The story

Ordered to sacrifice themselves for the nation by crashing their planes into U.S. warships as Japan vainly battled to stave off invasion in the final months of World War Two, some young pilots instead returned alive.

As a documentary released in Japan on Saturday shows, not all the young men trained for the suicide missions that struck terror into U.S. servicemen faced their almost certain death gladly.

"I wanted to live," Kazuo Nakajima, one of the now elderly 'failed cherry blossoms' tells the filmmakers with an embarrassed laugh. "I didn't want to die." Read full article »

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