http://news.yahoo.com/japan-wwii-soldier-hid-jungle-until-1974-dies-091014526.html
Back in '62 a book named 'The Stragglers' came out and I read it. It fired my young imagination.
My dad saw mme reading it and told me he wanted it after me. Dad flew B-29s in WW2. We later discussed it and he told me how the bomb very possibly saved his life. We both marveled at the tenacity of the pair of Japanese stragglers that had finally been repatriated sixteen years after the war.
Thirteen years later I was in the army when the subject of the above link was finally tracked down and ordered to stand down. Notice I didn't say surrender. I said stand down.
I remember my First Sergeant mentioning it to me before the noon formation and I commented dryly to him that it meant there was now one less Japanese soldier out to get me. My CO overheard that and shook his head and chuckled.
I turned to him and told him I was going to have to tell my Uncle Bill that he must have missed one. The CO outright laughed at that comment.
A couple of months later I was downrange on a field problem and three of us got dropped off with the assignment of watching a crossroads. It was really a dumb assignment. If anything happened there we had no radio to call into the TOC with. We were there four or five days and did little.
We challenged a couple of people passing and finally the DivArty CO came by and told us to stop stopping people and just watch the traffic.
When the FTX was over we were supposed to be picked up but nobody showed up. It was briefly mentioned that maybe we ought to try and bum a ride back into garrison. However, we nixxed that.
We still had grub and water and decided that we ought to simply stay put. After all, the senior NCO that was supposed to be responsible for picking us up was a jerk and we figured he'd get burned when the mess got sorted out.
So we stayed put.
Of course, the next day we were listed as AWOL. Nobody showed up to get us so we decided to stay over another day. After all, we had chow and water.
Anyway, later that afternoon someone did show up and got us and were told to report to the First Sergeant. When we got there Top demended an explaination. I told them that my First General Order of guard duty included "And not quit my post until properly relieved."
He blushed and replied, "You men are absolutely right." He then faced me. I lived off post. "YOU! Go home and get cleaned up. Get some sleep" Then he dismissed us.
We overheard the CO in his office. He was laughing outright. He was a pretty good battery commander. My Battalion Commander didn't share his good nature.
The next day the BC, Top and I were hauled before the BnCO to explain why I hadn't just hitched a ride back in. Apparently the case of the missing guards had made the rounds quickly and the BnCO had been asked about it, most likely from someone further up the food chain.
He looked at me and asked me why, as non-com in charge I hadn't taken it upon myself to find a way back to garrison for myself and my charges.
Again, I quoted my First General Order of Guard Duty. He looked at me like I was stupid and asked me how long I had planned on staying out there.
"Sir, do you remember that Japanese soldier that was ordered to stand down a couple of months ago? The one in the Phillipines?"
"I am aware that a Japanese soldier surrendered a few weeks ago," he answered sounding very irritated.
"I would have broken his record standing on my head, Sir," I said.
Top rolled his eyes looking upwards and my battery commander smirked. Before the BnCo could ask him what was so funny he looked at him and said, "Sir, I seriously believe that if you had left Sergeant Piccolo there he very would likely have broken that Japanese soldier's record."
He threw all three of us our right then and there.
On the way back to the barracks my BC looked at me smiled and shook his head. "Piccolo, you can be downright dry," he said.
None of us ever heard another word about the incident although the Staff Sergeant that forgot to have us picked up got an ass chewing so monumental that it took three medics and 9 pressure bandages to stop the bleeding and 12 weeks to heal.
To find out why the blog is pink just cut and paste this: http://piccoloshash.blogspot.com/2009/12/my-feminine-side-blog-stays-pink.html NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN THE WRITING OF TODAY'S ESSAY
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