World War II is considered to be the biggest conflict in human history
It went on for six years (take a moment to imagine that- 6 years!) and resulted in appx 80 million fatalities.
Germany (under the leadership of Adolf Hitler) invaded Poland in September of 1939. UK and France then declared the war on Germany. That’s when the World War II began. Japan, wanted to dominate Asia and entered into a war with Republic of China in 1937.
Lot happened in between and the war ended in 1945. After the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, Japan surrendered in August of 1945.
United States led the efforts of rehabilitation by enacting various social, political, military and economic reforms in Japan.
The war ended in Japan in August of 1945. For the world, but not for this man.
A Japanese soldier, by the name Hiroo Onada, was sent to Lubang Island, in Philippines in 1944. His commander’s instructions to him were- hamper enemy attacks on the island and never to surrender.
And that’s exactly what he did, for the next 29 years.
Yes, you read that right. This solder, kept fighting, killing locals till 1974. He refused to accept that the war was over.
All the attempts that were made to call him back, to stop fighting went in vain since he kept thinking that the leaflets that are being dropped through air are a ploy by Americans to fool Japanese soldiers. His family pictures with letters from his family were air dropped too, but he continued fighting. For 29 years, after the war was actually over- this soldier continued. Why? Because he was obeying orders; he trusted only his seniors, none of whom had told him that the war was over- so what that the world was saying it, so what that his hometown was undergoing a new makeover in the post-world era, for him- it was how it had started- he was a soldier, in a war.
In the last post, when I had talked about the need for strong mental health to fight this pandemic, I had committed that I will share real stories where people have used their mental health to overcome external challenges. What could be a better example of this than Hiroo Onoda.
Some called him foolish and stubborn. Many hated him for carrying out with killing of people even when the war was over. But determined was Hiroo! It was his duty to serve the army and that is what his commander had asked him to do. His commander, who had started running a book shop after the war ended, had to go back to the jungle where Hiroo was hiding, and formally relieve him of his duties – that’s when Hiroo returned home- as a Hero.
To the outside world he may be a fanatic. But people of Japan found his actions very logical. He had sworn to fight for the emperor; and to him surrender was not a word. He was an international media star. A journalist asked him this on his return:
“What was going on in your mind when you were in the jungle?”
And his reply was- “Nothing but accomplishing my duty”
That’s exactly the kind of single focus determination that we need right now- in our fight against the pandemic.
We need to resolve to just do our duty, on every single day. No matter how boring, monotonous, irritating these duties look like- we just need to be at them.
These duties could be many- primary of them the duty to keep ourselves and our family safe, duty to provide food, shelter and basic amenities to our loved ones and the duty of being a citizen where we help each other survive.
It’s clearly not as simple and easy as it sounds. Being in lockdown is not easy. Things that were once a routine are now a luxury. People are looking at every opportunity to get away from the monotony. Pictures of tourists thronging hill stations in India have been circulating on social media.
To each its own- is a simple philosophy I live by- and hence the call-out with this post is to thousands of others who are still living like Hiroo. You aren’t being foolish- you are doing your duty well. I can’t guarantee that you will come out of this as Heroes, but what I can say with confidence is – when we get to the other side of things, you will be proud of yourself, extremely proud- for having survived a pandemic, for ensuring your loved ones are safe and for being able to provide them with all that was necessary at this time.
In the end, signing off by quoting Hiroo Onoda from his autobiography- Men should never give up. I never do. I would hate to lose.
Cover Photo by Jan Antonin Kolar on Unsplash
Very inspiring Dora! Thanks for sharing this story. There is so much to learn from others; their lives; they trials and tribulations and yet keeping the chin up.
Absolutely Vishal. Only if we shared our stories more…each one of us go thru so much every single day…we need to share with people how we deal with situations..so as to help them manage too !