and Pat the F-56. Well we saw a bit of firing on the horizon, then the Jap[anese] planes entered our area and all the ships in our Task Group opened up. We hit one and he exploded, I got a few shots [photographs]. While we were shooting this one, another came up off our stern. I got him in the sight of my K-20 and started shooting shots. He kept coming in through the greatest ack-ack [anti-aircraft gunfire] I’ve ever seen. Five-inch, forty millimeter and twenty millimeter; about a hundred yards off the starboard quarter he was hit slightly but kept coming. I keep shooting pictures. He then banked toward the ship about twenty-five feet (7.62 meters) above the water.I had taken approx[imately] ten shots since I picked him up. He then came direct at the ship and hit us on the starboard quarter on the main deck, burst into flames. I was shaking but felt relieved after he hit. I took a beautiful shot of him as he hit and several as he came burning all along the starboard side till he ended at Mount Number One [five inch gun mount]. All in all I got eighteen shots. Poor Pat was in back of me and couldn’t get a thing. They put out the fire and believe it or not, we didn’t have a single casualty, not a person was hurt. This I really believe is a miracle as I’ll get the pictures to show just what happened. It only lasted about five minutes but it sure was something to see.” It is unclear if Schmidt, who was credited with the photo for decades, was in the line of sight on the right deck to make the correct angle of the photo. The actual photographer remains debated. At 1443 Hours on April 11, 1945, a shimpu (“kamikaze – divine wind”) aircraft glazed USS Missouri on her starboard side a little below the level of the main deck. The Missouri’s gunners hit the 0 fighter with a 5 inch (127 millimeter) round. The plane plunged, but it leveled out about 20 feet (6 meters) above the ocean and headed for the ship’s starboard side. In the crash, part of the plane was thrown onto the main deck with the rest of the wreckage falling into the water. 1 of the aircraft’s machine gun was found impaled on a 40 millimeter (1.57 inch) Bofors anti aircraft artillery gun. The crash ripped off the plane’s right wing, which landed on the deck. Fuel in the wing caught fire, unleashing a giant plume of smoke. The crew controlled the fire within 5 minutes. “Dear Mother, The time has come for me to blossom at last. I am fulfilling my final duty with a smile. Please don’t say anything, this is for our country,” Ishino wrote from Kanoya Air Base before the attack. “The next time we see each other, we will be under the beautiful cherry blossom trees at Yasukuni Shrine. Please don’t cry, only smile and tell me ‘well done.’” The dent left by the attack is still visible on the Missouri’s hull. Scholars believe he was either Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Setsuo Ishino (1926 – April 11, 1945) or Flight Petty Officer 2nd Class Kenkichi Ishii (???? – April 11, 1945). The pilot took off from Kanoya Air Base in southern Japan with 15 others as part of the Special Attack Corps 5th Kenmu Squadron. Most failed to hit their targets and crashed into the ocean. Besides the 0 fighters piloted by Kenkichi Ishii and Setsuo Ishino, the other Zeros all made their attacks much earlier than 1443 Hours when Missouri was struck. 1 hit the destroyer USS Kidd (DD-661) causing 38 deaths and 55 wounded. Whereas the other planes attacked the US fleet from the north, Ishii and Ishino went around east of Task Group 58.4 in order to attack the rear from the south. Kachi provides maps to show the position of ships from Task Group 58.4 sailing north toward Kikaijima and the probable flight path taken by Ishii and Ishino to make their attack. Ishii never sent any radio telegraph messages during his flight in contrast to Ishino’s message at 1439 Hours that he had sighted the enemy fleet and another message at 1441 Hours that he had sighted enemy fighters. However, since Ishii and Ishino were flying in the same fighter pair, the aircraft that hit Missouri could have been piloted by either 1 of them. United States Navy records indicate a 2nd Japanese plane was shot down at 1441 Hours, which could have been a 0 piloted by either Ishii or Ishino. Although it is not known why Ishii did not send a radio telegraph message, it could have been due to equipment malfunction. 3 other 0 fighters in the 5th Kenmu Squadron in addition to Ishii’s plane never sent even 1 radio telegraph message back to Kanoya Air Base. The pilot’s body was found on the main deck and given a military burial the next day at the orders of Captain William M. Callaghan (August 8, 1897 – July 8, 1991). “The guys had the fire hose out and were going to wash him over the side. But the order came down to stop that, hold a full military burial at sea, with honors,” Gunner’s Mate Robert Bishop (May 10, 1924 – August 13, 2012) later told the Washington Post in 2001. Captain Callaghan ordered the funeral to be held the next morning. The crew collected red and white cloth and sewed a makeshift “Rising Sun” flag so he could be buried under his own colors. They cleaned the body, wrapped it in canvas and placed it on a tray against the rail beneath the flag. Chaplain Roland W. Faulk (September 1, 1907 – September 14, 1989) conducted the funeral, committing the pilot’s body to the deep. Marine rifle guards gave a gun salute and a bugler played taps. The chaplain gave an invocation and said, “Commit his body to the deep.” The crew tipped the tray and the body slid into the sea. It was the only known instance of United States forces holding a military funeral for a kamikaze pilot. Little is known of Callaghan’s reasons for ordering the ceremony, which appeared on the ship’s daily schedule for meal times and other routine activity. Some crew members resented the ritual, while others grumbled but later came to believe it was the right thing to do. “At the time it happened, everybody was up in arms about it. They said, ‘This son of a gun tried to kill us yesterday, and now we’re going to give him a five-gun salute?’ ” said Leonard J. Schmidt in 2001. “They had a lot of trouble getting Marines to volunteer for the funeral.” Gunner’s Mate 2nd Class Ed Buffman (born 1925) said he did not dwell on it: “The next day you’re ready to go back and battle again.” April 16 would bring more kamikaze attacks. 1 kamikaze aircraft crashed in the battleship’s wake as it flew toward the battleship’s stern, littering the fantail with metal and injuring 2 sailors: Seaman 1st Class Alfonse J. Palermo (December 24, 1911 – June 3, 2004) and Seaman 1st Class Dominick J. Guiliano (November 9, 1922 – November 3, 2012) were both hit by shrapnel. From March to May, the crew of USS Missouri fired upon 16 enemy aircraft, claiming for themselves 5 kills, 1 probable kill, and 6 assists. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1813.jpg |
| Image Size | 1.25 MB |
| Image Dimensions | 2080 x 2536 |
| Photographer | Len Schmidt or Harold I. “Buster” Campbell |
| Photographer Title | United States Navy |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | April 11, 1945 |
| Location | |
| City | |
| State or Province | Okinawa |
| Country | Ryukyus |
| Archive | Naval History and Heritage Command |
| Record Number | NH 62696 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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