The Top Ender Magazine October November 2020 Edition

continued from page 21 | Blast from the Past
1922, he was totally loyal to Emperor Hirohito,
and the idea that Japan had surrendered was
totally unbelievable – he thought it was a lie to
lure him out of the jungles of Lubang where
he had been continuing to wage war for years.
Of the three soldiers who had retreated to the
jungle with him, one emerged and returned
to Japan fairly early on in 1950, one died of
illness also in 1950, and the third was killed
in 1972 in a shoot-out with a local resident.
In spite of messages being sent to him,
he refused to believe that the war had ended,
and said that he would believe it only when
his old commanding officer told him so. His
last order that he had received in 1945 was
to “stay and fight” – so he did.
His CO, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, now following the peaceful
trade of a bookseller, flew to Lubang and met Onoda on 9
March 1974 fulfilling his promise of 1944, "Whatever happens,
we'll come back for you".
On being given his official orders, Onoda surrendered
to President Marcos, and weeping, handed over his elderly,
although well maintained rifle, his sword, ammunition and few
remaining grenades. Marcos subsequently pardoned him for
murdering the thirty people over the intervening years whom he
had mistaken for enemy soldiers, and handed his sword back.
He spent the rest of his life living between Japan and Brazil,
and visited Lubang Island in 1996 when he donated US$10,000
to the local school. He died in 2014.
www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/17/hiroo-onoda-japanese-soldier-dies
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/18/world/asia/hiroo-onoda-imperialjapanese-army-officer-dies-at-91.html
The Duyfken
Many years ago, my family and I decided to head to the
wharf in Darwin for an evening out and a meal. The tide was out,
and as we walked from our parked car along to the restaurants,
we noticed a wooden ‘stick’ with a red flag on top somewhere
level with our knees. I probably exaggerate, but it was a very
In spite of
messages being
sent to him,
he refused to
believe that the
war had ended,
and said that he
would believe it
only when his
old commanding
officer told him so.
unexpected sight, and we peered over the
edge. And there, moored to a pontoon, with a
young man sitting on the poop deck polishing
his boots was the 24m-long Duyfken (or ‘little
dove’ in Dutch).
Of course, I quizzed him thoroughly –
they were on their way to Indonesia, then on
to The Netherlands, where the Netherlands
Government was going to give them a ‘crow’s
nest’ as a gift. He was from Sydney, he’d been
bored with his job, he could sail, so here he
was in Darwin polishing his boots.
The Duyfken was a modern replica of the
1606 original captained by Willem Janszoon,
and was the first recorded European ship to arrive in Australia,
and whose sailors were the first recorded Europeans to meet the
resident Aboriginal populations. She was owned by the Dutch
East India Company (or Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie
– VOC) that had mapped most of the Australian coast by 1644.
Michael G Kailis and a small group of maritime enthusiasts
in WA came up with the plan for building the replica, which
was built according to traditional techniques and materials and
launched in 2000, after support from thousands of people.
The maiden voyage involved sailing to Banda in Indonesia,
then sailing around Australia following Janszoon’s original route,
meeting the Aboriginal communities of the Pennefather River
(on the western side of Cape York, at almost the same latitude
as Nhulunbuy) and requesting permission to land in an act of
reconciliation.
The next voyage took them to the Netherlands.
The Duyfken is now moored at 40 Mews Road (behind
Little Creatures), Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour, where it is
possible to go for trips on her, although at the moment due
to COVID-19 the ship is closed.
www.duyfken.com
22 The Top Ender | Tri-Services Magazine Incorporated