Japanese Holdouts on Saipan
On September 2, 1945, representatives from the Allied and Japanese governments signed the peace treaty that ended World War II.
Or did it?
In June 1944 American warships sank several Japanese troop transports. Survivors from the vessels swam to safety and reached the island of Anatahan, located approximately 75 miles north of Saipan. The island was uninhabited, and possessed steep slopes, deep ravines, and high grass.
In January 1945 a B-29 bomber from the 498th Bomber Group, returning from an air raid over Japan, developed engine trouble and slammed into a grassy field. The crash killed the entire crew.
The small group of Japanese who had survived the sinking of their transports quickly cannibalized the aircraft. They utilized metal from the wreckage to manufacture makeshift knives, pots, and roofing for their huts. The plane’s oxygen tanks held their potable water, clothing was fashioned from the silk parachutes, and cords were used to make fishing lines. The aircraft’s weapons were confiscated as well.
Later in 1945, the Japanese were discovered by Chamorros who had gone to Anatahan to recover the remains of the missing bomber crew. The natives returned and testified to authorities that they had seen the Japanese soldiers and also one Okinawan woman.
Upon hearing this news, U.S. planes dropped leaflets on the island asking the soldiers to surrender. Fearing execution, the holdouts refused the request. With the small band of Japanese virtually isolated from the outside world, they were soon forgotten.
Then, after six years of this Spartan existence, Kazuko Higa, the Okinawan woman, got the attention of an American ship as she walked on the beach. When approached by a landing party, she asked to be taken from the island.
Upon her arrival on Saipan, Higa told U.S. officials that the Japanese did not trust the Americans. It was also learned that the woman had a busy love life while imprisoned there and her flirtations had caused some jealousy. It seems she would “transfer her affections between at least four of the men after each mysteriously disappeared as a result of being swallowed by the waves while fishing.”
Finally, the Japanese government intervened and contacted the families of the survivors, asking them to write letters telling their loved ones that Japan had surrendered.
In addition, a letter from the governor of Kanagawa Prefecture was sent to convince the “Robinson Crusoes” to give themselves up. It read in part: “Previously, in our country, a prisoner of war lost face. That is not so now. The Emperor ordered all our people, wherever they were, to surrender peacefully. I believe you have read letters from your family which said not to worry which will give you confidence to give yourself up to the Americans. In the box of new letters sent to you we are enclosing a piece of white cloth with which you can signal the Navy boat. You do not have to worry. The Americans will give you their best attention and kindness until you are returned to our country.”
This message was dropped on June 26, 1951. Several days later, the Japanese waved the white flag of surrender.
On June 30, 1951, the USS Cocopa, a U.S. Navy tug, appeared offshore. Lieutenant Commander James B. Johnson, the ship’s commanding officer, and Mr. Ken Akatani, an interpreter, made their way to the beach in a rubber boat.
Once ashore, Johnson and Akatani met with the Japanese to accept their formal surrender, now dubbed Operation Removal by the U.S. Navy. With their meager belongings wrapped in cloth, the survivors were brought aboard the tug and sent to Guam. Once there, they boarded a Navy plane and were flown to Japan to be reunited with their families.
Other stories of Japanese military personnel holding out in South Pacific locales continued for years. We will discuss more in the following post on Thursday.
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Military Humor –
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Farewell Salutes –
Beford Brown – Miami, FL; US Navy, WWII, Boatswain’s mate 2nd Class, USS Intrepid
John Cheesman – New Haven, CT; US Army, WWII, PTO
Sherman Douglass – Gloucester, MA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, Sgt.
Bruce Dowd – Howick, NZ; RNZEF #637275, WWII, Pte.
E.W. “Tony” Gehringer – St. Louis, MO; US Navy, WWII & Korea, (Ret. 21 y.)
Richard Haviland – Harvey, IL; US Navy, WWII
Joseph Milligan Jr. – Savannah, GA; US Coast Guard, WWII
Michael Ryan – New Orleans, LA; US Navy, WWII, Higgins boat duty
Erma Scott – Huntington, WV; US Army WAC; WWII, Corps of Engineers / Pentagon
John Walker Jr. – Weaver’s Ford, NC; US Army, WWII, ETO, Cpl., 84th Infantry Division
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Posted on June 3, 2019, in Uncategorized, WWII and tagged 1940's, Army, History, Military, Military History, Navy, Pacific War, Saipan, veterans, war, WW2, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 118 Comments.
These accounts are fascinating, GP.
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I’m glad you find them interesting!!
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Wonder if there are islands today where it would take six years for the news to reach of a major event such as the surrender? It would have been difficult to trust those coming ashore.
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I would not imagine that could happen today. It seems everyone has a smart phone except me. Technology is so advanced it’s almost scary.
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I sometimes wonder; how would the Germans and the japs have treated us had they have won.
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I hate to think, Beari; those military-style governments at the time were far too strong and ruthless.
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Fascinating. Youd be a bit nervous going ashore from that tugboat in 1951.
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haha, I would!
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Reblogged this on depolreablesunite.
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Thank you, Rick.
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Interesting piece of history gp, would love to read the war experiences of Kazuko Higa, would make interesting reading mate.
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Anything from that generation I find interesting, Ian. They simply amaze me!
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Fascinating story. Thank you, GP. Thinking of our brave young men, 75 years ago today.
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I’ve left instructions to type D-Day into the Search bar – I’ve done so many D-Day posts and there will be a different sort of one tomorrow.
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Thank you!
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I remember one Japanese soldier surrendering in the 70s, it stunned me as I didn’t think any would be left, but he was definitely out there. Amazing how the front moves on and lots of things are still going on behind.
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You are correct. We have more surrenders today, tomorrow is a different sort of post for D-Day and then Monday I believe we talk about the soldier you are recalling.
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O good, looking forward to that. I saw some reportage on the D-Day anniversary and I was moved to see original paratroopers at ninety tandem jumping!!!
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Airborne!!!!!!
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Indeed.
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You Will have to read the comment, at the beginning I thought it said Spain then came the next day a re read it and it said Saipan. I think you did that on purpose.
Anyways, D day today, I guess not that you don´t remember, is more for me to remember, if it wasn´t for those guys, I probably be speaking German.
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You never can tell, eh? I’ve done so many posts for D-Day (despite it not being about the Pacific), that I put in another Japanese surrender post today with instructions to just type “D-Day” into the Search slot. Tomorrow, I’ll be posting a different sort of post in honor of D-Day.
I watched a documentary last night about those men and similar ones will run all week. It makes me feel very small in comparison.
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” It makes me feel very small in comparison”, me too
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Sir I’m a student of International relations, and such history stuff really interest me.
I hope I will receive some more knowledge after following your blog.
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Hopefully I will keep it interesting for you.
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Thanks a lot sir. ☺
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I remember I think, Japanese surrendering in the ’70s?
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Yes, and we will get to them.
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Fascinating
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Thank you.
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Keep up the good work
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I had heard snippets of this so thank you for providing so much detail.
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My pleasure. It’s a shame the school systems seem to be phasing out history. There’s so much we can learn from it.
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Hirono Ohta who held out on the Philippine island of Luban until something like 1975 and who shot and killed a farmer long after wears end..later after his former commanding officer cane to his hideout telling him it was time to come returned to Japan a celebrated hero should have been tried for murder in my opinion. I’m sure you know about him, The Philippine Police did at least once try to bring him in, but to me it seems they didn’t try very hard, I mean it was only one man…Ohta moved to Brazil where the murderer died I believe…
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I believe you are referring to Hiroo Onoda. Opinions range on both sides about this holdout’s treatment. He’ll be mentioned in tomorrow’s post.
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Actually Hiroo Onoda’s post will be the following Monday, 10 June.
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What a moving story. imagine the skills needed to be able to exist on that island
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And we have people on “reality shows” trying to duplicate such a life – who ever thought THAT one up!!! 🙂
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How different this story would have been if it were not for the woman.
Great post, GP.
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How right you are, Don!! 🙂 (isn’t that often the case?)
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Started with Adam and Eve. Actually I would not have wanted my life without my wife of 58 years.
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Good for you!!
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I actually listened to great podcast from Dan Carlin (https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-62-supernova-in-the-east-i/) which also describes similar cases. Interesting to see last soldier to surrender in 1974…
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As long as this is, I’ll have to get back to you on it.
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What a fascinating story. I wonder what happened to them afterward, especially the woman who’d been there with those men. I bet it was challenging for her! No wonder she wanted to get off the island.
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I agree with you there, Emma!!
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My question, exactly. Reintegration to a changed society is difficult.
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I imagine it was very hard for returning soldiers anyway, but this would have been doubly difficult.
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That was really interesting, thank you. Here in Europe there was real fear that the “Werewolves” would go into the mountains of Norway or the Alps and fight on for years but nothing ever came from it. I think that the paranoia about the Soviets meant that the Germans, as possible future allies, were treated far more gently than they deserved after what they had done and therefore most people were happy with the new set-up.
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Dad found that most civilians in Japan felt pretty much the same as civilians elsewhere ( I imagine the same as Europe too) – which leads us back to the politicians that started the fuss in the first place.
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So true, GP! Thank you for another great piece of useful information. Michael
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Truth surely is stranger than fiction, sometimes. It’s an amazing tale, and an interesting insight into what it means to hold on to your beliefs and your honor — no matter what. We might think they were crazy, but given what I’ve learned about the Japanese mindset from your blog, it makes perfect sense.
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Yes, it does, I’m afraid. You and I agree, I just told quirkywritingcorner, “You just can’t make these things up!”
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Reblogged this on John Cowgill's Literature Site.
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Greatly appreciated, John.
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You are very welcome.
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Oh goodness! What an incredible story. I’ll be looking forward to reading Thursday’s installment.
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And I don’t even cover it all!! People have trouble imagining just how large the Pacific War was. Once again, last night I watched a documentary on the Pacific and they only mentioned the major USMC battles. IMO this gives the viewer a very limited idea of what went on.
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Agreed! It’s hard to understand history when we’re not getting the whole story!
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From school, all I remember is memorizing names and dates. What got me interested in history was a combination of my dad and from the scrapbook with the newspaper articles that my grandmother put together.
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The personal touch always helps! My path to historical endeavors was very similar! 🙂
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I remember reading of this many years afterwards. Best regards
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I’m sure you did. You just can’t make this stuff up, so it would be big news at the time.
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It still blows my mind they could and did hold out that long. Well done – great post!
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Tenacious? or loyal and dedicated?
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really interesting, thoroughly enjoyed.
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So glad you did, William.
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1951! Wow. That is stubbornness! 🙂
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Along with some determination, loyalty and outright fear.
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Thank you, GP. This was an interesting story and fascinating information by Pierre Lagace
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Pierre was my mentor in all this – and still is. When he is let loose in a researching mood (which is always) – he is remarkable. Thank you for reading it.
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Nice.
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Great story as always.
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I appreciate you saying so, William.
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What a story but I can see how it would happen. No sat phones in those days!
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No, I’m afraid not. Their communication wasn’t all that good even when the war was raging and they really needed it!!
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Reblogged this on Dave Loves History.
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Thank you very much, Dave!
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Interesting. I’m not surprised in such isolation the Japanese did not know or believe once rescued from an island that the war was over and they lost.
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After all those years trying just to survive, I can’t imagine what it was all like for them!!
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Wow! To be totally cut off from the world and not knowing that the war had ended must have been quite painful experience for those Japanese soldiers. Have there been any books written on these modern days’ Robinson Crusoes?
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I’m sure there are more, but this is the only one I am aware of and as you can see, this supplier doesn’t have one at the moment.
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/no-surrender-seven-japanese-wwii-soldiers-who-refused-to-surrender-after-the-war_william-webb/11054311/#isbn=1500527017
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Peter, another reader, Jeff Groves supplied 2 more titles for you…
The two I have are “No Surrender – My Thirty Year War” by Hiroo Onoda and “Oba – The Last Samurai – Saipan 1944-1945” by Don Jones. Both are good reads.
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Thanks for the tip, GP!
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Any time, Peter.
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Ingenuity in time of need!
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Exactly, Rose. Something that entire generation was great at – on all sides!
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I hadn’t realised that there were so many of these stories
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The Pacific War was far larger than Europe, so it takes a whole different understanding.
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I have read a couple of books written about Japanese holdouts, but this story is a new one for me. Thanks for sharing, GP!
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Peter Klopp was just asking me about books on the subject and I could only think of this one.
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/no-surrender-seven-japanese-wwii-soldiers-who-refused-to-surrender-after-the-war_william-webb/11054311/#isbn=1500527017
Maybe you could help him out for me.
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The two I have are “No Surrender – My Thirty Year War” by Hiroo Onoda and “Oba – The Last Samurai – Saipan 1944-1945” by Don Jones. Both are good reads.
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Thanks, I’ll send those titles to him.
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It’s amazing they were able to survive for six years. I have to say, you’re certainly improving my knowledge of geography in that region.
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And I have even skimmed past some of the smaller ones, Dan! This was one outrageous war!!
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Fascinating, GP. I love how you have a created a community of WWII in the Pacific history buffs through your blog.
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A renewed interest of WWII came about with the rage of people checking their DNA and family histories. I have a great bunch of readers and I consider myself very lucky because of that!
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Amazing.
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They were quite formidable, eh?!
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Tenacious!
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Wartime History
Assigned to the 20th Air Force, 73rd Bombardment Wing, 498th Bombardment Group, 875th Bombardment Squadron. Tail code T Square 42. No known nickname or nose art. This B-29 was lost on its first bombing mission. When lost, engine and weapon serial numbers were not noted in Missing Air Crew Report 10853 (MACR 10853).
Mission History
On January 3, 1945 one of ninety-seven B-29s that took off from Isley Airfield on Saipan armed with incendiary bombs on a bombing mission against the port facilities and urban areas of Nagoya. Over the target, anti-aircraft fire was meager, and enemy fighter aircraft attacks were described as moderate. Returning, this bomber crashed on Anatahan Island, killing the entire crew on impact.
Wreckage
Stranded on Anatahan was a group of Japanese survivors from a shipwreck. After this B-29 crashed, the Japanese survivors used metal from the crash site to fashion crude implements such as pots, knives and roofing for their hut. The oxygen tanks were used to store water, clothing was made from nylon parachutes and the cords used for fishing line. The springs from machine guns were fashioned into fish hooks. Several in the group collected working machine guns and pistols from the wreckage.
Recovery of Remains
During early 1945, an American team visited the crash site and buried the remains of the crew in a field burial grave. During February 1946, a team from American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) led by Captain Delmar I. McCracken, O-560096 returned to the crash site and recovered the remains of the crew, with the exception of Boyd who remains listed as Missing In Action (MIA).
© Pacific Wrecks – B-29-45-BW Superfortress Serial Number 42-24748 Tail T-42
Source: https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/b-29/42-24748.html
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First mission!
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May they always be remembered!
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This is fantastic additional information for this post! I thank you for taking the time to contribute all this, Pierre!!
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https://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/b-29/42-24748.html
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Thanks for the link, Pierre. Pacific Wrecks is quite a site for Pacific research!
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I can remember those stories of Japanese soldiers who didn’t know the war was over. Some of them existed on isolated islands for many years, often alone.
Best wishes, Pete.
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That generation, even in Japan was quite remarkable.
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Looking forward to the next episodes.
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Thank you!
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What an amazing piece of history. Dad had orders for Saipan for September 1945, B-29 commander, but the end of the war came instead.
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Lucky man!!
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Most interesting GP.
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Thank you, Pierre. Your opinion means a lot to me.
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Thank you very much for sharing this article.
(I sure wish you would activate a “Like” button so I can let you know when I’ve read one of your articles!!)
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Thank you so much!
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