Hello and welcome to Conflicted, the history podcast where we talk about the struggles that

shaped us, the tough questions that they pose, and why we should care about any of it.

Conflicted is a member of the Evergreen Podcast Network. And as always, I'm your host, Zach

Cornwell. Today's episode is taking us to a time and place that I will never stop being fascinated

with,

Japan during the Second World War.

Now, usually, the topics that we do on this show tend to be pretty large in scope,

huge conflicts or pivotal events,

but this episode is going to be a much smaller, much more personal story.

Today, we're going to be looking at the life of Hiro Onada, the Japanese soldier who continued

fighting for 30 years after the end of World War II. Now, odds are, if you're a fan of World War

two history, you've probably heard about this guy before. Hero Onoda is the most famous example

of the Japanese holdout, a post-war phenomenon where isolated pockets of the Japanese Imperial Army

refused to surrender, believing or perhaps hoping that the war had not truly ended. In 1944,

Onida was deployed to a tiny island in the Philippines to fight against the American army. And he did not

emerge from that jungle until 1974, ostensibly unaware that World War II was over.

In that time, he murdered something like 30 people, believing he was fighting for an empire that no longer existed.

Now, Onida's story has already been told, ad nauseum and a variety of mediums, from podcasts to feature films to historical fiction.

The celebrated director of Werner Herzog even wrote a book about him in 2021. There's just something about this topic

that continues to fascinate, to enthrall, to beggar belief. But the story we're going to tell

today is not just about one sad soldier in the jungle. Because while Onida's life is certainly

fascinating in a vacuum,

...