Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroo_Onoda

 

I never realised there was more than one.

 

Amazing

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

This is some of what he says in Interview

 

Mr Onoda is still alive today

 

If you have some thorns in your back, somebody needs to pull them out for you. We need buddies. The sense of belonging is born in the family and later includes friends, neighbors, community and country. That is why the idea of a nation is really important.

 

Some dreams are best not to wake up from. On Lubang, I believed I was defending Japan by making the island into a stronghold as best as I could with my two comrades, Shimada and Kozuka. When they both died, I continued my mission alone. When World War II ended for me in 1974, the past all seemed like a dream.

 

People cannot live completely by themselves. If you have any doubts about this, just imagine being truly alone. Can you find all your food, make a fire, sew your clothes and take care of yourself when you get sick or injured? Can you make it?

 

One must always be civic-minded. Every minute of every day, for 30 years, I served my country. I have never even wondered if that was good or bad for me as an individual.

 

History is written by the victors. Since the end of WWII, the Japanese history taught in our schools has been based on a U.S. program to promote war guilt and on left-wing propaganda. I don't blame the United States for this. They wanted a weak Japan, and their mission is accomplished; Japanese educated after the war do not have any confidence in their culture or in themselves.

 

Japan was forced to participate in WWII. The ABCD Powers (America, Britain, China and the Dutch East Indies) imposed such strong sanctions on Japan that we had no way to import oil, steel or anything. We were going to die or we were going to be invaded and enslaved.

 

Japanese political leaders were wise in the past. All Asian nations except Thailand and Japan were colonized. In our case, the Tokugawa Shogunate made a smooth transition to the first Meiji government in order to save us from colonization.

 

Once you have burned your tongue on hot miso soup, you even blow on the cold sushi. This is how the Japanese government now behaves toward the U.S. and other nations. We are so careful and let others devour so much, yet they are always hungry for more from Japan.

 

Without a huge shock, the sleepy-head, ignorant Japanese will never wake up. The situation today is similar to what we had in 1853 when [Commodore] Perry's Black Ships arrived. Unless Nodong or Taepodong missiles fly over our heads, we do nothing to protect ourselves.

 

Parents should raise more independent children. When I was living in Brazil in the 1980s, I read that a 19-year-old Japanese man killed his parents after failing the university entrance exam. I was stunned. Why had he killed his parents instead of moving out? I guess he didn't have enough confidence. I thought this was a sign that Japanese were getting too weak. I decided to move back to Japan to establish a nature school to give children more power.

 

Men should never give up. I never do. I would hate to lose.

 

Men should never compete with women. If they do, the guys will always lose. That is because women have a lot more endurance. My mother said that, and she was so right.

 

Never complain. When I did, my mother said that if I didn't like my life, I could just give up and die. She reminded me that when I was inside her, I told her that I wanted to be born, so she delivered me, breastfed me and changed my diapers. She said that I had to be brave.

 

Parents should remember that they are supposed to die before their children. Nobody will help them later on, so the greatest gift parents can give their children is independence.

 

Life is not fair and people are not equal. Some people eat better than others. At our nature school, children participate in survival games. For example, they must prepare their own dinner from ingredients they find. Bartering is allowed but still some children will have a feast compared to others.

[Hasse Wind 46]

I remember reading about those guys years ago. I thought then they were completely nuts, and that Wikipedia article only reinforces my opinion. Some intelligence officer, thinking that Japan could go on fighting for decades. If he really believed in December 1944 that Japan was going to win the war, well, all I can say is that they were pretty well brain-washed.

 

But if we forget all that and consider his achievement as a survivor, that's indeed remarkable.

[Olham 164]

Thirty years without Sushi? What a discipline! I couldn't keep it up.

[Bullethead 12]

Japan was forced to participate in WWII. The ABCD Powers (America, Britain, China and the Dutch East Indies) imposed such strong sanctions on Japan that we had no way to import oil, steel or anything. We were going to die or we were going to be invaded and enslaved.

 

Interesting take on things.

 

I completely agree with him that the US (and by that I mean FDR himself) deliberately provoked the Japanese into all that they did in late-1941 to early-1942. Roosevelt's embargoes left them no choice at all if they had any desire to continue to be an industrialized, modern nation. I don't think the Australians (the 2nd A in ABDA) or especially the Dutch had much, if any, desire for a war in their neighborhood, however. And I don't think the British liked the idea that much, either, due to the harm it would do their Pacific possessions and the addition of yet another front they had to cover. But they were willing to accept that as the price of getting the US in the war. After all, FDR's putting US destroyers in front of U-boat torpedoes for the past year hadn't done the trick and wasn't likely to in the future.

 

But OTOH, what about everything that Japan had been doing the previous few years in China and Manchuria? That's what gave FDR his excuse to impose the sanctions.

 

As with WW1, I don't think anybody involved in WW2 had completely clean hands. And of course Onoda is correct in his claim that the winners right the history, so that their hands look cleaner in retrospect than they were seen to be at the time.

 

Personally, as a descendant of a long line of failed revolutionaries and unsuccessful rebels against hated oppressors, I have to admire Onoda's choice to hold out as long as humanly possible. He was never beaten and gave up on his own terms. It's therefore tempting to compare him to von Lettow-Vorbeck in German East Africa.

 

However, let's face it. When you go beyond what Lettow did, as Onoda did, you become nothing but a bandit and terrorist. He wasn't fighting the armed forces of his national enemy, he was robbing peasants, killing them if they got in his way, and then fighting the police sent after him. So to me, the best analogy to Onoda is Jesse James.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

I agree with your take on this BH

[rabu 9]

Wow! What an amazing story, had never heard about him, thanks!

[Bullethead 12]

Many Southerners might deliberately have gone the route of Onoda, prolonging the Civil War indefinitely, except for one influential man who forbade it. Robert E. Lee.

 

Yup, . That's why there weren't many folks like Jesse James, but why those like him we celebrated as folk heroes.

[Olham 164]

Who defines, who is an outlaw, and who the criminal?

The folk know, who is one of their heroes.

Edited January 26, 2010 by Olham

[ConradB 0]

I remember reading about this back in 77 or 78, as it was part of my SA for history class as an extra credit assignment.

[RAF_Louvert 101]

.

 

Brings to mind the story of the outlaw Dennis Moore:

 

 

 

 

It's all in how you look at it, really. Now, is that a Beech or a Hornbeam?

 

.

[Creaghorn 10]

from what he was talking his attitude is much like those from samurai. although samurai did not exist anymore, the spirit and devotion for duty etc. is a heir from those ancient days wich lasts a lot to this day.

that's why japan always had great respect for germany till WW2 (i talked a lot and often with an old japanese doctor and he told me about that respect). germany was till then a militant country with a great devotion to duty, doing the job the best they can without complaining etc. having military academies etc. and that's what japanese admire most (this attitude also explains kamikaze pilots etc.). german people got castrated in every way after ww2. and turned into ultrapacifists. those attributes are not the least comparable to the german people of before. maybe that's the guilt they think they have to carry and still do, maybe because of the hippies or whatever.

i can completely understand the attitude of onoda

[Bullethead 12]

So, outlaws and criminals are folk heroes now?

 

Jesse James was a folk hero in his own time. That's why he was able to stay ahead of the law so long. Most of his neighbors sympathized with him so gave him all kinds of help. The whole war in that area had been nothing but protracted brigandage by both sides, so everybody who hadn't been killed had done some of the same things. Plus, the neighbors thought (rightly or wrongly) that most of his victims were yankee bankers, whom the blamed for all their troubles. Besides, the area was very clannish and he was related or connected to many locals.

 

I was comparing Onoda to Jesse James because both were die-hards, both were brigands, and both were very popular with their people in their own lifetimes.

[UK_Widowmaker 571]

Well, Olham...the only difference I can see between a Terrorist and a Freedom Fighter...is which side you are on.

 

 

If you were a Nazi Soldier in WW2... The French Resistance were Terrorists

But Freedom Fighters to the Allies

[Bullethead 12]

Damn it, there IS a difference. If you prey on the innocent and helpless, you are a criminal and a terrorist. If you kill enemy soldiers to defend your country or free yourself from oppression, you are a freedom fighter. I'm too old to be naive, but too young to give up hope. And too drunk to be posting in this forum. Give me one of those Spitfire ales.

 

I agree up to the point of you being too drunk to post. Moral relativism is the probably the 2nd greatest evil humanity has ever concocted. But I'd like to agree with you across the board, so let's pour some down

[rabu 9]

Damn it, there IS a difference. If you prey on the innocent and helpless, you are a criminal and a terrorist. If you kill enemy soldiers to defend your country or free yourself from oppression, you are a freedom fighter. I'm too old to be naive, but too young to give up hope. And too drunk to be posting in this forum. Give me one of those Spitfire ales.

 

Knights of the Sky.

 

Well said,