Sugiura Shigemine

As a youth he joined a pilot training program at the Imperial Navy's Kasumigaura Air Base, where he learned the basics of flying.

[1] On 12 October 1944, a number of Allied planes appeared in the sky over the Haiwei area of southern Taiwan.

When Sugiura's Mitsubishi Zero was hit and caught fire, he steered his plane away from residential areas and was killed.

His action spared the wooden houses and fish farming ponds upon which the local economy depended.

"[2] Daily ceremonies occur, in which worshipers play the Japanese national anthem Kimigayo and light cigarettes to honor Sugiura.