Survival Lessons from a WW2 Japanese Holdout.

March 10th, 1974.  Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda turns himself over to his former Imperial Japanese Army commander and subsequently to Philippine authorities after thirty years of resistance, survival and guerilla warfare on the Philippine Island of Lubang.

Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda of the Imperial Japanese Army became world famous in 1974 when, after nearly 30 years of escape, evasion and guerilla warfare in the Philippines, he finally accepted the order of his former commander to quit fighting World War Two.  

            Hiroo was no hero.  He remained a staunch supporter of the militaristic Japanese mindset that led to his country’s demise and to the countless deaths of innocents and allied soldiers at the hands of brutal Japanese forces long after his repatriation to Japan.  During his self-imposed extended guerrilla war, he murdered at least 30 Philippine civilians, rustled numerous heads of cattle and water buffalo, destroyed tons of rice crops (believing he was denying them to the enemy), stole everything he could to survive and generally terrorized the Philippine island of Lubang.

None the less, the story of his unconquered will to survive in the hills of Lubang, for 30 years, is remarkable and worthy of consideration.  What makes someone capable of such prolonged survival and resistance?  What lessons can we learn from Hiroo’s saga?  

In his book, “No Surrender, My 30 Year War,” Hiroo describes the Japan that he was part of when he entered the Imperial Japanese Army. It is important for us to understand that the Japan of World War Two no longer exists. The entire culture and atmosphere of Japan have changed so much since Emperor Hirohito’s capitulation to Allied forces that Hiroo himself could barely understand. It is also important to understand that Hiroo was a product of his times. As such, he completely believed in the invincibility of Japan, the divinity of the Emperor and the superiority of the Japanese people and race. While we may consider such beliefs fanciful today, the fact is that Hiroo was strong in his faith. With such a belief system, Hiroo was always certain of the righteousness of his cause, so much so that the thought of being killed for it was an honor. Make no mistake. Hiroo was no victim of Japanese militarism. He was the embodiment of it. He was imbued from birth with Bushido, the warrior code of the Samurai.

A young Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda, Imperial Japanese Army

During World War Two the Imperial Japanese Army Field Service Code, the Senjinkun, forbade surrender.  To be captured alive was unthinkable and to become a Prisoner of War was actually punishable by death, if you happened to be returned to Japanese control.  The families of Japanese POWs would suffer terrible dishonor, be ostracized from society and would have no chance of achieving any form of financial or social success.  A POW’s sister could count on never being married.  This is why so many Japanese combatants committed suicide rather than being taken alive by U.S. or Allied forces.  Japanese recruits were trained on the proper method of shooting themselves with their own rifles.  As you will see in the photo below, they took off their right boot and pulled the triggers of their rifles with their big toe.  In this photo, two Imperial Japanese Naval Special Landing Forces sailors killed themselves on Tarawa in November 1943.  The non-commissioned officer laying in the rear of dugout still has his toe in the trigger guard of his 7.7mm Type 99 Arisaka rifle.  Both he and the Seaman 1^st Class in the foreground shot themselves between the eyes.

During the invasions of Saipan and Okinawa Japanese civilians also committed suicide, some by throwing their children and themselves from cliffs.  These extreme beliefs shed considerable light on the brutal savagery inflicted on U.S. and Allied prisoners of the Japanese.  It is also why most Japanese POWs gave false names upon capture.

           Hiroo was not alone as a Japanese hold out from World War Two. Between 1947 and 1974, the

year Hiroo was repatriated, one hundred and twenty-seven such hold outs were discovered, and more were discovered later. Two gave themselves up in 1949; they were Imperial Japanese Navy machine gunners and had hidden in the tunnels on Iwo Jima since the 1945 battle. The seemingly last hold outs to surrender were two Japanese civilians that had known full well that Japan had been defeated but chose to fight on in the jungles of Malaya (Malaysia) until 1989! Both were in their 70s when they finally gave up. There is speculation that others died in the jungles rather than give up. All these stories prove that it is possible to survive for long periods of time in the wild under adverse conditions. Some survived better than others. 

Hiroo, however, did have a very basic difference from the vast majority of his Imperial Japanese Army and Navy brethren.  He was trained in a highly secret and specialized form of “Secret War.”  He was trained at the elite Nakano School for commandoes to infiltrate behind enemy lines, gather intelligence, conduct sabotage missions and survive without the support of regular Japanese military forces.  His training made him the rough equivalent of our modern Special Forces soldiers.  His status as an officer and his military family made him far more motivated and dedicated than the average Japanese soldier.  When later compared to another returned hold out that had lived a miserable existence in a hole, the Japanese press stated the difference was that, “One was a commoner, the other a Samurai.” 

Commando training prepared Hiroo for the extended guerilla war that he waged against the U.S. military on Luban and against the Philippine civilians after the war.  When separated and abandoned by Japanese forces after the surrender, Hiroo was in the hills of Luban with three other Japanese soldiers.  One gave himself up and two were killed during skirmishes with armed Filipinos.  The story is compelling if you are inclined to read about it.  

The characteristics that allowed Hiroo to be so successful for so long were training, an undefeatable mindset, fastidious maintenance of his equipment, including his rifles and ammunition, and constant movement to avoid search parties.  Hiroo lived off the land as much as possible, ate stolen rice whenever possible, and knew where clean water could be obtained.  He and his cohort seldom ventured near built up areas and avoided the inhabitants of Lubang as much as possible, with the exception of the raids they conducted to destroy “enemy” rice harvests.  His commando training provided him with skills of camouflage and stalking, which allowed him to get close enough to people to see what was going on and not be detected.  These were skills he was taught in his role as an intelligence collector.  His training also gave him the advantage of thinking tactically and operationally.  He was able to identify the seasonal patterns the inhabitants lived by and stay one step ahead of them.  He never lost sight of his military goal of knowing the situation on Lubang and being able to report it to returning Japanese forces.  His military objective combined with his fanatical faith in Japan worked well together to keep him focused on a positive future. 

Heroo poses with the Japanese journalist that found him on Lubang.

His first example to us is pretty simple.  Know your skills.  You must choose skills that you believe will be required in a survival situation.  Hiroo knew how to obtain food and was familiar with the local flora and fauna.  He knew what seasons provided what edibles.  He ate wild edibles almost exclusively and ate stolen rice when he could.  He rustled cattle and water buffalo when it was safe to do so and he dried and preserved the beef as much as possible.  He knew multiple places where he could obtain clean water.  He kept his rifle clean and operating well in the field for thirty years, as you can see in the photo at right.  That is no small feat.  He kept his limited ammo supply clean and dry and cached it in various locations.  He moved from place to place undetected and established temporary camps.  Only during the monsoon season did he build an actual hut to stay dry. 

Ask yourself what skills you will require in a survival situation.  One way to do that is to read true stories of survival.  The other is to understand the possible scenarios that could put you into a survival situation.  That may include anything from a prolonged power outage due to weather to being broken down far from civilization.  Many preppers are getting ready to survive a loss of civil authority like a war or a catastrophe that leads to “The end of the world as we know it.”  Consider for yourself which scenario is most likely, and which is most dangerous and then prioritize learning the skills you know you will need.

Hiroo’s second example to us is faith.  He believed in what he was doing, even after he was alone in the hills of Lubang.  He was dedicated to carrying out the mission that he had been assigned.  He stayed focused on the day Japanese forces would come for him, which they ultimately did after 30 years.  What do you believe in?  Is your faith enough to sustain you for 30 years?  You may believe in God or not, but you probably believe in the survival of your loved ones and yourself regardless of your religion or lack thereof.  Can you envision a positive future?  Even if the ultimate result is completely different from what you wish for?  Hiroo returned to a Japan that was completely defeated by the allies, a future he could not have imagined.  His traditional beliefs were no longer acceptable in Japanese society.  He felt like an outsider.  None the less, he fashioned a future for himself you may have guessed; he opened a school and taught survival skills.  He spent part of his time in Brazil cattle ranching with his brother.  He died at the age of 91, an old man in his home in Japan, not a starved and sick soldier on a hill in the jungles of the Philippines.  He made it out alive and lived well afterwards.  This is what you must have faith in, that you will make it out alive and that you will live well afterwards.  If you can combine the skills required to survive with the will and faith to sustain you, your chances rise exponentially.  

Former Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda deplanes at Tokyo International Airport upon his repatriation to Japan.