RIP Hiroo Onoda, who stayed at his WWII post for decades

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/world/asia/hiroo-onoda-imperial-japanese-army-officer-dies-at-91.html?hpw&rref=obituaries

What a story.

 

That is quite a story, but I hardly know what to think of it.

All that time does seem like a waste, and, after he saw the pamphlets and he was the only one Japanese soldier left on the island, I'm not sure how he could go on believing the war was still going on. And. given that, I'm not so sure his killings of people should have been pardoned so easily.

There is being a good soldier and following orders, and there is going too far. A person needs to be something of an independent thinker, too. Otherwise, it's just blind, deaf and dumb allegiance.

 

I remember when Vito Scotti played him in an episode of "Gilligan's Island."