Free No Surrender by Hiroo Onoda

Tachibana. They had brought the part of the maintenance crew that had been left at the airfield. But no sign of Lieutenant Suehiro.
    Warrant Officer Tachibana explained, “Lieutenant Suehiro stayed in Lubang. He tried to persuade us to stay, but we thought it was too dangerous. We decided to come here.”
    Not thirty minutes later we saw flames rising in the vicinity of Lubang. I felt certain the Suehiro group had come under enemy fire, but there was no way to make sure. I was more nervous than ever. I do not know how many times I must have grasped the handle of my sword.
    As dawn broke, I aimed my binoculars toward Tilik, and sure enough, in the offing I spotted an enemy light cruiser and three troop transports making straight for the island. I decidedto smoke a cigarette to calm myself. It took me five or six matches to light it. Then I thought of the incense tube I had snitched from my father. I did not want that to fall into an enemy hand, so I burned it, along with my secret papers.
    The naval ships began their bombardment—ear-splitting shots followed by thunderous explosions as the shells found their mark. My whole insides shook with the vibrations. Tilik was the enemy’s chief target, and in no time the coast in that direction was covered with dust and smoke. Palm trees and parts of houses flew through the air, as the little town of Tilik disappeared before our eyes. The bombardment went on relentlessly. Our base was so far away that I was not really frightened, but I worried about the coastal advance squads. Their little attack boats had been hidden in the river that empties into Tilik Bay, ready to launch an attack as soon as enemy ships appeared, but the enemy, perhaps on guard against such an attack was pouring volley after volley into the little river.
    And what about the pier? I had lined it with explosives, but I could not tell whether it had been blown up or not.
    After about two hours the bombardment finally ended, but as soon as it stopped, shells from enemy land mortars began raining down on our encampment. We hid as best we could behind trees. Enemy planes swooped down, dropping two-hundred-pound parachute bombs. Swinging back and forth from their chutes, they sort of fluttered down to earth and then erupted with an unearthly noise. The more I looked, the angrier I became. The enemy obviously knew we had no antiaircraft weapons.
    Finally the planes went away. I looked through my binoculars and saw that the light cruiser, flying the Stars and Stripes, was advancing toward Tilik harbor. The troop transports were also under way.
    At that point, a soldier from Lieutenant Suehiro’s outfitcame crawling up the mountain. He reported that during the previous night the outfit’s quarters in the town had been attacked.
    â€œWe were caught in a real crossfire. Everybody but me . . .” He broke off.
    â€œAre they all dead? What about Lieutenant Suehiro?”
    â€œHe was standing by the window. They got him first thing.”
    Just as I feared, the fire in the town the night before had been Lieutenant Suehiro’s barracks. Although the lieutenant and I had had our disagreements, it hurt inside to know he was gone. I remembered how he had rushed about helping me put together my fake airplanes.
    When the bombardment began, Lieutenant Ueno of the Sixteenth Coastal Attack Squad ordered his men to take shelter in the mountains but stayed behind himself to blow up the engines of the attack boats. He soon realized that the enemy was pointing artillery directly at him. There being no chance of surviving, he too beat a retreat into the mountains. When I heard his story, I could hardly believe it. Machine guns, even mortars, yes, but naval guns against a single enemy straggler? Incredible! The enemy must have equipment and ammunition to throw away!
    Presently the troops landed—a battalion of marines led by four tanks. Looking out from among the trees, I saw them march off toward Vigo, a