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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts |
I found this article about a Japanese soldier who was in hiding in the jungles of the Phillipines for 30 years after the war, not sure that World War II had ended.
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Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who refused to stop fighting World War II until the 1970s, has died in Tokyo at the age of 91. http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/17/world/asia......pt=hp_t2 The link has a picture of when he came out of hiding in 1974 and he was still in his Japanese army uniform.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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Mr. Mystoffelees Inner circle I haven't changed anyone's opinion in 3623 Posts |
Is this the soldier who just died?
Also known, when doing rope magic, as "Cordini"
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts |
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On 2014-01-17 13:00, Mr. Mystoffelees wrote: Yes, he passed away according to news reports.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts |
Another interesting thing I heard, though I don't know for sure, is of French long range recon units that were "holdouts" as well long after the French were defeated in Vietnam. Makes you wonder about other "holdouts" from other wars doesn't it?
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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ed rhodes Inner circle Rhode Island 2885 Posts |
I looked through the guy's book. He said they would broadcast announcements into the jungle that the war was over. In the book he says he was insulted by their attitude that he "didn't know" the war was over. Of course he knew the war was over, but HE hadn't been released from duty and he wasn't going to come out until he HAD been formally released from duty. Which is what finally happened.
Gotta respect that, just a little.
"...and if you're too afraid of goin' astray, you won't go anywhere." - Granny Weatherwax
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts |
I thought this guy thought that the newspaper and pamphlets dropped announcing the Japanese surrender were, in his mind, propaganda by the allies to convince or trick him to come out of hiding when the Japanese did not, in his mind, surrender. He also thought the planes that were flying from the Philippines to Vietnam at the time of the Vietnam War were the because of the continuing war with Japan (never really knowing for sure if Japan had surrendered). At least that is what I saw in one of the several articles I was reading.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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Joe McIntyre New user North myrtle beach S.C. 61 Posts |
Hell, I don't respect him. He killed at least 3 or 4 civilians.
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts |
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On 2014-01-18 08:20, Joe McIntyre wrote: I found this caption from the New York Times: Quote:
Caught in a time warp, Mr. Onoda, a second lieutenant, was one of the war’s last holdouts: a soldier who believed that the emperor was a deity and the war a sacred mission; who survived on bananas and coconuts and sometimes killed villagers he assumed were enemies; who finally went home to the lotus land of paper and wood which turned out to be a futuristic world of skyscrapers, television, jet planes and pollution and atomic destruction. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/world/......tml?_r=0 According to the article that I quoted above, he mis-took some of the civilians he killed as enemy guerrillas. He was caught in a time warp and one of the unfortunate realities of war is the death of civilians (who are sometimes mistook as enemy guerrillas and enemy guerrillas in many cases cannot be told apart from regular civilians). This is one of the astronomical and mind boggling costs of war and why it's so important to prevent the costs of war (and again, prevention and avoidance are two different things). You do not pick where you are born. In time of war you do not get to choose the side on which you will fight, or the cause for which you are fighting. Your sworn duty is to "harass, confound, confuse, close with and destroy" the enemy to the best of your ability, and to do your utter best to destroy his will to continue the struggle. Lieutenant Onoda was given his orders and he did precisely that. That he considered himself a soldier in the field and under orders is demonstrated by the fact that when he surrendered he did so in uniform, with his weapons in working order, and that he formally surrendered his sword - again in conformance to orders from competent authority - to his enemy (which he gave his sword to the Philippine President at the time as part of his surrender). Semper Fidelis is the motto of the United States Marine Corps. It translates as "Always Faithful". If this is the behavior to be expected of a United States Military service member, why should it not be the behavior expected of a member of the military of any other nation? Lt. Onoda followed orders to stay behind, and he followed orders to surrender. War is ugly and civilians die. He was a worthy foe. He was no doubt the enemy and the Japanese did commit some terrible atrocities during World War II (but in all wars, all sides commit atrocities, including our own such as the bombing of Dresden or the My Lai massacre in Vietnam or the "kill team" in Afghanistan) during the war, but he was also a soldier who followed his orders and performed his duties faithfully.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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magicfish Inner circle 7004 Posts |
Multiply this guy by 600000 , led by a man they worship as a deity, give them a credo that death is better than surrender, ambition for world domination, and you've got yourself a situation.
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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts |
I think another thing this story illustrates is the determination of the enemy we faced in World War II. The Japanese were a very tough and determined enemy. Sending an invasion force to directly take and occupy the Japanese home islands with ground troops would have costed millions of lives on each side a piece. The Japanese would have fought to the last man, woman and child. Given that this the case, the decision to drop the atomic bombs on Japan was the right decision and it saved many lives on both sides. The President of the US at time, Truman, made the right call by ordering the atomic bombings. He saved many lives by doing so.
The atomic bombings essentially demonstrated to the Japanese that we could exterminate them and in return suffer no causalities at all in return. That putting up a fanatical and determined defense was useless and futile when by doing so you wouldn't be able to inflict not one casualty when the US could simply stand back and drop atomic bombs. It was a pretty ugly demonstration but necessary to end the war with the minimum loss of life to our side and by doing so, we also minimized the loss of life on the Japanese side as well. It was a clear cut demonstration of check-mate to the Japanese that pierced through even the most fanatical of determination to fight on.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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longhaired1 Veteran user Salida 316 Posts |
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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
Even more incredible than that was the Bat bomb. Japan had houses made of paper and wood and so some bright spark came up with the cool idea of fitting small incendiary devices to bats, which would fly over to Japan and burn then down. Truman served in World War I in the US army as an artillery captain. He was the first and only combat veteran of the war to be elected President. He often used Batman-Gambit: A complicated plan that revolves entirely around people doing exactly what you'd expect them to do. Fat Man and Little Boy were first called Batman and Robin and Truman thought he was the mayor of Gotham City in DC Comics, believe it or not.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
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balducci Loyal user Canada 227 Posts |
This show really was ahead of its time ...
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0588094/ Gilligan's Island: Season 1, Episode 15 So Sorry, My Island Now (9 Jan. 1965) TV Episode - 30 min - Comedy |Family A Japanese solder arrives on the island, thinks it's still WWII, and holds the castaways prisoner on their own island.
Make America Great Again! - Trump in 2020 ... "We're a capitalistic society. I go into business, I don't make it, I go bankrupt. They're not going to bail me out. I've been on welfare and food stamps. Did anyone help me? No." - Craig T. Nelson, actor.
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tommy Eternal Order Devil's Island 16544 Posts |
Reminds me of the fall the Roman Empire, many refused to believe it had gone.
If there is a single truth about Magic, it is that nothing on earth so efficiently evades it.
Tommy |
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts |
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On 2014-01-19 21:53, balducci wrote: Art is truth. So the actors and scriptwriters writers for this episode did their job as artists it sounds like.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts |
When you think about it, the war in the Pacific was more brutal, savage and involved more hatred than the war in Europe. Their was an element of racial hatred on both sides and things quickly spun out of control in the Pacific War. The Japanese viewed surrendering allied forces as subhuman and in turn the treatment of POWs by the Japanese helped to re-inforce racial stereotypes of the Japanese back home in America. So, it's easy to see how things quickly got brutal and spun out of control in the Pacific Theater at the time. In many respects, the war in the Pacific was a race war and it was savage because both sides saw each other as subhuman.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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ed rhodes Inner circle Rhode Island 2885 Posts |
Quote:
On 2014-01-20 01:27, General_Magician wrote: Thank you for not just placing the blame on one side.
"...and if you're too afraid of goin' astray, you won't go anywhere." - Granny Weatherwax
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General_Magician Special user United States 707 Posts |
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Thank you for not just placing the blame on one side. It was heartbreaking and sad for me to study how two sides with wonderful cultures and people could be doing such terrible things to each other. It was a terrible and tragic waste of human life for both sides. You know, veterans sincerely hope that people learn to solve problems without resorting to this kind of madness, but it seems war is something that will always be around unfortunately. That's very unfortunate but it seems to be the reality. I think this is why it's important for people learn to treat each other with kindness, compassion and understanding. I am not saying be naive or be a pushover, but it's just horribly sad and tragic to study, see and understand what happened during those times (or in any war for that matter). True, the Japanese were in the hands of militarists and we didn't start the war. But still, nevertheless, just terrible that things had to come to that. It was the common people on both sides that paid a terrible price. It's something that the world should strive to prevent from happening again, but sometimes the dark side of human nature causes me to have doubts that such tragedy can be prevented in the future. It's important to try though. I am not saying be a peacenik (to me peacenik means being a pushover and just let people run over you no matter what), but to strive and do our best at preventing something like this from happening again. I feel it's very important. But you know that's my two cents worth and I know some of the old timers on here know where I am coming from and probably preaching to the choir, but still, you know, I think peace is extremely important and it's important to say so once and awhile, even if it falls on the ears of old timers (by old timers, I mean those veterans who came before me) or others who understand the importance of peace.
"Never fear shadows. They simply mean there is a light shining somewhere nearby." -unknown
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landmark Inner circle within a triangle 5194 Posts |
Nicely put, GM.
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