The War in Iraq is Over. Please Come Out.

'Japanese Soldier Surrenders 29 Years After the End of World War II'

In 1944, Lt. Hiroo Onoda was sent by the Japanese army to the remote Philippine island of Lubang. His mission was to conduct guerrilla warfare during World War II. Unfortunately, he was never officially told the war had ended; so for 29 years, Onoda continued to live in the jungle ..... Eating coconuts and bananas and deftly evading searching parties ... Onoda hid in the jungle until he finally emerged from the dark recesses of the island on March 19, 1972.

... soon the island was overrun by the Allies. The remaining Japanese soldiers, Onoda included, retreated into the inner regions of the island and split up into groups. As these groups dwindled in size after several attacks, the remaining soldiers split into cells of 3 and 4 people.

... Onoda first saw a leaflet that claimed the war was over in October 1945. When another cell had killed a cow, they found a leaflet left behind by the islanders which read: "The war ended on August 15."

... Leaflet after leaflet was dropped. Newspapers were left. Photographs and letters from relatives were dropped. Friends and relatives spoke out over loudspeakers. There was always something suspicious, so they never believed that the war had really ended.

... Year after year, the four men huddled together in the rain, searched for food, and sometimes attacked villagers ... Isolated from the rest of the world, everyone appeared to be the enemy

... In 1974, a college dropout named Norio Suzuki decided to travel to the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Burma, Nepal, and perhaps a few other countries on his way. He told his friends that he was going to search for Lt. Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman.4

A wonderful Saturday morning read .... should you continue.

This posting inspired by http://wizbangblog.com/archives/007448.php#101563