Hiroo Onada has died

[zraver]

One of the last and most famous of the holdouts has slipped into history.

Japanese soldier from WWII, who hid in jungle for decades refusing to believe war was over, dies at 91 | Fox News

[troung]

RIP to the villagers he murdered, after the war.

Good riddance to him.

[Parihaka]

kudos to Norio Suzuki.

[dave lukins]

Kudos for his unswerving loyalty to his Emperor overshadowed somewhat by the killing of some 30 innocent lives.

[Bigfella]

Kudos for his unswerving loyalty to his Emperor overshadowed somewhat by the killing of some 30 innocent lives.

Can't help wishing he'd perished or surrendered a lot earlier than he did given the lives that were lost unnecessarily. Loyalty is all well & good, but there is a fanaticism underlying his actions that I struggle with.

[tbm3fan]

I wonder what smiling fellow kept his sword. Of course, kept it if Marcos didn't get to him.

[troung]

Amazingly the story of him giving up the ghost seems to be reported without the whole killing innocent farmers and burning crops. I wonder if an SS man, who knew or reasobly should have known the war was over, spent thirty years after the war gunning down British or American civilians in cold blood would he have gotten so much admiration.

I hope his last days on earth were extremely painful.
http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/17/wo...html?hpt=hp_c1

The Philippines government pardoned him. But when he returned to Lubang in 1996, relatives of people he was accused of killing gathered to demand compensation.

After his return to Japan, he moved to Brazil in 1975 and set up a cattle ranch.

"Japan's philosophy and ideas changed dramatically after World War II," Onoda told ABC. "That philosophy clashed with mine so I went to live in Brazil

Good riddance.