The next morning, the crew of American landing craft "LST-926" claimed to have found the still smoldering remains of a 'cockpit' (implying a shootdown or violent ditching of some sort, but not the exact cause) with three bodies on the beach of "Iheyajima Island". The third man, his head crushed and right arm missing, wore a dark green uniform and a short sword was found nearby. The sailors buried the bodies in the sand. He was posthumously awarded the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun.