Kiyoshi Ogawa

After graduating, Ogawa departed as a gakuto (student-soldier, a college student who became a soldier or officer during his academic years) and received his training as a 14th graduate of aviation reserve student training. Special flight officer probationary cadets (the graduates from college) tended to have more liberal ideas, not having been educated in military schools, and also were more aware of the world outside Japan. Although some officers were kind to student soldiers during training, many acted harshly toward them; once on the base, many reserve students were subjected to harsh corporal punishment on a daily basis, as any minor action that irritated a superior could be a cause for severe corporal punishment.

On March 27, 2001, Yoko Ogawa, Ogawa's grandniece, her mother, and Masao Kunimine, an old college friend of Kiyoshi Ogawa, received these personal effects in San Francisco, nearly 56 years after Operation Kikusui No. 6.

On the morning of May 11, 1945, USS Bunker Hill, the flagship of Vice Admiral Marc Mitscher, participated as part of TG 58.3 in carrier operations 122 kilometres east of Okinawa, supporting the Okinawa invasion. Bunker Hill and the Fifth Fleet sortied from Ulithi in February 1945, for strikes against Okinawa and the Home Islands. Bunker Hill had provided aircraft for the massive effort to sink the Japanese battleship Yamato on April 7.

Off the coast of Okinawa, Ogawa, along with Seizo Yasunori, another Zero pilot, his squadron leader, sighted Bunker Hill. On May 11, 1945, Bunker Hill had been at sea and in continuous action for 58 days. With a slight lull that day, the ship was at condition One Easy, with ventilators open and the crew, including Vice-Admiral Marc Mitscher, commander of Task Force 58, trying to relax. At 1004, Marine Captain James E. Swett, flying his F4U-1C Corsair on Combat air patrol, frantically radioed "Alert! Alert! Two planes diving on the Bunker Hill!"

Ogawa graduated from aviation reserve student flight training, was appointed an ensign and was assigned to the 306th Fighter Squadron of the Imperial Japanese Navy's 721st Kōkūtai at Kanoya.

Kiyoshi Ogawa (Japanese: 小川 清 Ogawa Kiyoshi, October 23, 1922 – May 11, 1945) was a Japanese naval aviator ensign (少尉) of the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II. As a kamikaze pilot, Ensign Ogawa's final action took place on May 11, 1945, during the Battle of Okinawa. Piloting a bomb-laden Mitsubishi Zero fighter during Operation Kikusui No. 6, Ogawa flew through American anti-aircraft fire and attacked the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill, less than one minute after his flight leader, sub-lieutenant Seizō Yasunori, crashed into the ship. He dropped a 250-kilogram (550 lb) bomb, never pulled out of the dive, and crashed deliberately into the flight deck near the control tower of the aircraft carrier. The bomb penetrated Bunker Hill's flight deck and exploded. Gasoline fires flamed up and several explosions took place when re-armed and re-fueled planes on deck exploded and caught fire. 393 American sailors died with Yasunori and Ogawa, 264 were wounded, and the ship was disabled for the remainder of the war.

Ogawa was born on October 23, 1922, in Usui District (modern-day Takasaki City), Gunma Prefecture, as the youngest child of the Oshia family. Kiyoshi did well in school, and entered Waseda University (Shinjuku Ward), near Kagurazaka.