Onoda’s team started guerrilla activities in the jungle, but, they were initially not familiar with life in the jungle at all, so they lived in difficult situations during the first 3 years. Actually, most of the teachings he learned in the Nakano Academy were of little use in the jungle because they were designed for human, social situations. Now, Onoda’s group was in a natural environment like the jungle they were hiding in. Fortunately, Shimada came from a family of farmers so he had abundant skills in survival, such as weaving nets or making charcoal. He taught the other combatants his survival skills in the jungle.

From early morning to midnight, they were on high alert. They lived fully using their six senses on a daily basis. Before daylight, they started preparing their three meals comprised of breakfast, lunch and supper as not to be sighted by their enemies. After that, they cleaned up all traces of human activity such as fire, as well as excreta. And then, during daylight, they mainly patrolled in the mountains and monitored both friend and foe’s air and marine navigations at an area with good visibility. Usually, they stayed in the same place for a few days and then moved from one position to another carrying 20kg of supplies including, rifles and explosives, on their backs. At night, they chose a place to sleep where enemies would not be able to locate them, and bugs like mosquitoes did not appear, such as in cold places or  well-ventilated areas. For their shelter, they made a simple roof with palmetto. The temperature dropped at night and varied depending on the altitude. Thus, they preferred to sleep on a slope where there was sunlight during the daytime. Before sleeping, they also turned stones around the sleeping area to check for dangers such as scorpions. They slept alternatively while holding their rifles keeping watch while the others slept.

There was no clock in the jungle. Onoda had two watches, but they were immediately lost during gunfights. But, Onoda’s group was able to know approximate time from the position of the sun and stars. And they memorized the date with the total number of available food and confirmed it with the lunar calendar. First, they gathered palm fruits and counted the total number and then they consumed them one by one. The date could be updated depending on the decrease of the total number of the fruit that remained. E.G. Today is the 1^st of this month. They gather 10 fruit and eat one a day. If there are 3 pieces of fruit left, it means they had 7 pieces of fruit previously, so the date would be updated to the 7^th of this month.

They got used to knowing the geographical features of the island, where and when wild tropical fruit or other plants bore and interacted well with natural phenomena in the jungle.

They paid special attention to their health because they did not have any medicine. Being healthy was of paramount importance. Without healthy bodies, they were immediately put into fatal positions. As for food, they would not drink nor eat fresh water and food. They boiled water and cooked food thoroughly, because they might contain parasites or bacteria.

At the very beginning of their stay in the jungle, they threatened residents to get food or stole it. There was no choice in order to continue their mission. In addition, it was really difficult for them to maintain their physical strength only with bananas, palms and papaya fruit which were cultivated by residents or wild fruit found in the mountains. Before the US military landed on the island, the stores of food brought by ship were almost gone. Thus, they tried to eat wild animals such as bird, cat, pig, horse, cow and lizard. However, it smelled bad so they preferred to eat pastured cattle.

To reduce the risk of hearing gunshots and to save their bullets, after residents finished their work in the field and went back to their homes at the approach of evening, Onoda’s group went near the cattle slowly and silently, and shot the cattle with a single bullet; then they cut the cow’s carotid artery to remove blood and butcher it quickly to return to the jungle. The remains of the cow were removed by crows.

There was much beef at the time, so they needed to consider how to preserve it. First, the beef was boiled and smoked, but it was too hard to eat it. After the trial and error process, finally, they found the best solution. The beef was smoked with low heat over night. They did it in the very early morning and in the dusk so as not to be found by the clouds smoke every day for a week. Finally, it dried out to be a preserved food. However, the beef was not a regular diet because they got constipated immediately. So they drank young coconut juice. It regulated the functions of their intestines and contained abundant vitamins which Onoda had heard from a Filipino doctor before the end of the war. It gave an immediate good effect on their health.

Every day, they gathered bananas and palm leaves, and then stewed them with smoked beef at all three meals. The taste was a bit bitter and sweet; t was not very tasty. Every day, they had them, so it was like a kind of work for them. 

One of the best points of Lubang Island was that there was an abundance of water. There were many water sources, but, they did not drink fresh water aside from a couple of exceptions because wild animals were dropping feces into river while drinking. They would not die by bacteria or parasite without struggling. Only in unavoidable cases such as after shooting or fleeing, they drank water if the flow of the river was fast and they felt its coldness. The natural water came from the deepest mountain and it was good to drink the fresh water. Other than that, no matter how thirsty they were, they kept working with great patience.

Their health condition was checked from their stool’s consistency, size, shape and texture every time. If it was loose stool, it meant deficient bowel absorption, the bowel was weak. If the form of stool was not fine, it meant their stomach did not digest food well. They also decided their activities for a day depending on their health status. After they passed the stool, they cleaned themselves with leaves. The leaves had hair-like thorns, and they rubbed them to use for wiping the sensitive body part. They dug holes to make simple toilets and covered them with stones. Just before moving out from one place, they put earth and stones into it, as well as covered them with leaves to remove any traces leading to their whereabouts.

Onoda and Kozuka were down with high fever because of colds or infection from their wounds, this happened only twice during their long stay in the jungle.

They never took a bath nor shower. They would not get naked so as to not be in a vulnerable state. They just poured water on each other’s upper body, and then they wiped their lower body using damp clothing with water.

They brushed their teeth using palm fibers. And as for cleaning, they washed their clothes in the river. The greasy dirt stains on the clothes were washed up using scum made from ashes. They put water and ash into a pan. After a while, the ash goes to the bottom and a clear liquid appeared on the top. They moved the upper liquid into another pan, and then put dirty clothes into it–the clothes became clean.

However, their clothes wore out due to rain at first, and also they became tattered in the jungle from the lush vegetation with thorns. The military uniform and cap he wore at first were immediately damaged. At the beginning of life in the jungle, they tried to sew clothes with bark fibers of trees to make repairs, but they gave up doing it. They stole the local residents’ clothes as necessary, especially the nylon garments. The nylon was very useful for them to protect their bodies from rain. Onoda’s clothes when he finally appeared in front of the mass media were all patchwork.

They made their backpacks by themselves. Nonetheless, this was very simple. The frame was made of bamboo, the net for fishing gear covered it, and a canvas cloth was put into it. They put food such as dried beef and banana, bedding, fire sticks, spare bullets, sewing kit and other daily necessities into it. These were very essential items so they kept their backpacks dry and protected them from getting wet during the rainy season.

The scissors, needles, spoons, and other daily necessities were made by themselves using their ingenuity.

When it came to their enemies, they had to pay attention not only to human beings but also to other enemies such as dangerous wild animals. There were poisonous snakes and large pythons whose size was same as their legs. Such snakes lived in a specific area like the deepest part of the jungle, so they passed by the area very quickly.

The large centipedes in the jungle had strong poison and once, Onoda’s arm was bit, causing his whole arm to become swollen for a month.

The jungle was like a den of ants. There were varieties of ants and they were everywhere. One day, an ant entered Onoda’s left ear while he was sleeping, he woke up immediately due to a strong pain. He poured water into his ear, and a large ant came out and his left eardrum was damaged. So he could not hear well out of his left ear. There was also a kind of annoying ant that carried mud into their guns. They missed their invasion, because the guns would misfire, from then on the guns were hung on a tree branch with string.

A swarm of over ten thousand bees flew in formation, some performing reconnaissance patrolled around them. If they found moving objects, many bees would attack them. It was more dangerous for them than the U.S Grumman war planes. When Onoda’s group came upon a swarm they ran away immediately or covered themselves completely with a cloth and kept still until the bees passed by them. Later, a search party from Japan was attacked by the bees, and the leader became seriously ill.

Furthermore, they faced the harsh force nature. There are two seasons in this country: dry and rainy seasons. The rainy season started in May and it ended in October. During the rainy season, they could live under a makeshift, simple house made from trees as frames and palm leaves as the roof just after the rainy season started. They also made two ovens in the lower part of the shelter. Near the oven, they placed firewood, rifles and other necessary items to prevent them from getting wet. Their beds were made of bamboo and fabric and located on the upper part of the house.

However, in case of heavy rain or squall, such a makeshift house could not provide shelter for them. The rumbling thunder and the vivid flashing of lightning was very frightening, there was zero visibility as well. Heavy rain came from the upper slope of the mountain and also the rain from the wind below hit them. During that time, they shivered in the cold while standing on the muddy land. To keep their spirits up, they would sing loudly, they would also curl up into a ball to keep their body temperature warm and remain awake.

If they lay down on the earth, it would invite the Death God. Furthermore, after the rain, there was no dry place to sleep, and the firewood was completely wet, they were unable to make a fire. For human beings who are used to living under a roof, the rain was the most terrible threat.

However, the rainy season was not all bad, the residents did not enter into the jungle and there were no enemy attacks allowing Onoda’s group to live peacefully. The rainy season was only a brief preparation for their activities for the coming dry season. They repaired their clothes, rifles and made daily necessaries such as fire-making tools.

During the dry season, they aggressively did guerilla activities such as patrolling in the mountains. Onoda thought that the most important area in this island was not the port of Tilik but the Gontin Coast because the sea was deep so that the big ships could come alongside the pier. They forced the residents out of the area and triggered exchanges of fire with the police authority many times.

They did not touch any items left by local people in the mountains like food or leaflets and other belongings because it might be a clue for enemies to stalk them. These items could be good souvenirs from residents even though they really wanted them, but they did not pick them up for security purposes.

During most of their free time, they tinkered with their guns, these guns were equal to their life in value. Onoda always had 40 bullets. 5 bullets of were in the magazine, 30 were in the band which he put on his chest and there were 5 in a pouch for backup purposes. After the gunfights, they removed the remaining gas in the barrel so it would not corrode. In case it got wet in the rain, they field stripped it and wiped it to remove water. They applied a rust-proof treatment on the iron parts of their guns with oil which they made from boiling down the fruit of palm trees. During low temperatures, it was cold and the oil clotted so they wiped it off. Their guns were the only thing they depended on, so they took very good care of them. 

They hid the bullets among the rocks in a bluff. They used bins or cans and put the bullets into them and covered them  with gum elastic so that the mice could not bite them. Every year, they checked the hidden place to memorize it again because the place was covered with natural rocks and furthermore, a lot of vegetation so that they could not locate the actual place where they hid the bullets. In addition, they checked the condition of the bullets carefully and sorted good ones. The area was called Snake Mountain by Onoda’s group. The Filipino police and residents did not want to go there. So it was the best place to hide their precious items.

One of the important operations was to show that Hiroo Onoda’s group’s still existed and very much alive was; after the rainy season, Onoda’s group set fire to the rice fields. The residents immediately ran away and the police authority appeared; they randomly did this to confuse the police authority. They had a purpose for this diversionary tactic. Onoda thought after the operation, the police authority would contact the US military, and Japanese intelligence could also hear the news, for them, without any communication tools, this was the only way they could make contact with the Japanese government.

Basically, it was no fun to live the jungle life. They spent difficult times carrying out their duties. They could not sleep well, so they tried to live cheerfully, even laughing at any of their failures.

From their abundant experiences in the jungle, Onoda felt that people can live as long as they have water and salt. A pinch of salt would change the taste of a meal magically, and they felt energized. First, they used rock salt, but it was a bit bitter due to the seawater, so they sometimes stole a quantity of salt from the residents’ salt farm.

Nobody can live alone. Onoda strongly felt this through his jungle life. He was not able to live without the Lubang residents’ activities. They grew vegetables in the field and Onoda’s group sometimes stole them. They had modern conveniences such as nylon products which was very useful in protecting them from the rain. Sometimes Onoda’s group tasted coffee. The residents’ activities supported Onoda’s life. Nobody can live alone. Onoda was also like a resident of Lubang Island.

Next

Chapter 8. Cpl. Akatsu’s Abandonment