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The epic story of U.S. Air Force Captain William Steel, an intelligence officer with serious authority issues, and his hunt for billions of dollars of lost WWII Japanese treasure hidden in the mountainous jungles of the Philippines.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Lt Onoda: The last Japanese WW II soldier to surrender recently died

I became interested in reading about the personal lives of the WW II Japanese soldiers who fought in the Philippines and included a few of their stories in my historical fiction novel: Steel’s Treasure (Available on Amazcon.com).  I recently saw in the papers that that Lt. Hiroo Onoda, a WW II Japanese imperial army intelligence officer, died—he was 91.  He is famous for being the last imperial Japanese soldier to surrender-emerging from hiding in the Philippine jungle in 1974--  29 years after the end of the Second World War (You can read his autobiography entitled: No Surrender: My Thirty Year War. It is an interesting and complex study of the mindset of the Japanese WW II soldier—also avail on Amazon.com).


You can read the full newspaper article here about Onoda’s death:

 http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/hiroo-onoda-japan-s-last-wwii-soldier-to-surrender-dies-1.2500510  
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2 comments:

  1. JeproxdaveMarch 20, 2014 at 7:09 PM

    Nick,

    I read his book. It was amazing to think of what he went through. I'm surprised that there was not someone like him still living in the tunnels of Lily Hill on Base.

    By the way I previously left a review of your book on Amazon and eagerly await the next book.

    I was at Clark in September 2013. The base is in a shambles in so many areas. Disappointing for sure. I needed more time to look around.

    Dave McCuen

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    Replies
    1. steelstreasureMarch 21, 2014 at 4:41 PM

      Hi Dave

      Thanks for the note. Yeah it certainly is a fascinating case study in human psychology. Why Onoda stayed as long as he did-- I can't fathom. I imagine there were many other stragglers who simply died anonymously in the jungle. A World War II Filipino soldier told me that many Japanese soldiers took off their uniforms at the end of war and integrated into the Philippine population pretending to be Chinese. Yeah Lily Hill seemed a likely place to hide out. I like the Onoda story so much that I put a character like him in my second book (working on it right now). I'm jealous-- why were you at Clark in Sept.2013? . It is a shame to see it in shambles. Thanks again for doing the review-- many folks have promised them-- but few take the time to do one. The book world is a numbers game. If you want-- send your mailing address to my steelstreasure@gmail.com-- I'm happy to send you a signed copy of Steel's Treasure. Keep in touch. Cheers Nick

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