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Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
I thought for sure that he was. I guess I was confused by that passage on page 240:
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In due course, Iwatake was posted to an infantry unit, where for fifteen days he received basic infantry training. The main aim seemed to be to master the technique of throwing themselves, holding bombs, in front of enemy tank units in the event of an enemy invasion of Japan proper. Dozens of times a day, they practiced charging dummy tanks made of wood, flinging beneath them bomb-shaped pieces of timber attached to ropes, then throwing themselves flat as rapidly as possible. He discovered later, after he had been posted to the training center, that it was planned to post the “punitive draft” unit to the coastal defense forces, where each would be considered to have done his duty if he disposed of one enemy tank at the cost of his own life.
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Iwatake, of course, was the one who had been so seriously burned by the bomb and made that "miraculous" recovery. I knew I remembered something in the book about someone throwing dummy grenades under vehicles. |
Ah, I had forgotten that. I believe that you are probably correct. The character of Iwatake in the book was expanded and modified to produce that character in the film.