Japan's Interesting People:Hiro Onoda

Hello everybody and welcome to another edition of Japan's Interesting People. in this page we will talk about a little known World War 2 veteran named Hiro Onoda.

Hiro Onoda was a World War 2 veteran who fought for the Japanese Imperial Army who was sent to a small island off the coast of the Philippines and stayed there when World War 2 ended, in fact he stayed in the island for 30 years after the war ended.

But what was his life about? This is what this page will try to cover.

## Early Life

Hiro Onoda was born on March 19, 1922 in a village called Kamekawa in the Wakayama Prefecture in Japan. Not much known about Onoda in his early life, but at the age of 17, he went to China and got a job for a trading company called Taijima Yoko where he would stay for a year before returning to Japan and enlisting in the Japanese Imperial Army, by this time the Japanese were invading the rest of China and thus begins the Second Sino-Japanese War.

By 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. This would force the hand of the United States and enter World War 2, and after suffering a crushing defeat at the Battle of Midway in the summer of 1942, the Japanese found themselves on a permanent defensive position. Hiro would go through rigorous training at the Nakano School as the war was progressing, but his time for action will come.

## Thirty-Year War

Hiro would get his first taste of some action against the US, he was ordered to protect a small island called Lubang on December 26, 1944 as the Japanese were anticipating an American invasion, but as the Americans invaded a few months later, Hiro along with several other army enlistees; Pvt. Yuichi Akatsu, Cpl. Shochi Shimada, and PFC. Kinshichi Kozuka were ordered to hold out on the island's mountain, this island (at least for the Japanese) was so remote that communication was almost impossible, but they did see some action as they would wage Gorilla war against anybody who would invade their holdout place and even had gun fights with the local police on the island. Even as the US invaded the island on February 28, 1945 Hiro and his men would holdout on the island's mountain as several officers didn't listen to Hiro's suggestion to attack.

Of course, in August of 1945 the Japanese Towns of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were destroyed by American Atomic Bombing raids, a few weeks later Japan surrenders and thus ending the Pacific Theater of World War 2. Hiro and his men would find a leaflet that dropped from the sky on October of 1945 telling them to surrender and the war was over. But Hiro and his men dismissed the message for a fake American message and decide to stay on Lubang Island. More leaflets were dropped from the air again telling them to surrender, but again Hiro and his men dismissed the messages as fake, not realizing that these were real orders telling them to surrender.

One of Hiro's men; Pvt. Yuichi Akatsu had decided to abandon the rest of the unit in September of 1949 and then gave himself up to the Philippine Police 6 months later. As Hiro and the rest of his unit remained on the Island, they once again came across letters and pictures which were dropped from the air in 1952, and again Hiro and his unit dismissed them to be fake messages.

During a shootout between Hiro's men and local fishermen in June of 1953, one of his men; Cpl Shimada was wounded in the leg, but was helped by Hiro and the rest of his unit who nursed him back to health. But this wouldn't last long as Shimada was shot and killed on May 7, 1954 by a search party who were sent to look for the unit on the island. For the next decade, Hiro and his men would stay on the island using their Gorilla Tactics to survive. PFC. Kozuka was then shot and killed on October 19, 1972 by local police when Hiro and his men were burning rice that farmers in the area were collecting. Hiro would spend the next few years on the island alone, that is until another search party would find him and tell him to surrender.

## Surrender and later life

Hiro was founded by a Japanese traveler named Norio Suzuki on February 20, 1974 who always wanted to find Hiro, the 2 men became friends but still Hiro refuses to surrender until he is received orders to do so. Suzuki returned to Japan with pictures of the man, but once word got out that Hiro was still alive, his former commanding officer; Maj. Yoshimi Taniguchi went to Lubang Island to look for Hiro, and found him on March 9, Taniguchi than gave Hiro his orders to surrender as a part of a promise he made 30 years ago. As Hiro returns to Japan, he was relived of his military duties and gave up his rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition, some hand grenades, and even a small tanto that his mother gave to him as a promise to commit seppuku if he was to be captured.

Though, you might think that Hiro was the last of the Japanese soldiers to surrender, but he was not. It was another Japanese soldier named Teruo Nakamura who surrendered on December 18 in the year of 1974 was the last Japanese soldier to surrender.

Hiro became a national "hero" (get it) in Japan and even some people urging him to take up a career on politics and run for the Japanese Diet Government. Shortly after his return, he wrote an autobiography called "No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War" which talked about his time on Lubang Island, though it left out the fact that he killed several people during his 30-year stay, the Japanese Government also Promised Hiro a large sum of money which he refused to take but took some of the money pushed on him and donated it to the Yasukuni Shrine.

Though, Hiro would get tired of being in the spotlight as well as the westernization of Japan and the throwing away of Japanese traditional values, so he moved to Brazil and raised cattle in 1975 and married a woman named Machie a year later and then received a leading role in something that is called the Jamic Colony. He would also the Brazilian Air Force to train on his land where he raised his cattle. Though he would've stayed in Brazil if it wasn't for him reading about how a teenager murdered his parents which took place in 1980, 4 years later he returned to Japan and began a Nature School which would later bear his name. In 1996, Hiro would return to Lubang Island where he stayed for 30 years, and Filippino President Ferdinand Marcos would present Hiro a full pardon in a televised ceremony.

## Death and Legacy

For many years, he would spend time in both his native Japan and Brazil. That is until he died from complications from Pneumonia on January 16, 2014. Now, what about his legacy. Well, him staying on Lubang island for nearly 30 years was just him being simply a soldier who followed orders, him and his unit dismissing orders to surrender was a result of trial and error as Lubang island was a remote place that communication was difficult.

That'll do it for this edition of Japan's interesting people. Don't forget to check out my Games and Movies wikis too. Until next time, this is JohnnyOTGS signing out.