Voluntarily
Teruo Nakamura was born on October 8, 1919, on the island of Taiwan, which then belonged to Japan. Nakamura was neither Japanese nor Chinese, but was a descendant of Ami, an Austronesian fishing Indian who was related to Indonesians and Filipinos. According to some sources, Nakamura’s birth name was Attun Palalin, but he was known as Sunyo.
In November 1943, Sunyo became one of the Takasago volunteers, a special detachment of Taiwan natives. However, the fighter himself claimed that the information about voluntary service was a lie, and the authorities forced him to join the army. In 1944, his detachment went to the Indonesian island of Morotai, which covered the southern approaches to the Philippines, strategically important for the Japanese. In the fall of 1944, the US 31st Infantry Division landed on the island and captured it after a short battle, as the initial strength of the garrison did not exceed 500 men.
However, Morotai was covered with hills and forests, and therefore control over it was very conditional: the American military controlled only the area of u200bu200bthe air force base and patrolled the main routes. The Japanese attempted to send reinforcements to the island, but all attempts to launch an attack on the airfield failed. After one last desperate banzai attack (attempts to attack American soldiers with bayonets, swords and shouts of “banzai”) Organized Japanese resistance ended, troops on the island lost radio contact with headquarters, and the surviving soldiers switched to guerrilla tactics. Takasago volunteers were particularly good at this because the native Taiwanese language is similar to the language used by the islanders.
It is unknown exactly how Nakamura’s war path went. In his own words, in the fall his detachment went on a scouting expedition and encountered the Americans. He managed to fire at least once at the enemy, but the team was soon routed and Nakamura escaped. According to one of his former colleagues, everything was completely different, and in fact Nakamura voluntarily left the detachment the day before the American landing due to personal conflicts, but there is no evidence of this. One way or another, the Japanese military thought he was killed in battle on November 13, 1944. As it turned out later, this was far from the truth.
Japanese Robinson
Nakamura started living in the forest. The only equipment he had was a rifle, helmet, knife, bowler hat and mirror, but far more important were the skills, not the household items. Since Nakamura was born in a tribe with a traditional lifestyle, he knew how to survive in the wilderness since childhood.
Not knowing what was happening outside the forest, Nakamura was afraid of being discovered and only cooked in the dark so that people could not see the smoke. He tried to keep track of time by watching the moon and tying a knot for each cycle. According to Nakamura, his upbringing in the mountains and poverty helped him a lot, which gave him a strong will and necessary skills.
“I stayed calm and survived,” he said. “Even though I had no one to talk to, there seemed to be a glimmer of hope and expectation deep within my soul. My only happiness then was that I was still alive and had not lost my sense of my own existence.” quotation Nakamura Taipei Times newspaper.
Like anyone leading a primitive lifestyle, Nakamura’s search for food occupied most of his day. He grew sweet potatoes, beans, bananas and sugar cane, and hunted birds and wild boars. He spent most of his time naked, as his only remaining clothing was his carefully chosen American military jacket. He spent the night in a built hut. Interestingly, during his decades-long retreat, Nakamura maintained the rifle and presented it in perfect order after the surrender. Keeping weapons in order is an important part of the soldiers’ arrangement and self-identification, which indirectly refutes the desertion version.
Nakamura’s motivation is not entirely clear. Many other cases where Japanese soldiers refused to surrender are often explained by features of national character and culture, but one friend named Sunyo was not Japanese at all and could not even speak Japanese fluently. But when Nakamura explains his actions referring to The order received: “My commander ordered me to fight until the end.”
Citizen of the Republic of China
All these years, Nakamura had a companion on the island named Doyadaide, a local resident. He periodically helped her with supplies, and each time they met he tried to convince her that the war was long over. Nakamura did not believe this and forced his friend to keep the fact of his existence a secret from the other residents.
Doyadaide only revealed information about the last Japanese soldier towards the end of his life, when he became seriously ill. Rumors spread throughout the island; The Indonesian military sent a search party and found the hermit chopping wood on December 18, 1974. The soldiers tried to sing the Japanese anthem to show their peaceful intentions, but Nakamura attacked the Indonesians with a rifle anyway. As a result, the detachment managed to detain him without harm.
Nakamura was surprised to learn that the war was over. For example, he linked frequent aircraft flights over the island to ongoing conflicts, even though these flights were mostly linked to a nearby Indonesian air base.
A much bigger surprise awaited the last soldier of the Japanese army at home. Taiwan belonged to neither Japan nor China, but was a de facto sovereign state. Nakamura was very happy to meet his wife, but he soon tearfully admitted that he thought she was dead and had married someone else. However, Nakamura’s ex-wife’s new husband was also delighted at her return and agreed to a divorce, thus reuniting the couple after 30 years.
All members of the Nakamura family received Chinese names like himself. Now a citizen of the Republic of China name Lee Kuan Hui. Thus, the last Japanese soldier to surrender turned into a Chinese.