Masamitsu Yoshioka, Navy flyer.
Born 1918, Noromachi, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan;
died August 31st 2024, Tokyo, aged 106.

Yoshioka was the last survivor of those who attacked Pearl Harbor on 7th Dec 1941.
He joined the IJN in 1936 and trained as an aviation mechanic but, excited by flight, two years later applied and was accepted to be trained as a navigator. Assigned to Soryu in 1940, his first missions were ground attack to help advance the Japanese army into mainland China.

For the Pearl attack his squadron trained relentlessly unaware of their destination but was told to "pack his shorts" even though Soryu's piping was swathed in asbestos that indicated they were sailing to a cold destination. Once on their way the plans to attack Pearl Harbor were revealed and he recalled he was filled with dread. "I knew...Hawaii would be the place where I would die," he told a newspaper reporter years later. "My only regret was that I wanted to be able to tell my parents what I was doing."

Yoshioka's B5N 'Kate' was one of two that launched their torpedos at USS Utah birthed where they expected to find an American aircraft carrier. His torpedo struck fair and square but as they flew over their target he noticed that its gun turrets had no barrels, and the crew realised that it was probably a training ship. A failure.

He stayed with Soryu for the next few months but there are no details of how he survived - or missed - Midway and the later destruction of the IJN.