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June 4, 1942. Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, leader of the Pearl Harbor attack, was steaming across the ocean on the aircraft carrier Akagi, alongside the powerful Japanese navy. Six months after crippling the United States Pacific Fleet in Hawaii, he was poised to destroy another target—the US airfields of Midway. Fuchida felt invincible—except for a ruptured appendix. After surgery, he was recovering on the flight deck, when he saw American Dauntless bombers diving straight for him. “Hell-divers!” a lookout screamed. A one thousand-pound bomb rocked the ship. During the attack, Fuchida broke both of his ankles. The explosions and fires eventually brought the Akagi to a watery grave, along with three other carriers and over three hundred of Japan’s best planes and pilots. Fuchida, unable to walk, was rescued and taken to a nearby destroyer. He later found that everyone else in the sick bay, which he left before the attack, had died from a direct hit. On August 5, 1945, Fuchida was ordered from Hiroshima to Yamato. The next day, the United States’ atomic bomb flattened Hiroshima. Fuchida had barely escaped. Later, he accompanied a search party to assess the damage. One by one, every member of his group died from radiation poisoning. Only Fuchida survived. After the war, Fuchida became very bitter. He hated the Americans for destroying his country. One day, he read a tract that led him to the Bible. Soon he came to Jesus’s words, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). Fuchida realized Jesus was praying for him! Then, Fuchida began a new life with his Savior. Until his death, Fuchida was an international evangelist, preaching the power of Christ to replace hatred with love. • Jonathon Baker • Have you experienced Jesus’s radical forgiveness? If you want to learn more, our "Know Jesus" page. • Do you have any hatred or bitterness in your life? How might Christ’s prayer of forgiveness make a difference to you? But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life. 1 Timothy 1:16 (NIV)