When is it time to give up a fight? Some folks never know when to quit

In October 1945, a pamphlet dropped from an aircraft fluttered into the hands of Hiroo Onoda, a young Japanese intelligence officer. He had been dispatched to an island in the Philippines to create chaos in any way possible, with the idea of disrupting the American advance in World War II.

His orders had been specific: Never surrender.

Yet the pamphlet claimed the war had ended a month earlier, and advised any stragglers to “Come out  of the mountains.” Onoda and three of his comrades inspected the pamphlet and concluded it was a hoax. Their guerrilla war would continue, as they burned crops, destroyed machinery and engaged in shootouts with police. For years.

They killed 30 civilians as they continued their Quixotic campaign. More flyers were dropped — these signed by Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita — urging them to come out of hiding. They concluded these too were fake, Allied propaganda trying to trick them into surrender.

More materials were dropped in the form of appeals from their families, complete with letters and personal photos. The more irrefutable the evidence, the more they believed it to be fake.

One of the four walked away. Another was killed by police in 1954. Years went by, and Onoda and his last surviving compatriot, Kinshichi Kozuka, were declared dead.

That conventional wisdom had to be rethought in 1972 when Kozuka, still carrying on the fight, was killed by gunfire — leaving open the possibility that Onoda was still alive as well. The search was rejoined, but remained fruitless.

In 1974, the Japanese celebrity explorer Norio Suzuki announced he was setting out to find "Lieutenant Onoda, a (wild) panda, and the Abominable Snowman, in that order." In 1986, Suzuki would die in an avalanche, still searching for the yeti. But it had only taken him four months to find Onoda — still wearing his uniform, which was now in tatters.

"This hippie boy Suzuki came to the island to listen to the feelings of a Japanese soldier. Suzuki asked me why I would not come out,” Onoda later recalled.

As a loyal, duty-bound soldier, Onoda told Suzuki that he could not abandon his post without orders from his commanding officer. The hunt for Onoda turned into a hunt for his commanding officer, who by then was an old man. He was found working in a bookstore.

The officer was taken into the Philippine jungle, where, 50 years ago this month, he relieved Onoda of his duties. The soldier, then 52, surrendered his bolt-action military rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition, some hand grenades and the dagger his mother had given him with which to kill himself should he face capture.

Nearly three decades after the end of World War II, Hiroo Onoda stopped fighting.

Onoda’s story resonates in 21st century America, as culture warriors fight battles long lost, and yearn for a time when the man worked and the woman stayed home to cook and clean; when our own, English-speaking population was large enough to do all the work that needed to be done; when gays were closeted; when Black men were expected to avert their eyes when passing a white woman on the street; when Jews could be excluded from social clubs; when men dictated the terms of women’s health care; when speech, voting and religious rights were conferred on a select few; when anyone who got out of line could be sent to jail or, barring that, roundly condemned to hell.

The MAGA movement believes these days can be reclaimed, and that those who do not believe as they do can be punished. This “retribution” largely went out of style with inquisitions and witch trials, but like Onoda, MAGA continues to fight on in battles that are long-ago lost.

Every so often, like Onoda, this far-right movement might pick off a civilian or two, as it did with Roe v. Wade. But even here, the aftermath is instructive: Abortion drugs went mainstream, and in many ways, abortion is now cheaper, easier and more common than it was before the Supreme Court intervened.

No one outside of MAGA wants to re-fight the race wars of the 1960s. No one outside of MAGA wants women’s health care to revert to old white men. No one outside of MAGA wants to ban books, relitigate gay marriage or pretend the 2020 election was stolen or that coal is the fuel of the future.

MAGA’s inescapable failure lies in its desire to re-pick old fights while offering no vision of a future that, to a majority of Americans, is even remotely appealing. So even when it wins at the ballot box or in the courts, it resembles an occupying army in a foreign land — no more successful than Russia in Ukraine or America in Afghanistan.

Onoda went on to lead an interesting and meaningful life. But he was only able to do so after putting aside his delusions and leaving behind the jungles of the past.

Want to take a bite out of your fear of snakes? Have 'em for dinner.

Reality in America, and our perception of it, appear to be two very different things

Tim Rowland is a Herald-Mail columnist.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Mail: Why keep fighting when the war's been lost?