After the main battle, there were no longer full-scale battles that happened. But, sometimes the US carried out cleanup operations. They patrolled along the ridge line and fired warning shots every day. After some time, there were more than 20 Japanese soldiers who survived gathered in the jungle and living together. They decided to either stay alone or pair with another to further survive in the place they chose to stay. However, there were issues with food, causing the survivors to argue over meal size servings and some of them tried to stash the remaining food stock which caused them discord in which they would curse and swear at each other. Onoda and the other enlisted soldiers discussed this food issue; they decided to stay in the jungle dispersedly to avoid the risk of being discovered as one big group. They formed into small groups with the remaining food for their survival distributed equally. Onoda’s team consisted of 3 people: Lt. Hiroo Onoda, 22 years old, Cpl. Shoichi Shimada, 32 years old, the first class in the army, and Kozuka Kinshichi, 23 years old. His team patrolled in the mountains and sometimes they went down near the town to shoot some pastured cows in order to gain more food.
In Japan, about 200 Japanese troops were reported to be dead. Soon after, World War II ended; specifically around August 1945. The military members of the Onoda family returned home; however, Onoda did not.
Around the same time, the US military attacks decreased, however the Filipino army appeared in their place. In October, the remaining soldiers found a leaflet requesting survivors to surrender. However, as soon as the Filipino police found survivors, they desperately shot them. So it was impossible for them to believe that the war had ended.
Before the end of 1945, a B17 jet plane dropped not bombs, but a lot of leaflets, this leaflet said “surrender, the war ended already,” it was an order coming from General Yamashita. Before, the leaflets were solely a call for persuading survivors to surrender such as, “Yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend.” However, there were a lot of erroneous Japanese characters and grammatical mistakes causing no one to believe it.
One year passed since Onoda came to the island in which he and the group of soldiers rarely heard the sound of gunshots. The soldiers sometimes saw battleships off in the distance and also a Grumman airplane hovering above them. In February, Cpl. Shimada and another group went off to get food, but a gunfight had occurred with the Filipinos causing an outcome of two survivors being shot and killed. Cpl. Shimada took Yuichi Akatsu, a survivor from the encounter with the Filipinos back to camp. Yuichi Akatsu, was first class in the army and he joined Onoda’s team.
As time passed, Onoda saw more leaflets saying “Surrender, it is true that the war ended already” scattered in the jungle. They were written by a group of Japanese soldiers who had surrendered. The survivors contacted each other and one after another, gradually; a total of 41 survivors went out of the jungle and finally gave themselves up.
Onoda’s group talked about the end of the war, Onoda carried out a special mission and the other three combatants did not have an absolute confirmation of the war being at an end. There was the possibility of a trap or propaganda of the US military, so, they did not believe it and made a firm decision to continue to stay in the jungle and continue defending their country.
After the 41 survivors surrendered, the residents started entering into the jungle under the protective umbrella of the Philippines police. Onoda’s group had to protect their territory from their invasion. They did not want the residents to underestimate their group even though they were only 4 survivors. So, fierce gun battles took place repeatedly.
In March 1948, Onoda was reported in Japan as being deceased on Lubang Island. It marked the 1st reported death of Hiroo Onoda.
Hiroo Onoda and the members of his group became phantom soldiers, and their war continued.
Next
Chapter 7. Life in the Jungle
