Hiroo Onoda

Japanese: 小野田寛郎 - おのだひろお

He was a second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army. After the end of the Pacific War, he continued to fight in hiding on Lubang Island in the Philippines for 29 years, refusing to believe that the war had ended, and returned to Japan in March 1974. After returning to Japan, he moved to Brazil and ran a ranch, and also taught Japanese children the strength to live resiliently through camps and lectures.
He was born on March 19, 1922 in Kamegawa Village, Wakayama Prefecture (now Kainan City). After graduating from a junior high school under the old system, he worked for a trading company before moving to China, but was drafted and enlisted in the Army in 1942. After graduating from the Kurume First Reserve Officer Academy, he entered the Futamata Branch of the Army Nakano School, where he studied guerrilla warfare and information warfare, and was sent to the Philippine front in December 1944. Even after the end of the war in August 1945, he continued fighting on Lubang Island with his comrades because he had not received an order to be relieved of his duties. He did not believe that the war had ended, suspecting that information about the end of the war and leaflets calling for surrender were a plot by the U.S. military, and seeing U.S. military planes heading for the Korean War and Vietnam War made him convinced that the war on the continent would continue. The Japanese government conducted numerous searches for remaining soldiers from the 1950s onwards, based on the testimony of former Japanese soldiers who had surrendered, but they were never found and were presumed dead. In October 1972, Onoda and his men were caught in a gunfight with the Philippine police, and the search was resumed, but he remained elusive until February 1974, when a young Japanese adventurer made contact with him, which led to his return to Japan.
The year after returning to Japan, he traveled to Brazil, where his brother had emigrated, and cleared the wilderness to start a ranch, which he got on track in 10 years. Also, distressed by the brutal crimes committed by juveniles in Japan, he started the Onoda Nature School in Japan in 1984. In 1989, he established a foundation and became its chairman, putting his own experiences on Lubang Island to good use in nurturing young people through camps. In 2005, he was awarded the Medal with Blue Ribbon. He died of pneumonia on January 16, 2014, at the age of 91.

(Writer: Hidemi Harada / 2014)

Source : "Chiezo" published by Asahi Shimbun Publications Co., Ltd. About Chiezo

Japanese:

旧日本軍の陸軍少尉。太平洋戦争の終結後29年間、終戦を信じずにフィリピン・ルバング島に潜伏して戦い続け、1974年3月に帰還した。帰国後は、ブラジルに移住して牧場を経営した他、キャンプや講演を通じて日本の子どもたちにたくましく生きる力を伝えた。
1922年3月19日、和歌山県亀川村(現・海南市)生まれ。旧制中学校を卒業後、貿易商社に勤めて中国へ渡るが、徴兵されて42年に陸軍に入隊。久留米第一予備士官学校を経て、ゲリラ戦や情報戦を学ぶ陸軍中野学校二俣分校に入り、44年12月にフィリピン戦線に派遣された。45年8月の終戦後も、任務解除命令が届かなかったために仲間と共にルバング島で戦闘を続けた。終戦の情報や投降を呼び掛けるビラも米軍の謀略と疑い、朝鮮戦争やベトナム戦争へ向かう米軍機を見て大陸での戦争継続を確信するなど、終戦を信じなかったという。日本政府は、投降した元日本兵の証言などを基に50年代から何度も残留兵の捜索活動を行ったが発見できず、死亡したと見られていた。72年10月に小野田らがフィリピン警察と銃撃戦になったことで生存が分かり捜索が再開されたが、その後もなかなか見つけられなかった。74年2月、冒険家の日本人青年が接触に成功し、帰国に結び付いた。
帰国の翌年、兄が移住していたブラジルに渡り、原野を切り開いて牧場を始め、10年かけて軌道に乗せた。また、日本で起きた凶悪な少年事件に心を痛めたのをきっかけに、84年から日本で「小野田自然塾」を始めた。89年には財団法人を設立して理事長となり、自身のルバング島の体験を生かしてキャンプを通じた青少年の育成に力を注いだ。2005年に藍綬褒章を受章。14年1月16日、肺炎のため91歳で死去した。

(原田英美　ライター／ 2014年)

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