24th in a series

One of the phrases Tokuro Inokuma, 80, first learned to write in school was "Forward, forward, the army goes forward." One of the first songs went "I love soldiers. When I grow up, I will ride a horse, bearing a gun and a sword."

So it was natural for Inokuma, who was born in Tokyo in 1928, to enlist in the Imperial army air corps at age 15.