6, Ogawa flew through American anti-aircraft fire and attacked the aircraft carrier USS Bunker Hill, less than one minute after his flight leader, sub-lieutenant Seizō Yasunori, crashed into the ship.

[1] Ogawa was born on October 23, 1922, in Usui District (modern-day Takasaki City), Gunma Prefecture, as the youngest child of the Oshia family.

[clarification needed] Special flight officer probationary cadets (the graduates from college) tended to have more liberal ideas, not having been educated in military schools, and also were more aware of the world outside Japan.

[3] Ogawa graduated from aviation reserve student flight training, was appointed an ensign and was assigned to the 306th Fighter Squadron of the Imperial Japanese Navy's 721st Kōkūtai at Kanoya.

Ogawa then volunteered for Imperial Japanese Navy Kamikaze Special Attack Force (tokubetsu kōgeki tai) Dai 7 Showa-tai (No.

The reason that the special flight officer probationary cadet had to answer such a survey rather than send the applications at their own will was because the military had known that the students who had come from college had a wider vision, and would not easily apply for such a mission.

[4] Many former students from Japan's elite colleges such as Tokyo, Kyoto, Keio and Waseda volunteered as kamikaze pilots in World War II.

With a slight lull that day, the ship was at condition One Easy, with ventilators open and the crew, including Vice-Admiral Marc Mitscher, commander of Task Force 58, trying to relax.

At the same time, Ogawa was completing his dive with his Zero through the AA fire, aiming for the flight deck near the bridge of the ship to cause the most damage, as kamikaze pilots were trained to do.

22 fighter pilots of Bunker Hill's air group, CVG-84, were killed in the ready room by the explosion of the bomb which consumed all of the oxygen and asphyxiated the men.

The destroyer USS English went alongside Bunker Hill, to help in the fighting of fires and to take off Vice Admiral Mitscher, transferring his flag to the newly repaired carrier Enterprise.

Captain James E. Swett collected about 24 of the circling airplanes, mostly F4U Corsairs, and they dropped dye markers and Mae Wests for the crewmen swimming in the oily water around the stricken carrier.

According to Robert Schock, a U.S. Navy diver on board Bunker Hill, Ogawa's aircraft was not completely destroyed after penetrating the flight deck, but remained partially intact and did not catch fire.