JAPAN: TOKYO: VETERAN HIROO ONODA EXHIBITION скачать в хорошем качестве

JAPAN: TOKYO: VETERAN HIROO ONODA EXHIBITION

(14 Aug 1995) Japanese/Nat While the rest of the world is marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the Pacific War, a former Japanese Imperial Army lieutenant has his own long, lonely fight to remember. Isolated in the Philippine jungle, refusing to believe Japan had surrendered, Hiroo Onoda held out 29 years after the war had finished. At the opening of a photo exhibition in Tokyo last week, people came to see the dramatic pictures of the soldier who refused to give up. The exhibition tells the story of Hiroo Onoda, now 73. Onoda began his long war as a draftee, conscripted into the military in 1942. In December 1944 he was sent as an intelligence officer to the tiny island of Lubang, 90 miles south-west of Manila in the Philippines. In February 1945, US forces landed on Lubang. Most Japanese surrendered, but about two dozen killed themselves rather than give up. Onoda did neither. Cut off from their unit, he and a handful of others hid and waited. Weeks went by, then months, then years - for Onoda a total of 29 years passed. Onoda does not believe he wasted his time. SOUNDBITE: (In Japanese) "I did spend more than 20 years fighting in vain. But it does not mean that I wasted the prime of my youth." SUPER CAPTION: Hiroo Onoda - Japanese war veteran The real enemy was hunger. The soldiers stole rice and bananas from local residents and killed an occasional cow to survive. In a skirmish with the local villagers and members of the Philippine army in 1954, one of Onoda's two companions was killed. When the soldiers failed to return home, search parties were sent out from Japan. Relatives and former classmates appealed over loudspeakers. Pamphlets were dropped from airplanes and Onoda's brother even went into the jungle and sang his old school song, but to no avail. Onoda thought it was all an enemy ploy to trick him. In 1972 his last companion was killed by local residents and he was alone. Onoda does admit bitterness about those years and the hardships. SOUNDBITE: (In Japanese) "I do not want ever to go back to Lubang again, every single stone, every single tree would bring back painful memories. If it were possible, then I would really like to forget." SUPER CAPTION: Hiroo Onoda - Japanese war veteran In 1974, a young adventurer from Japan went into the jungle and managed over a period of weeks to convince Onoda to come out. But not without first receiving the order from his former army major who in person had to be taken to the jungle. Onoda, who now works as a director of a children's nature camp in northern Japan, is something of a celebrity in Japan where loyalty and perseverance are given great respect and he has recently written a book as well as giving lectures on his life story. However some have denounced him as an embodiment of the same blind faith to the emperor and militarism which led Japan to war in the first place. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...