Hajime Toyoshima
Hajime Toyoshima | |
|---|---|
Toyoshima in 1938 | |
| Born | March 29, 1920 Kagawa Prefecture, Japan |
| Died | August 5, 1944 (aged 24) Cowra, New South Wales, Australia |
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
| Branch | |
| Years of service | 1938–44 |
| Rank | Flight Petty Officer, Third Class (三等飛行兵曹 San-tō hikō heisō) |
| Battles / wars | |
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Flight Petty Officer Third Class Hajime Toyoshima (豊嶋一, Toyoshima Hajime; 29 March 1920 – 5 August 1944) was a Japanese airman in World War II. His A6M Zero was the first of that type to be recovered relatively intact on Allied territory (after those recovered after the attack on Pearl Harbor) when he crash landed on Melville Island, Northern Territory, Australia.
Toyoshima was the first Japanese prisoner of war to be captured in Australia. In August 1944, while a POW in rural New South Wales, Toyoshima was one of the instigators of the Cowra breakout, sounding a bugle to signal the commencement of the escape, and died during the fight.