Learning to survive

The main issue that arose whilst trying to turn my research into an interesting narrative was the lack of information about Onoda’s men, and his relationship with them. Because of this the piece would have lacked dialogue or the insight into what actually went on in the jungle.

Fortunately, failing to find a copy of ‘My thirty year war’ I managed to find a smaller Book which contained descriptions of many things that can be shown throughout the piece to keep it engaging.

When first arriving on the island Onoda was disheartened at the remains of the Lubang garrison; with limited guns between them, minimal supplies and a lack of any proper survival training the men he met were severely disheartened and had lost all fighting spirit.
Onoda was disgusted at this, as their lack of will to fight offended him and his honour, and thus he regretted he did not have the authority to get these people back in the fight. This difference in attitude caused many issues between him and his men, as at first the garrison believed Onoda was sent to take them off the island – however eventually they came to respect him and follow his orders, although not without question.

After the allied invasion of the island Onoda was the last officer in the group of 20 survivors, and being thoroughly trained in the art of guerrilla warfare promptly split this group into cells of three each. Onoda’s cell was comprised of himself; Private first class Kinshichi Kozuka, and Corporal Shōichi Shimada. These two were handpicked by Onoda to follow him as they were both disciplined, resourceful but more importantly had not lost their fighting spirit.

Onoda relied heavily on Kozuka to teach him many skills he needed to survive in the jungle, being raised on a farm Kozuka knew how to hunt, forage and remain undetected. This was crucial to their survival as despite the intense training in unconventional warfare and the use of propaganda (training that would later result in his distrust of flyers informing him of the ending of the war) Onoda, as well as the majority of troops at the time, had not received any training on how to survive in harsh environments

Fires were initially lit by removing the gunpowder from rusty 7.7×58mm Arisaka rounds (When he finally handed over his rifle in 1974 Onoda still had over 500 rounds saved from his 30 years) and ignited it with a glass lens. Shelters were made from resting coconut leaves over bamboo poles and food was scavenged from nearby farms, caught using crude snare chaps or mainly from collecting fruit.