Futility Closet

When American forces overran the Philippine island of Lubang in 1945, Japanese intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda withdrew into the mountains to wait for reinforcements. He was still waiting 29 years later. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll meet the dedicated soldier who fought World War II until 1974. We'll also dig up a murderer and puzzle over an offensive compliment. Intro: In 1896, Austrian engineers designed a mountain railway pulled by a balloon. In 1965 Kingsley Amis inventoried Ian Fleming's unsavory descriptions of M. Sources for our feature on Hiroo Onoda: Hiroo Onoda, No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War, 1974. Mark Felton, "The Soldiers Who Would Not Surrender," World War II 18:4 (November 2003), 18. Robert D. McFadden, "Hiroo Onoda, Soldier Who Hid in Jungle for Decades, Dies at 91," New York Times, Jan. 17, 2014. Adam Bernstein, "Hiroo Onoda, Japanese Soldier Who Hid in Philippine Jungle for 29 Years, Dies at 91," Washington Post, Jan. 17, 2014. David Powers, "Japan: No