Over the weekend, I read the fascinating story of the Japanese pilot who led the raid on Pearl Harbor.

Last Sunday, we observed again the anniversary of that awful raid of December 7, 1941. The surprise attack killed 2403 members of the Pacific Fleet and sank 21 ships–including almost every battleship at Pearl Harbor.

Mitsuo Fuchida led the raid as he shouted: “Tora, Tora, Tora!”

In 1950 Fuchida came to faith in Christ, calling that day his “second day to remember.” Many of his friends tried to talk him out of his decision. They accused him of trying to gain favor with the Americans occupying Japan, but Fuchida said his life would prove it was real.

Fuchida became an evangelist and told the life-changing story of Christ until his death in 1976.

Three events in Fuchida’s life seemed to point him to Christ.

First, he experienced near death several times during the war. He survived Pearl Harbor and the Battle of Midway as the USA sank Fuchida’s aircraft carrier.

At the close of the war, Fuchida was stationed in Hiroshima. Inexplicably, he was moved out of Hiroshima shortly before the atomic bomb devastated the city.

All of this made Fuchida question why he lived.

Second, in order to refute the American claims of war crimes committed by the Japanese, Fuchida interviewed Japanese soldiers and sailors who were interred in American prison camps. As he conducted these interviews, he met a friend he assumed had been killed in the war.

The friend, Kazuo Kanegasaki, told him of relatively good treatment. Then, he told Fuchida a story that would “ultimately change Fuchida’s life forever.”

Kanegasaki told Fuchida of a young girl who cared for Japanese prisoners. Amazingly, her parents were missionaries to the Philippines who had been executed by Japanese soldiers, but only after the missionaries asked for the opportunity to pray for 30 minutes. Fuchida learned that in fact the missionaries were praying as they were killed by the sword.

The third event occurred when he met an American named Jacob DeShazer who participated in the Doolittle raid. Though tortured by the Japanese, he survived. After reading the Bible and understanding Christ’s willingness to forgive those who tortured him, DeShazer turned to Christ and vowed to return to Japan as a missionary.

Finally, Fuchida read the Bible himself and learned of Christ’s forgiveness. He read the prayer of Jesus at His death: “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

These are Fuchida’s words: “I was impressed that I was certainly one of those for whom He had prayed. . . . Right at that moment, I seemed to meet Jesus for the first time. I understood the meaning of His death as a substitute for my wickedness, and so in prayer, I requested Him to forgive my sins and change me from a bitter, disillusioned ex-pilot into a well-balanced Christian with purpose in living. That date, April 14, 1950–became the second ‘day to remember’ of my life. On that day, I became a new person.”

Mitsuo Fuchida proved again Christ can save to the uttermost those who turn to Him in faith.

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