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Winston
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Danmark
Mar 1999
time: 06:35
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Ok, this has to be taken with a grain of salt. As the article also points out, it is unclear at this time if they are in fact soldiers, and also what is their reason for still being in the Philippines. But it is intriguing to think about nonetheless, not least the mention of the up to 40 other troops still being around on the islands so many years after the war.
BBC article
quote:
'Japan soldiers' found in jungle
Japanese officials in the Philippines are interviewing two men who claim to be Japanese soldiers living in the jungle since the end of World War II.
The pair, now in their 80s, were found on the southern island of Mindanao.
They reportedly said they wanted to return to Japan, but were afraid of facing a court martial.
In 1974, a Japanese soldier, Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda, was found in the Philippines jungle, unaware that the war had ended 29 years previously.
'Incredible if true'
The two men on Mindanao had contacted a Japanese national who was collecting the remains of war dead on Mindanao, according to government sources.
They had equipment which suggested they were former soldiers.
"It is an incredible story if it is true," Japan's consul general in Manila, Akio Egawa, told the AFP news agency.
"They were found, I believe, in the mountains near General Santos on Mindanao Island.
"At this stage we are not saying either way whether or not these two men are in fact former soldiers. We may be in a better position later today," he said.
According to Japanese media reports, the pair had been living with Muslim rebel groups and at least one of them has married a local woman and had a family.
According to the BBC's Tokyo correspondent, the likelihood is that they are well aware the war is over but have chosen to stay in the Philippines for their own reasons.
Remote jungle
Mindanao has seen more than two decades of Muslim rebellion and many areas are out of central government control.
Japan invaded the Philippines in 1941, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbour and set up a brutal puppet government.
In the closing months of the war, there was heavy fighting with US troops in the mountainous, heavily forested islands.
The Sankei Shimbun daily said the men would most likely be members of the Panther division, 80% of whom were killed or went missing during the final months of the war.
It speculated there could be as many as 40 Japanese soldiers living in similar conditions in the Philippines.
When Lt Onoda was found on the Philippines island of Lubang in 1974, he initially refused to surrender.
Only when his former commanding officer was flown over from Japan did he agree to leave the jungle.
He later emigrated to Brazil.
Published: 2005/05/27 05:28:48 GMT
© BBC MMV |
 Attachment: _41190289_mindanao_santos_map203.gif
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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:35
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The guy they caught in '74 had been randomly shooting Philippine rice farmers, men, and women, in order to carry on the war effort. He's a hero in Japan.
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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:35
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Yes, I'll see if I can find a link.
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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:35
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http://history1900s.about.com/libra...y/aa120700a.htm
"We considered people dressed as islanders to be enemy troops in disguise or enemy spies. The proof that they were was that whenever we fired on one of them, a search party arrived shortly afterward."3 It had become a cycle of disbelief. Isolated from the rest of the world, everyone appeared to be the enemy. "
This site doesn't go very far into it. I watched a Discovery channel (iirc) documentary which interviewed Philippine families on Lubang. They recalled how their grandmother was sitting on the porch and was shot, that sort of thing. Many civilians were killed just going about their work. A favorite tactic was to shoot rice farmers in their fields. The people would go after the Japanese soldiers after but could never catch them in the jungle. Still, their family members were being murdered so it pissed them off and they never quit trying.
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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:35
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This states that his rifle was still in 'operating condition'
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/000310.html
One much-publicized case was Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda. He had been stationed on Lubang Island in the Philippines when it was overrun by U.S. forces in February 1945. Most of the Japanese troops were slain or captured, but Onoda and several other men holed up in the jungle. The others were eventually killed, but Onoda held out for 29 years, dismissing every attempt to coax him out as a ruse. Finally the Japanese government located his commanding officer, who went to Lubang in 1974 to order Onoda to give up. The lieutenant stepped out of the jungle to accept the order of surrender in his dress uniform and sword, with his rifle still in operating condition.
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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:35
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Check this out...he was pardoned by >>>Marcos<<<, "much to the disgust of the islanders Onoda had raided and shot at for the last 30 years. "
http://www.trivia-library.com/b/his...urai-part-4.htm
"The following day the ceremony was repeated for the world's press when Pres. Ferdinand Marcos again returned Onoda's sword to him. He also pardoned Onoda for his crimes on Lubang, much to the disgust of the islanders Onoda had raided and shot at for the last 30 years. "
"But what had Onoda fought for? Back on Lubang, he left two close comrades and at least 30 Filipinos in their graves. They were casualties of a long-forgotten war because of one man's stubborn adherence to the samurai ways. "
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Lancer
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Oregon Coast, USA! or Bohol, Philippines!
Apr 1999
time: 05:35
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That's an *******.
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Dr Strangelove
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Why didn't the Phillipines send their Army after him?
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27-05-2005 11:21
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