'Wounded Tiger' an Incredible True Story of War, Defeat, and Eternal Triumph

The passage of time has a cruel way of sweeping moments of significance into the dusty pages of history. Sadly, key moments so important to our culture in a particular moment slowly fade from prominence as days and years pass.

For most people, the name Mitsuo Fuchida probably doesn’t mean a whole lot. But the reality is he was a very pivotal figure in World War II, whose actions helped shape the America we know today. For you see, Fuchida was the Japanese pilot who led the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor. In fact, his hatred for Americans and his strong sense of national and racial pride fueled his desire to wipe the United States off the map.

But thankfully, Fuchida’s heart softened over time due his relationship with an equally passion-fueled U.S. bombardier pilot and an American family of teachers and missionaries in Japan who fled to the Philippines during the ramp up to war. Call it divine intervention, providence, or something in between, but these three seemingly unrelated narratives eventually collide, fueling the pathway to faith in Jesus Christ for the emotionally bitter Fuchida.

In the latest edition of the book Wounded Tiger, author T. Martin Bennett shares the unknown, true story about the other side of the Pearl Harbor attack. Readers will be delighted to learn about the life of a Japanese man lost in a swirl of hatred and scorn who found ultimate peace from an unlikely source: a former American prisoner of war and a family of expatriate missionaries.

I recently sat down with Bennett to discuss Fuchida’s incredible true story, how this story is a demonstration of how to build a better world, and the unpredictable ending that serves as an inspiring outcome of God’s grace and never ending love.

How did this story come to you? How did you first come in contact with Mitsuo Fuchida?

I have always loved true stories my whole life. And I came across an old used book from a defunct publisher, and it was about him (Fuchida). But I had very low expectations because I know a lot of true stories. I've read lots of biographies, I've watched lots of movies, documentaries, and I know a lot of redemption stories of how people came to Christ. I worked in a full-time ministry for years. I never heard a single word about this guy's life ever from anyone. He's in the movie Torah, Torah, Torah. It’s like a little flash here and there. But I wouldn't have recognized the guy. So, I have very low expectations. But as I went through this old book, I realized this is an incredible, untold, undiscovered story that would make an incredible feature film.

So I asked God, do you want me to do this as a feature film? And I could not complete the sentence. It was like, “Yes, get it done, Martin, do it.” And I thought, oh wow, this is going to be a really heavy lift. I don't know Japanese culture, or the Japanese side of the war. I don't know anything. So, I read thousands of pages of research and content, all that stuff for three years. And then I wrote the script. 

There have been many, many books written about World War II over the years that are in the marketplace. What sets Wounded Tiger apart from the others?

A lot sets this apart. One is that the world is fighting each other every day. And in the news right now, you have killing, murder, revenge, and everything else. What's the answer? Nobody has an answer. But in the story of “Wounded Tiger”, there is an answer. Fuchida hated America. Jake DeShazer hated Japan. In the end, they're friends. How does that happen? What can we learn from this? This is not a book telling you what to do. It's a book showing you how it happens in real life and in real time. And because there's so many pictures and it's a true story that's been vetted by experts at every level, this is the real deal. I also wrote it in the format of fiction, but it is a true story. 

We hear so much about the events of World War II but rarely do we hear about it from the Japanese perspective. What is something you learned about this horrific war from researching Mitsuo Fuchida that you didn’t know before?

There was a precursor to the United Nations and It was called the League of Nations. The United States, Japan, Germany, and France were part of this group. And the Japanese contingents said, “We want to propose a thing called the Racial Equality Proposal. They brought this to the League of Nations and said, “Hey, we want this to be accepted.” And some nations said, “No, races are not equal. Some are superior and some are inferior.” They were very angry about that. The head of the League of Nations was Woodrow Wilson. He said, unless it's unanimous, we're not going do it. That made the Japanese livid. In fact, there were riots in Japan where people wanted to declare war against the United States. They were saying they are superior human beings, and we're inferior human beings.

Well, Fuchida, he ends up on a training mission to San Francisco on a ship. This is because before World War II, the US and Japan were allies during World War I. And when he is there, he meets among other people, Japanese nationals in the United States, saying they were treated badly. “They discriminate against us. They write about us in the newspapers, the yellow peril. They take our jobs. They won't let us testify in court.” And everything is just unfair and lopsided. That just made him more angry about how America was treating the Japanese and Asians in general.  had no idea about this. I lived in California. I grew up in California. I went to school in California. I didn't hear about any discrimination of Californians against the Japanese. It's just not in the history books.

Did anything surprise you as you were researching this book?

One thing I learned is that from a very early age, Japanese men are told you go into battle to fight and win or die for the emperor. You do not surrender under any conditions. And so, I remember reading about these Marines on an island out in the Pacific, and these Japanese had run out of bullets. So, they would do a bayonet charge, yelling and getting mowed down by enemy gunfire. And the Marines felt sick to their stomach. They thought the Japanese should just surrender. “We'll feed you, we'll clothe you, we'll send you back to your family.” But they all wanted to die in battle because it was inculcated into them at a very young age. You don't surrender. Well, the spiritual side is, it's the end of the kingdom of God. You have to surrender. That's like a part of the deal.

To this day, only one half of one percent of Japan are believers. And I think there's a spiritual block there. But I really believe that these doors are going to pop right open in many ways through many avenues.

So, we know that it's going to open doors for people to consider the Lord, because He loves everybody. But to the Japanese, to embrace a God of another country is like being disloyal to your nation. It's like betraying your country. And that's how Fuchida was treated. That's actually how he kind of felt at the beginning. But he said, “Wait a second. There's only one God here. He cares about us. All the rest are not real. He's the only real true God.” And I believe that this book will help open that door to let them know that God's real. He cares. Now, Fuchida wasn't seeking God at all. He didn't care. He was just curious as to why people would love their enemies. And he wanted to know where this love came from? And that started him on the path. So if you seek truth, you find Christ. 

It has been said that this story is a demonstration of how to build a better world. What does that look like from your perspective?

As a writer, they say conflict is drama. Drama is conflict. There's many different layers of conflict. Relationships, business, international … the lowest level of conflict is physical conflict when you're punching somebody, shooting, or blowing stuff up. The highest level is spiritual conflict. And what was very, very, very interesting to me was when I researched the scene of the Surrender of Japan aboard USS Missouri in Yokohama Bay. They're outside Tokyo General. Douglas MacArthur's on the ship. I didn't know what the speech was. I thought I would read this speech, create a summary, put it in the book as a turning point, and go on to the next thing. But as I read this speech, I was really blown away. In it, he says, “This is the world's last chance. And, the problem is spiritual. And if we don't understand it now, we'll never figure it out.”

And I thought, wow, here is the commander in chief of the Allied Forces of the Pacific War making a speech to the planet saying there's a spiritual problem here. And I think, wow, if I was a script writer writing a fictional story, that's what I would have him say. But that's what he actually said. I thought this was absolutely perfect. So that was kind of surprising. But to answer your question, how does the world change? It doesn't change by bigger bombs. It changes because something has to happen on the inside of people first, and then it happens on the outside.

This book has an unpredictable and rewarding ending. Why is the ending of this book so powerful?

Personally, I don't like movies or books that are predictable. If I think, well, the protagonist is going to do A, B, or maybe C, if he does those things, I start getting bored. But when D happens, I'm thinking, okay, all right, you got me. I'm listening. But I'm not so sure about this story. Then it keeps happening. These unpredictable things. It's a fascinating story. Story questions drive stories, and the question that drives this story forward is then what happened? You say that in each chapter, then what happened? So, I say a good story is like a good roller coaster. It starts with a click, click, click, click, click. And then when you get up there, you can see all this stuff in front of you and you're like, okay, I'm looking forward to this, but I want to experience it.

After people have had a chance to read Wounded Tiger, what would you like to see your audience get out of the experience? What is your greatest hope for the book?

That's a really good question. My hope is that people would say to themselves, “I'm not a murderer. I haven't killed people. I'm not being tortured, but I want help in my life. And if God helped these people at the bottom, then He probably can help me. He probably wants to help me. I'm going to seek Him out. I'm going to seek first His kingdom and righteousness, because all these things will be whatever you need.” So the odd thing is that this guy, Fuchida, was not seeking God, but in retrospect, he realized these things were happening in his life. Why didn't he die? He's in Hiroshima. He gets a phone call. He leaves the next day. The city is bombed. His hotel is vaporized. And he is asking himself, why am I still alive? So, the takeaway is I want people to say, “If God can help them in their horrible circumstances, He certainly can help me. I'm going to do what they did.” And what they did simply was they just started reading the Bible and saying, “God, please help me.” And the scripture says, He is a rewarder of those who earnestly seek Him. Jesus said, “Everyone who seeks, finds.” I believe that's true. So I want people to be encouraged. Seek Him sincerely, because you will find what you're looking for.

TO PURCHASE T. MARTIN BENNETT'S WOUNDED TIGER, PLEASE VISIT: