The Akagi (meaning ‘Red Castle' and the name of a mountain) was an aircraft carrier serving
with the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War ll.
The only ship in her class, Akagi played a major part in the Attack on Pearl Harbor, but was
sunk along with three other large carriers by dive bombers from US carriers Enterprise and
Yorktown in the Battle of Midway.
The Hawker Hurricane was a British single-seat fighter aircraft designed and predominantly
built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. Some production of the Hurricane was carried out in Canada
by the Canada Car and Foundry Co Ltd.
The 1930s design evolved through several versions and adaptations. resulting in a series
of aircraft which acted as interceptor-fighters, fighter-bombers (also called "Hurribombers"),
and ground support aircraft. Further versions known as the Sea Hurricane had
modifications which enabled operation from ships. Some were converted as catapult-
launched convoy escorts, known as "Hurricats". Together with the Spitfire, the Hurricane
was significant in enabling the Royal Air Force (RAF) to win the Battle of Britain of 1940,
accounting for the majority of the RAF's air victories. About 14,000 Hurricanes were built by
the end of 1944 (including about 1,200 converted to Sea Hurricanes, and about 1,400 built in
Canada), and served in all the major theatres of the Second World War.
The Amatsukaze ("Heavenly Wind") was a Kagero-class destroyer of the Imperial Japanese
Navy. During the first year of the Pacific War, the destroyer was under the command of
Tameichi Hara and participated in the Battle of the Java Sea, Battle of the Eastern
Solomons, Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. and the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, in which
the ship suffered severe damage after sinking the U.S. destroyer USS Barton with a torpedo.
On 16 January 1944 it was damaged by the submarine USS Redfin (SS-272).
On 6 April 1945, Amatsukaze was attacked by U.S. Army Air Forces B-25s, six miles east of
Amoy (24°30'N, 118°10'E). Her crew managed to beach the ship and the salvage of ship was
abandoned on 8 April. On 10 April, the ship was scuttled by charges placed on ship.
Mont Saint-Michel (English: St Mlichael's Mount) is a rocky tidal island in Normandy, France.
It is located approximately one kilometer off the country's north coast, at the mouth of the
Couesnon River near Avranches.
St. Michael became a symbol of the allied landing in Normandy during the Second World War.
Mio Sakamoto's Eyepatch (Saburo Sakai's blindness of the right eye)
During the air group's first missions of the battle of Guadalcanal, Sakai was seriously
wounded in combat with Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless dive bombers from USS Enterprise's
Bombing Squadron Six.
Sakai sustained grievous injuries from the return fire; he was struck in the head by a .30
caliber bullet, blinding him in the right eye. The Zero rolled over and headed upside
down toward the sea. Unable to see out of his remaining good eye due to blood flowing
from the head wound, Sakai's vision started to clear somewhat as tears cleared the
blood from his eyes and he was able to pull his plane out of the steep seaward dive. He
considered crashing into one of the American warships: "lf I must die, at least I could go
out as a Samurai. My death would take several of the enemy with me. A ship. I needed a
ship." Finally the cold air blasting into the cockpit revived him enough to check his
instruments, and he decided that by using a lean fuel mixture he might be able to make it
back to the airfield at Rabaul.