Today last fighting Japanese soldier of WW2 died!

[Friedrich]

Maybe quite interesting to read:

Today Hiroo Onoda, the last fighting soldier of WW2, who surrendered in 1974, died on age 91! 29 years after the capitulation of Japan he was still fighting on the Philippines!

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/world/asia/hiroo-onoda-imperial-japanese-army-officer-dies-at-91.html?_r=0

[Duuring]

It's pretty sad how someone's nationalism and sense of duty can overtake all (what we consider) common sense. Japanese culture is both interesting and incredibly odd.

[Joseph Graham]

The title is incredibly misleading.

[Friedrich]

Imo it's not. Everyone thinks "WHAT?" and is heading to read it. Other title would be too long for a thread title, I guess.
(Or my engrish is too much crap to express myself properly, lol. Sorry fo that.  )

[TheBoberton]

It's pretty sad how someone's nationalism and sense of duty can overtake all (what we consider) common sense. Japanese culture is both interesting and incredibly odd.

I don't think it was nationalism that kept him there. I think it was the Filipinos shooting at him.
Until Mr. Suzuki found him in '74, he had no reason to believe the war was over. Getting his former commanding officer to order him to stand down was the ultimate proof he could get that it was.

[Duuring]

I don't think any western soldier would remain on his exact position for nearly three decades without trying to find out what happened exactly.

[TheBoberton]

What exactly would you have done, were you in his situation? Bear in mind that you have no common language with the locals, and they tend to shoot at you when they see you.

I don't think any Western soldier has been put in that position lately.

[Menelaos]

Probably some serious mental issues if it took that long.

[Duuring]

You people seem to hugely underestimate the near idiotic sense of duty the Japanese had. When you had an order, you stuck to it. Retreating or surrendering was unacceptable, which led to serious problems when Japanese commanders tried to pull back units out of dangerous positions. They'd refuse to go and got killed for no reason.

It's also why Japanese treated prisoners of wars with little respect - They had done the most shaming thing possible, in their eyes. Western civilians were seen as the source of all evil in Asia, and Chinese as lesser beings. The Japanese did some pretty odd stuff which we, with our western brains, can't grasp. What we see as almost a medical condition, can be seen by the Japanese as just a good sense of duty/honour.

This man is not the only one. There were, as said in the article, hundreds. In China and Korea, even Borneo I believe. They'd just continue being soldiers, not even because they had been ordered to hold a position but simply because retreating or surrendering was unthinkable. Try finding a single western soldier from World war 2 that retreated into some big forest and refused to surrender.

The way the Japanese look to World war 2 and the actions they committed in it, is what remains of this 'sense of duty'. The feeling of 'Wrong? How do you mean, wrong? They just did their duty". That's even what they apparently get taught in school. Despicable in our eyes, but not in theirs.

[Archduke Sven]

This man is not the only one. There were, as said in the article, hundreds. In China and Korea, even Borneo I believe. They'd just continue being soldiers, not even because they had been ordered to hold a position but simply because retreating or surrendering was unthinkable. Try finding a single western soldier from World war 2 that retreated into some big forest and refused to surrender.

Mant Latvian and Estonian soldiers of the 15.,  19., and 20. SS-Divisions chose to stay in their homeland if they vowed to continue the fight against the Soviets. They later founded the Forrest Brothers, a guerilla organisation that fought against the Soviets into the 50's.

[Duuring]

Those men weren't denying that their country had surrendered and they wouldn't stop if suddenly an ex-German officer ordered them too. They just really hated the Soviets.

[Archduke Sven]

Those men weren't denying that their country had surrendered and they wouldn't stop if suddenly an ex-German officer ordered them too. They just really hated the Soviets.

You don't know that they wouldn't. You asked for an example so i gave you one, anything else is speculation and educated guesses.

Sure, most were well aware their countries were occupied, they still kept fighting in isolation like many of those Japanese hold outs who also knew their country had surrendered.

[Commissar Jdf]

lods of emone thread locks

Spoiler

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON-7v4qnHP8[/youtube]

[close]

[Duuring]

Sure, most were well aware their countries were occupied, they still kept fighting in isolation like many of those Japanese hold outs who also knew their country had surrendered.

The article states pretty clearly they refused to accept that thought.

You don't know that they wouldn't.

So they would have laid down their weapons and return to their homes peacefully if a SS. Officier told them too?

[Archduke Sven]

Sure, most were well aware their countries were occupied, they still kept fighting in isolation like many of those Japanese hold outs who also knew their country had surrendered.

The article states pretty clearly they refused to accept that thought.

This man is not the only one. There were, as said in the article, hundreds. In China and Korea, even Borneo I believe. They'd just continue being soldiers, not even because they had been ordered to hold a position but simply because retreating or surrendering was unthinkable. Try finding a single western soldier from World war 2 that retreated into some big forest and refused to surrender.

I'm answering the question/challenge you proposed in your post, in case you didn't realise.

You don't know that they wouldn't.

So they would have laid down their weapons and return to their homes peacefully if a SS. Officier told them too?

All i am stating is that you can not know that, claiming that you know how they would react is rather foolish. They might have, because as far as i'm concerned the soldiers from the Waffen-SS were following orders, they were given the chance to stay home and continue the resistance from their or continue fighting in their respective units. The vast majority of those who stayed joined the Forrest Brothers, thus they were directly following their last received orders, even after the capitulation of the Wehrmacht and Nazi Germany.

Although they may have been fighting for a different cause, primarily nationalism and saving their nations from Bolshevik slavery, they were still following their last received orders, like the Japanese soldiers. At this point we come back to your original challenge which asked to find an example of Western soldiers fighting like the Japanese holdouts in the pacific, which i did.