In the early days of the kamikaze corps, there had never been a shortage of volunteers. But in the spring of 1945, air commanders noted a shift in attitudes among the new crop of suicide pilots. Many had been “asked” to volunteer in circumstances that made it impossible to refuse. According to a naval staff officer, “there developed a pressure, not entirely artificial, which encouraged ‘volunteering,’ and it is understandable that this change in circumstance would effect a change in the attitude of the men concerned.”
