戦争論：知的エリートたちに放たれた”慰問砲”

子役であった女優の中村メイコさんは特攻隊の戦地慰問によく行かされたそうだ。Actress Meiko Nakamura, who was a child actress, was often sent to visit to console Kamikaze pilots in the war zones. [歴史探偵] 中村メイコさんが語る「戦地慰問」の記憶 | NHK

「特攻隊のお兄さんの虚無的な顔つきが、小さな子どもが歌う『夕焼け小焼け』を聞くうちに、表情が出てくるんです」 " The nihilistic expressions on the faces of the young men on the suicide missions start to show as they listen to me, a small child, sing “Yuyake Koyake” (Sunset on the Hill). (NHKアーカイブ動画)

特攻隊に選ばれた知的エリートたちはﾀﾋを前にしてニヒリズムに陥り、生半可な慰め事には納得しなかったが、子役の慰問には大いに喜び、「この子どもたちの将来のために自分は喜んで犠牲になる」と意志を固めて特攻に飛びだって行ったそうだ。The intellectual elite who were selected for kamikaze attacks fell into nihilism before their deaths and were not satisfied with half-hearted consolations. Still, they were very happy to receive consolation visits from child actors. And they made up their minds to go on a suicide mission, saying, "I will gladly sacrifice myself for the sake of these children's future.”

彼女は「徹子の部屋」でも語っていたが、この子供を派遣することを、軍の戦地慰問担当者は、”慰問砲”と称していた。いわば子供をダシに使って特攻兵士に己のﾀﾋが価値のあるものであることを納得させたのである。As she said on a TV Program, "Tetsuko's Room," that the military personnel in charge of consoling children in war zones referred to the dispatch of these children as "comfort artillery." In other words, the children were used as pretexts to convince the suicide attackers that their deaths were worth it.