Hiroo Onoda: Difference between revisions
year appeared apocryphal |
29 years would take it to October 1973 |
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In 1952 letters and family pictures were dropped from aircraft urging them to surrender, but the three soldiers concluded that this was a hoax. Shimada was shot in the leg during a shoot-out with local fishermen in June 1953, following which Onoda nursed him back to health, and on 7 May 1954 was killed by a shot fired by a search party looking for the men. |
In 1952 letters and family pictures were dropped from aircraft urging them to surrender, but the three soldiers concluded that this was a hoax. Shimada was shot in the leg during a shoot-out with local fishermen in June 1953, following which Onoda nursed him back to health, and on 7 May 1954 was killed by a shot fired by a search party looking for the men. |
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Kozuka was killed by two shots fired by local police on 19 October |
Kozuka was killed by two shots fired by local police on 19 October 1954, when he and Onoda burned rice that had been collected by farmers, as part of their guerilla activities, leaving Onoda alone. For the next 29 years, he refused to surrender, dismissing as a ruse the leaflets, letters, and family pictures that were dropped urging him to surrender. In 1959, Onoda was declared legally dead in Japan. |
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On 20 February 1974, Onoda met a Japanese college dropout, Norio Suzuki, who was traveling the world and had told his friends that he was "going to look for Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman, in that order." Onoda and Suzuki became friends, but Ondoda still refused to surrender, saying that he was waiting for orders from a superior officer. |
On 20 February 1974, Onoda met a Japanese college dropout, Norio Suzuki, who was traveling the world and had told his friends that he was "going to look for Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman, in that order." Onoda and Suzuki became friends, but Ondoda still refused to surrender, saying that he was waiting for orders from a superior officer. |
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Revision as of 13:31, 4 October 2008
Hiroo Onoda | |
|---|---|
| File:Honoda.jpg | |
| Allegiance |  Empire of Japan |
| Service/ |  Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1941 - 1974 |
| Rank | Second Lieutenant |
| Other work | Cattle Farmer |
Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda (小野田 寛郎 Onoda Hirō; born March 19, 1922) is a former Japanese army intelligence officer who fought in World War II, and did not surrender until 1974.
Military service
Onoda was trained as an intelligence officer by the Nakano School, and on 26 December 1944 was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines. He was ordered to do all that he could to hamper enemy attacks on the island, including destroying the airstrip and the pier at the harbor, his orders also stating that under no circumstances was he to surrender or take his own life.
When Onoda landed on the island, he linked up with a group of Japanese soldiers who had been sent there previously. The officers in the group outranked Ononda and prevented him from carrying out his assignment, which made it easier for US forces to liberate the island when they landed on 28 February 1945. Within a short time of the landing, all but Onoda and three other soldiers had either died or surrendered and Onoda, who had been promoted to Lieutenant, ordered the men to take to the hills.
Time in hiding
Onoda continued his campaign, initially living in the mountains with three fellow soldiers (Yuichi Akatsu, Corposal Siochi Shimada and Kinshichi Kozuka). One of his comrades, Akatsu, eventually surrendered to Filipino forces in 1950 and confirmed that Onoda and the other two were alive.
In 1952 letters and family pictures were dropped from aircraft urging them to surrender, but the three soldiers concluded that this was a hoax. Shimada was shot in the leg during a shoot-out with local fishermen in June 1953, following which Onoda nursed him back to health, and on 7 May 1954 was killed by a shot fired by a search party looking for the men.
Kozuka was killed by two shots fired by local police on 19 October 1954, when he and Onoda burned rice that had been collected by farmers, as part of their guerilla activities, leaving Onoda alone. For the next 29 years, he refused to surrender, dismissing as a ruse the leaflets, letters, and family pictures that were dropped urging him to surrender. In 1959, Onoda was declared legally dead in Japan.
On 20 February 1974, Onoda met a Japanese college dropout, Norio Suzuki, who was traveling the world and had told his friends that he was "going to look for Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman, in that order." Onoda and Suzuki became friends, but Ondoda still refused to surrender, saying that he was waiting for orders from a superior officer.
Suzuki returned to Japan with photographs of himself and Onoda as proof of their encounter, and in 1974 the Japanese government located Onoda's commanding officer, Major Taniguchi, who had since become a bookseller. He flew to Lubang and on 9 March 1974 informed Onoda of the defeat of Japan in WWII and ordered him to lay down his arms.
Lieutenant Onoda emerged from the jungle 29 years after the end of World War II, and accepted the commanding officer's order of surrender in his uniform and sword, with his Arisaka Type 99 rifle still in operating condition, 500 rounds of ammunition and several hand grenades. This makes him the second-to-last fighting Japanese soldier of World War II, before Teruo Nakamura. Although many sources in modern culture poke fun at Onoda for "not believing the war was over," the primary motivation related to his devout belief in military discipline and honor: he had been ordered to never leave his post until he received a specific order enabling him to do so. Those orders did not arrive until 1974.
Though he had killed some thirty Philippine inhabitants of the island and engaged in several shootouts with the police, the circumstances of these events were taken into consideration, and Onoda received a pardon from President Ferdinand Marcos.
Later life
Onoda was so popular following his return to Japan that some Japanese urged him to run for the Diet. He also released an autobiography, No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War, shortly after his surrender, which detailed his life as a guerrilla fighter in a war that was long over. However, Onoda was reportedly unhappy being the subject of so much attention and troubled by what he saw as the withering of traditional Japanese virtues such as patriotism and in April 1975 he followed the example of his older brother Tadao and left Japan for Brazil, where he raised cattle. He married in 1976, and assumed a leading role in the local Japanese community.
In 1980, after reading of a Japanese teenager who had murdered his parents, Onoda returned to Japan in 1984 and established the Onoda Shizen Juku ("Onoda Nature School") educational camp for young people, which is held at various different locations in Japan.[1]
Onoda revisited Lubang Island in 1996, donating $10,000 for the local school on Lubang. His wife, Machie Onoda, became the head of the conservative Japan Women's Association in 2006.[2] He currently spends three months of the year in Brazil.
He is an assenter of The Truth about Nanjing movie.[citation needed]
Popular culture
In 1981, an English progressive rock band Camel released a concept album "Nude", which derives from "Onoda", based on the story.
See also
Notes
- ^ Mercado, Stephen C. (2003). The Shadow Warriors of Nakano. Brassey's. pp. pp. 246-247. ISBN 1574885383.
{{cite book}}:|pages=has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|coauthors=(help) - ^ "Wife of 'No Surrender' soldier becomes president of conservative women's group". Japan Probe. 29 November 2006.
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Selected bibliography
- Onoda, Hiroo. No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War. Translated by Charles S. Terry
- ISBN 0-7394-0756-2
- ISBN 0-233-96697-8
- ISBN 0-87011-240-6
- ISBN 1-55750-663-9
External links
- "The War is Over... Please Come Out": Japanese Soldier Surrenders 29 Years After the End of World War II
- "Words to Live by" - Interview with Hiroo Onoda (Judit Kawaguchi, Jan 2007, Japan Times)
- "Thirty Years in the Jungle! Could you do it?" short Biography (also with Shoichi Yokoi)
- "The Soldier Who Wouldn't Quit" article by Alan Bellows
- "Hey! The War is Over" article by Steve Silverman
- Onoda Shizen Juku homepage (Japanese)