Shigeo Tsutsui

Shigeo Tsutsui (1920-2014) was a Japanese soldier who joined the Chinese Eighth Route Army.

Biography

Tsutsui was born to a farmer's family in Gunma Prefecture on Oct. 11, 1920. He joined the Imperial Japanese Army and was sent to an aviation unit in Nanjing, and became a flying instructor. On January 1945, he was captured by the Eighth Route Army due to an emergency landing.[1] During his capture, he attempted suicide.[2] His beliefs changed during his capture, and he joined the Japanese People's Emancipation League, an anti-war group made up of converted Japanese POWs.[3]

After the war, Tsutsui stayed in China. He helped establish the Chinese People's Liberation Army's first flying school. More than 120 male and 14 female pilots were trained there by Tsutsui and other instructor personnel. Two of the pilots who flew in the parade at the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China on Oct 1, 1949 were trained by Tsutsui.[4]

He returned to Japan in 1958. He was advised to join the Self Defense Force, but he refused. Tsutsui was treated as a spy and supervised by Japanese police. He traveled to his wife's hometown to become an ordinary farmer.[5]

Family

Shigeo Tsutsui has a son named Kenji Tsutsui. In 2015, Kenji attended the 6th press conference of the press center of the commemoration activities of the 70th anniversary of the victory of Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and World Anti-Fascist War in Beijing.[6] Kenji acted as a representative of relatives of Japanese anti-war soldiers.[7]

References

  1. ↑ "Interview: My father is my hero, says son of Japanese anti-war veteran". Xinhua. 2015-09-01.
  2. ↑ "Foreigners who helped China fight against aggression". China Daily. 2015-09-03.
  3. ↑ "Interview: My father is my hero, says son of Japanese anti-war veteran". Xinhua. 2015-09-01.
  4. ↑ "Interview: My father is my hero, says son of Japanese anti-war veteran". Xinhua. 2015-09-01.
  5. ↑ "Interview: My father is my hero, says son of Japanese anti-war veteran". Xinhua. 2015-09-01.
  6. ↑ "U.S. "Flying Tigers" back China's V-Day parade". Xinhua. 2015-09-02.
  7. ↑ "Interview: My father is my hero, says son of Japanese anti-war veteran". Xinhua. 2015-09-01.

External Links

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