7 interesting facts about the attack on Pearl Harbor

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Thursday, December 07, 2023

Attack leader later converts to Christianity

Mitsuo Fuchida was the Japanese fighter pilot who led the attack on Pearl Harbor. Less than a decade after doing so, Fuchida converted to Christianity and eventually became a traveling evangelist.

According to a testimony published in the 1950s, Fuchida first became interested in Christianity after the end of World War II when reading the account of Jacob DeShazer, an American taken prisoner by the Japanese.

“One portion of the pamphlet interested me particularly, and that was the confession of Mr. DeShazer that during his imprisonment, he one day came to feel a strong desire to read the Bible,” Fuchida wrote.

“He recalled to mind what he had heard before about Christianity which could transform human hatred to true brotherly love. This portion, as I read, drew my mind to the same state, and with a desire to read the Bible I purchased one and started reading.”

Soon after he began reading, Fuchida recalled, he was “strongly impressed and captivated” and he eventually “opened my heart and accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Savior.”