Whatever the case, Sakai sustained serious injuries from the bombers' return fire. He was hit in the head by a .30 caliber bullet, injuring his skull and temporarily paralyzing the left side of his body. (The wound is described elsewhere as having destroyed the metal frame of his goggles, and having "creased" his skull, a glancing blow which broke the skin and made a furrow in, or even cracked the skull, but did not actually penetrate it). Shattered glass from the canopy temporarily blinded him in his right eye and reduced vision in his left eye severely. The Zero rolled inverted and descended toward the sea. Unable to see out of his left eye due to glass and blood from his serious head wound, Sakai's vision started to clear somewhat as tears cleared the blood from his eyes, and he was able to pull his plane out of the dive. He considered ramming an American warship: "If I must die, at least I could go out as a Samurai. My death would take several of the enemy with me. A ship. I needed a ship." Finally, the cold air blasting into the cockpit revived him enough to check his instruments, and he decided that by leaning the fuel mixture he might be able to return to the airfield at Rabaul.