Remembrance "Worries Crept over Me"

By YASUHIRO NAKASONE

A 22-year-old navy first lieutenant when war broke out, he was Prime Minister of Japan from 1982 to 1987.

I was aboard a transport in the Palau Islands, waiting for word to go to the Philippines. When I heard of the attack on Pearl Harbor, I felt glad that we had won the first strike. At the same time, worries crept over me like a black cloud: if the U.S. really fought back, Japan might lose.

On Dec. 20 we landed in Davao on Mindanao Island and took the airport. On Jan. 24, 1942, we arrived at Balikpapan on Borneo in Indonesia. Our job was to repair airports so our Zeros could fly within a week to 10 days and midsize bombers within 20 days. We had to work day and night. We all had a strong sense of duty, a sense that Japan was going all out.

In May I began working on constructing an airport in T'ai-nan in Taiwan. There I heard of our loss at Midway. That's when I felt we might lose the war.