This spot is the central frontage of the very first Japanese Kamikaze Airfield during World War II, the Mabalacat East Airfield. On 20 October 1944, Vice Admiral Takiiro Onishi founded the Kamikaze at Mabalacat, Pampanga, Luzon Island. The first to volunteer were the 23 fliers of the 201st Air Fleet, Imperial Nippon Naval Air Force under Capt. Sake Yamamoto then stationed at Mabalacat. The first Kamikaze group was called the Shinpu Special Attack Corps under It. Yukio Seki The corps was divided into four units: the Shikishima Unit; the Yamato Unit; the Asahi Un t: and the Yamazakura Unit. At 0725 hrs. on 25 October 1944, the Shikishima Unit took-off from Mabalacat airfield led by Lt. Yukio Seki. His men were Sgt. Iwao Nakano, Sgt. Noboutani, Em 1/C Hajime Nagamine and Em 2/C Shigeo Oguro. At 1045 hrs., on the said date, the unit hit enemy targets near the Gulf of Leyte. Li. Seki’s plane hit first, blowing up the U.S. Carrier St. Lo which sank 20 minutes later. Lt. Seki’s men also hit and heavily damaged the U.S. Carriers: Kalinin Bay, Kitkun Bay, Sangamon, Santee, Suwannee and White Plains. This first successful Kamikaze Mission was witnessed, then reported by C/WO Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, Japan’s greatest pilot, to Lt. Cmdr. Tadashi Nakajima in Cebu Air Base of the 201st Airgroup. War historians considered Lt. Yukio Seki as “The World’s First Official Human Bomb!”
