Some pilots were privately horrified, but did not feel free to voice their objections. One aviator-in-training, a university student, recalled that he was “bowled over” by the news that his training class had been designated for kamikaze operations. But he dared not speak up, even to his fellow cadets. “We couldn’t share our doubts with each other. We were all drawn from different universities. If I had expressed my disquiet, my university could have been disgraced. I had to keep my own counsel.”
