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Message

re: 50 years ago, March 9, 1974. Awaiting Orders, Sir.

Posted on 3/9/24 at 12:23 pm to
Posted by Havoc
Member since Nov 2015
28376 posts
Posted on 3/9/24 at 12:23 pm to
Very cool story overall but this
quote:

the then 52-year-old soldier returned to an almost unrecognizable Japan.

Is the kicker.

Pretty happy ending as well.
Just sucks he killed a lot of innocent villagers.
Posted by ThatTahoeOverThere
Member since Nov 2021
3624 posts
Posted on 3/9/24 at 12:55 pm to
Amazing story of honor.
Posted by Ricardo
Member since Sep 2016
4889 posts
Posted on 3/9/24 at 1:56 pm to
He was waiting to be properly relieved.

Good for him.
Posted by Earnest_P
Member since Aug 2021
3516 posts
Posted on 3/9/24 at 1:58 pm to
quote:

Amazing story of honor.


Y’all really think a soldier killing unarmed civilians is honorable?

Been watching too much GoT.
Posted by Flyingtiger82
BFE
Member since Oct 2019
1003 posts
Posted on 3/9/24 at 2:21 pm to
And people wonder why Truman decided to nuke their arse. He was either the most dedicated soldier ever or a fricking dumbass. My vote is dumbass.
Posted by bhtigerfan
Baton Rouge
Member since Sep 2008
29475 posts
Posted on 3/9/24 at 2:42 pm to
quote:

What happened to the three other soldiers?
I just read about him on Wikipedia.

One soldier surrendered after a couple years and the two others were shot by police in separate incidents.

Yeah it’s kinda fricked up that they killed 30 innocent people over the years because of their fanaticism.
Posted by ThatTahoeOverThere
Member since Nov 2021
3624 posts
Posted on 3/12/24 at 5:16 pm to
quote:

Y’all really think a soldier killing unarmed civilians is honorable?


Everybody was still Charlie to him. You'd probably surrender like a big puss
Posted by TigersnJeeps
FL Panhandle
Member since Jan 2021
1674 posts
Posted on 3/12/24 at 6:05 pm to
Trump's kind of soldier! lol
Posted by Jim Rockford
Member since May 2011
98188 posts
Posted on 3/12/24 at 6:06 pm to
There was a Six Million Dollar Man episode about this.
Posted by SmelvinRat
Slumwoody
Member since Oct 2015
1397 posts
Posted on 3/12/24 at 6:24 pm to
Posted by elprez00
Hammond, LA
Member since Sep 2011
29389 posts
Posted on 3/12/24 at 7:49 pm to
quote:

Delegations used to leave him stacks of Japanese newspapers and magazines. He thought it was all US propaganda to trick him into surrendering. He said it was obviously doctored. The pictures had Japanese people in them. If Japan had surrendered, that meant there were no Japanese left alive.

And they ask why we bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
This post was edited on 3/12/24 at 7:49 pm
Posted by Twenty 49
Shreveport
Member since Jun 2014
18769 posts
Posted on 3/12/24 at 8:12 pm to
Watched a documentary that started with a guy who surrendered a year or so after the war was over. Then the next guy lasted five years, etc. As the times got longer, it was simply incredible. This guy lasted until 1974, so he could have actually been in the Gillian’s Island situation.
Posted by PikesPeak
The Penalty Box
Member since Apr 2022
532 posts
Posted on 3/12/24 at 8:39 pm to
quote:

If Japan had surrendered, that meant there were no Japanese left alive.
That's heavy. My grandfather was on Iwo Jima, skipped Okinawa to train for the invasion of mainland Japan. He said something along the same lines: "We were going to have to kill every single one of them, because every single one of them would fight"
Posted by lsuwins3
Member since Nov 2008
1620 posts
Posted on 3/12/24 at 10:20 pm to
So he was basically Rambo.
Posted by beachdude
FL
Member since Nov 2008
5642 posts
Posted on 3/12/24 at 11:17 pm to
A few years back Werner Herzog was in Tokyo directing an opera and at some kind of well attended function, a dignitary offered to arrange an audience with the Emperor. Herzog felt he had nothing to talk to the Emperor about, but asked instead to meet Hiroo Onoda.
Posted by shutterspeed
MS Gulf Coast
Member since May 2007
63329 posts
Posted on 3/12/24 at 11:37 pm to
Good book.

Even when they figured out that the guy was on the island and his general whereabouts, they still had a helluva time trying to coax him out.
Posted by tigerinexile
NYC
Member since Sep 2004
1270 posts
Posted on 3/13/24 at 4:43 am to
I had a set of BDUs that rotted off of me in less than 30 days I’m amazed at the condition of his uniform
Posted by Shanegolang
Denham Springs, La
Member since Sep 2015
3456 posts
Posted on 3/13/24 at 4:55 am to
So bad arse they named a motorcycle after him!
Posted by Havoc
Member since Nov 2015
28376 posts
Posted on 3/13/24 at 6:08 am to
quote:

You have to admire the dedication of Japanese troops. They were all in.

Reading some more on it, he was a complete dumbass. All during that time were various attempts to convince him with leaflets and such, but nope.
Posted by DownshiftAndFloorIt
Here
Member since Jan 2011
66763 posts
Posted on 3/13/24 at 6:21 am to
Anybody who seriously questions why we did that is an idiot.
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