bailed out. He was seriously injured and returned homeland Japan alive. In March 1944, Petty Officer 2nd Class Sugita came back as a member of the 263rd Air Group at Guam. But the units were seriously damaged by three days of sorties. In June, the 263rd Air Group members were merged with the 201st Air Group (2nd generation) in the Philippines, which was reorganized as the first Kamikaze Corps by the 1st Air Fleet (2nd generation) Commander in Chief, Vice Admiral Takijiro Onishi. Many younger aviators had been ordered to fly Kamikaze sorties daily. Sugita finally threatened the commander of the 201st Air Group, Captain Sakae Yamamoto with his gun to get an order of Kamikaze sorties for him first. He was ordered to come back to Japan again. In January 1945, Petty Officer 1st Class Sugita joined the 301st fighting squadron of the 343rd Air Group. He was finally shot down and killed in action while he flew a Shidenkai (Allied codename George) taking off from Kanoya Airfield in Kyūshū, Japan in April 1945. Five out of the six fighter pilots died and one was injured. Captain Ushie Sugimoto died in action on June 12, 1945 in the Philippines. Sugimoto was the commander in chief of the 26th Air Flotilla. He stayed with his ground members and mechanics of the air units to fight as infantry left without support. His flock was reportedly holding a position somewhere in Mount Pinatubo, Philippines, while all chief officers and most commissioned officers of the 1st Air Fleet's air units had already withdrawn to Taiwan. The 26th Air Flotilla was under the command of the 1st Air Fleet, but the units lost all aircraft Kamikaze sorties by January 1945. Back on October 25, 1944, Vice Admiral Onishi had called all commanders of his Air Flotillas to a mid-night meeting, at IJN Clark Air Base in Philippine. The Commander in Chief of the 1st Air Fleet, Vice Admiral Onishi, had conferred with his high-ranking officials for ideas on how to repel the Allied forces from the Philippines in a tangible way, but there had been few ideas. Onishi had then decided to expand his operation plan "Kamikaze" to all his air units, and had warned them if there were any officers who opposed "Kamikaze" attacks, they should be executed. The Japanese were prohibited to surrender by their Military code. Few survivors testified that Captain