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| Hiroo Onoda in his youth |
During World War II, Japan was
training its young men for battle in a way that taught them that surrender was
far worse than death. When these young men went into battle with Allied forces,
the opposing soldiers were stunned at the lengths that they would go to avoid
capture. Among these young men was Japanese Imperial Army intelligence officer
Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda. Onoda was in his early twenties when he was sent to the
Nakano School for officer training. He was 23 years old when he was sent to the
Philippines to engage in guerilla warfare there. He remained in the Philippines
far longer than anyone had expected.
Hiroo Onoda was sent to the
Philippines to join up with the Sugi Brigade there. His orders were to go into
hiding with his men, collect intelligence and conduct guerilla attacks. His
commanding officer told him, before he left, “You are absolutely forbidden to
die by your own hand. It may take three years, it may take five, but whatever
happens, we’ll come back for you. Until then, so long as you have one soldier,
you are to continue to lead him. You may have to live on coconuts. If that is
the case, live on coconuts. Under no circumstances are you to give up your life
voluntarily.” Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda followed his orders to the letter.
Hiroo was sent to the island of
Lubang in the Philippines on December 17, 1944. Allied troops attacked the
island in February of 1945 and easily took the island. Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda
retreated deep into the jungle with three men when this occurred. He found
himself in command of Corporal Shoichi Shimada, Private Kinshichi Kozuka and
Private Yuichi Akatsu. The four men rationed out their small supply of rice and
ate bananas and coconuts from the island’s trees to survive. Every so often, they
were also lucky enough to kill some local livestock and eat that, as well. All
the while, the men continued to conduct guerilla raids on locals and Allied
troops, but it would not be long before there were no Allied forces on the
island to attack.
World War II ended in August of
1945. Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda and his men were still in hiding in the jungle
when the Japanese surrendered. Therefore, they were unaware of the ending of
the war and so they continued to obey their orders. They did find several
pamphlets and notes from the locals informing them that World War II was over,
but Hiroo and his men viewed these as false, thinking that the Allies were
trying to lure them out of the jungle.
Years passed with these men
still living in the unforgiving jungles of Lubang. Unfortunately, they still
believed that they were fighting a war. This mistaken belief led them to engage
and kill or wound many innocent locals. They also committed many acts of
sabotage with the erroneous assumption that they were cutting off the food
supplies of the enemy.
Private Akatsu left the group in
September of 1949 and surrendered to local law enforcement. The following year
he left a note for the remaining men, in the hopes that he could convince them
that the war was over and that they could come out of hiding. This did not
work. The men simply assumed that Akatsu was now an agent for the Allies and
continued as they had before, living in the jungles and conducting sporadic
attacks.
In 1953 the men exchanged fire
with some local men and Corporal Shoichi Shimada was shot in the leg.
Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda and Private Kinshichi Kozuka were able to help the man
recover and he was back to fighting the long ended war with his comrades within
a few months. Unfortunately, he was killed the following year while fighting a
search party on a beach in Gontin.
For nineteen years after
Shimada’s death, Kozuka and Onada lived in the jungle together, still believing
that they were fighting the Allies. Then, the pair was spotted by local policemen
when they left the jungle to burn some farmers’ rice, with the intention of
cutting off the enemy’s food supply. Kozuka was shot and killed by the police
that day. Hiroo Onoda was now alone in his ‘fight.’
In February of 1974, Lieutenant
Hiroo Onoda was found by a young Japanese man by the name of Norio Suzuki.
Norio tried to explain the situation to Onoda, but Onoda still refused to leave
the jungle until he had direct orders from his commander. So, Hiroo’s former
commander was flown to the Philippines to give the last orders of his career
(he had long since retired). He told Hiroo to cease his guerilla activity
immediately and to lay down his weapons. Hiroo obeyed his orders and
subsequently turned himself over to the then President of the Philippines,
Ferdinand Marcos.
During his 29 years on Lubang,
Hiroo Onoda, with the help of his comrades, had killed roughly 30 people and
injured about 100. In light of the fact that the man had mistakenly believed
himself to be fighting a war, and the fact that he was still following orders,
the president granted him a full pardon for his actions. Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda
has gone on to lead a long and fulfilling life. He has since married, worked
successfully as a rancher in Brazil and has even opened a wilderness survival
camp for children in Japan. He has even returned to the Philippines in order to
give a substantial donation to a school there.
Sources
Bellows, Alan, 14 June, 2006,
The Soldier Who Wouldn’t Quit, retrieved 12/28/09, damninteresting.com/the-soldier-who-wouldnt-quit
Hiroo Onoda, retrieved 12/28/09,
absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Hiroo_Onoda
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