Kaname Harada, a Japanese Zero fighter pilot who downed five U.S. torpedo planes during the Battle of Midway 68 years ago, believes “;war is a horrible thing.”;

“;For any nation war is bad,”; said Harada, 94, now principal of Hikari Youchien kindergarten school in Nagano City.

Harada was one of 21 Japanese Zero pilots who attended a Midway symposium yesterday hosted by the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island to commemorate the 68th anniversary of the World War II battle that is regarded as the turning point of the Pacific campaign.

Between June 4 and 7, 1942, six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy inflicted irreparable damage on the Japanese, sinking four Japanese carriers—Akagi, Kaga, Hiryu and Soryu—and downing 332 of its fighters at Midway Atoll. The same four Japanese carriers had attacked Pearl Harbor.

The Navy lost the carrier Yorktown and 142 planes. Japanese losses were estimated at 4,800, while 307 U.S. sailors and aviators were killed. Six months earlier, Harada joined in the attack on the Pacific Fleet by providing air cover for the carrier Soryu, but never dropped any bombs or torpedoes during the attack on Pearl Harbor of Dec. 7, 1941.

Harada took off from the Soryu at dawn on June 4 and is credited with downing five U.S. torpedo planes that were attacking his carrier. He later was forced to land on the carrier Hiryu.

Because his Zero was so badly damaged, it was dumped into the ocean. Harada took off in another Zero and was forced to stay in the air for five hours until his fuel ran out after the Hiryu was sunk. He ditched his Zero and was picked up around 7 p.m. by the Japanese destroyer Makigumo.

Harada said the survivors of the battle were kept in isolation for a month after returning to Japan to prevent anyone from talking or writing about the major defeat the country had suffered.

He later participated in Battle of Guadalcanal and is credited with nine solo kills and 10 joint ones.

“;I may have won that battle, that dogfight,”; Harada told the audience of more than 150 people, “;but I still carry those faces. I replay it all the time. It is a heavy burden.”;

After the war, Harada said, he had a hard time finding a job because of his war record and ended up starting a kindergarten school.

Through interpreter Dan King, Harada told reporters that “;for the next generation, we need to tell them the truth about everything that happened, not just the nice good things that makes war seem valorous and glories.

“;Tell them the truth that war is bad and the consequences of war.”;