Lt. Hiroo Onada

Paul K · Post by **Paul K** » 19 Jan 2014, 20:43

The Japanese experience of WW2 greatly interests me, and one of the last Japanese soldiers to surrender has finally passed away.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25772192

I read his book 'No Surrender' many years ago, and found it fascinating how he sought to explain the things he saw as proof that the war was still underway. For example, he would watch cruise ships coming and going in Manila Bay, and explained them away as white-painted hospital ships bringing American wounded from battles further north.

http://www.amazon.com/No-Surrender-Thir ... 1557506639

Ultimately I was left with a mixture of feelings. He endured 30 futile years, devoted not just to a lost cause but one long gone and forgotten. One can admire such devotion, but equally recoil that such unquestioning adherence to authority can be inculcated in a human being to the extent that so much of his life was wasted.

RIP Lt. Onada