War must never be repeated, says WWII guerilla commander
Satoshi Ito received infiltration, sabotage and other forms of training for three months at the Futamata branch of the now-defunct Imperial Japanese Army's Nakano school. The branch was located in present-day Tenryu Ward in the city of Hamamatsu, Shizuoka Prefecture.
"I was a pawn of the military (like many others)," Ito, who now lives in the city of Akashi, Hyogo Prefecture, recalled. "We must never engage in a foolish war."
In January 1943, Ito, who was a middle school teacher, passed the conscription exam. The following year, he entered the army's cavalry school in what is now the city of Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, to train future officers.
Around July 1944, a supervising officer suddenly told Ito to go to a meeting room, where several interviewers in military uniform asked him whether he would be able to cut ties with his family.
Ito was then asked to turn around. When he turned around to face the interviewers again, he was asked what he remembers seeing on a now-empty table between them.
After trying hard to remember, Ito answered, "Cigarettes, an ashtray, a fountain pen and documents." The interviewers voiced their satisfaction at his answer.
A befuddled Ito passed the 15-minute interview and was enrolled at the Futamata branch of the Nakano school on Sept. 1 the same year as one of the branch's inaugural students, which numbered some 230 people.
The students were told by a military instructor that they would be sent to the battlefields to engage in guerrilla warfare after receiving training for secret operations. They were also told to keep the name of the Futamata branch an "absolute secret."
It was strange that the instructor did not have a buzzcut despite being military personnel, Ito recalled.
The school's teachings, he said, were "unique" and the "complete opposite" of what he had learned up until then.
The school urged the students to survive and complete their missions and also told them that it was all right to be held captive as it was an opportunity to confuse the enemy by spreading false information. Until then, Ito had been taught not to be afraid to die and never to face the humiliation of being caught alive.
The three months of training were intense, Ito said.
In a bridge bombing exercise, he was asked by an instructor how long the structure was after he had crossed it, and how deep the river was, as well as how much gunpowder was necessary to blow it up, all part of training to hone observation and analytical skills.
Ito was also trained to blow up planes after infiltrating airfields, as well as to collect information from women at bars.
While Ito graduated from the Futamata branch school at the end of November 1944, the three months he spent there were not listed in his military records.
After graduation, he was deployed to the command of the central district army in Osaka. He then became a second lieutenant and was sent to Taiwan in January 1945.
In Taiwan, he was named company commander of a guerrilla unit made up of local residents. The war ended without the U.S. military landing in Taiwan.
"I was relieved to be alive," Ito said.
In March 1946, he took a week to return to Japan by ship from northern Taiwan. Upon his return, he went back to teaching.
Decades after the war, the army's Nakano school came into the spotlight after soldier Hiroo Onoda, one of the Futamata branch's inaugural members, was found alive on the Philippine island of Lubang.
Onoda held out on the island for about 30 years following the end of the war before he returned to Japan in 1974.
Ito described Onoda as "serious," saying he opted not to go out even on Sundays and instead stayed at a ryokan inn to study.
"I'm not surprised at Onoda hiding for 30 years because he did not receive an order (relieving him of his duty) from his commanding officer," Ito said.
More than 80 years have passed since Ito received the secret training.
"I was a cog in a machine or a pawn of the army. Japan engaged in a foolish war," he said. "War must not be repeated. This is a cry (of determination) from a 102-year-old."
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