40 Facts About the Japanese Who Refused to Surrender After WWII Had Ended

40 Facts About the Japanese Who Refused to Surrender After WWII Had Ended

Khalid Elhassan - January 3, 2019

40 Facts About the Japanese Who Refused to Surrender After WWII Had Ended
Teruo Nakamura. Mike Dash History

1. Japan’s Longest Holdout Died Unappreciated and In Poverty

Teruo Nakamura, had not been a member of the Imperial Japanese Army, but of a colonial unit. Under Japanese law, that meant he was not entitled to back pay or a pension or any of the benefits afforded IJA soldiers. While Hiroo Onoda had been awarded about U$160,000 by Japan, equivalent to nearly U$900,000 in 2018 dollars, Nakamura was awarded only U$227 – equivalent to about U$1250 in 2018 – for his three-decades-long holdout in service to Japan. Teuro Nakamura returned to Taiwan, where he died of lung cancer five years later, in 1979.

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Where Did We Find This Stuff? Some Sources and Further Reading

Guardian, The, May 28th, 2005 – 60 Years After the War Ends, Two Soldiers Emerge From the Jungle

YourStory –This soldier kept fighting WWII 29 years after it ended

How Stuff Works – Japanese Holdouts

Mike Dash History – Final Straggler: The Japanese Soldier Who Outlasted Hiroo Onoda

Philippine Daily Inquirer, April 10th, 2014 – Hiroo Onoda: Hero, or Villain?

BBC News, 17 January 2014 – Japan WW2 soldier who refused to surrender Hiroo Onoda

Wanpela – Lt Ei Yamaguchi

Warfare History Network – Operation Removal: Taking the Japanese Holdouts Near Saipan

Wikipedia – Japanese Holdout

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