Badass of The Week

[Starbuck]

I recently read a book named "Badass", where the case is made for various leaders - some of whom I was not familiar with - to be proclaimed Badass.

Some were surprising. Julius Caesar made the cut partially because he trained his men to use their swords and spears and go for the eyes of the enemy. Seeing your mates have their eyes put out and then having the badass come after you had sort of a sobering effect.

I have a nomination:

Hiroo Onoda


Orders:

You are absolutely forbidden to die by your own hand. It may take three years, it may take five, but whatever happens, we'll come back for you. Until then, so long as you have one soldier, you are to continue to lead him. You may have to live on coconuts. If that's the case, live on coconuts! Under no circumstances are you to give up your life voluntarily.

Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda of the Japanese Imperial Army's Intelligence Division was sent to the Philippine Island of Lubang in 1944 with a top-secret mission - to stay out of sight, collect information on Allied troop movements on the island, launch guerilla attacks, disrupt the enemy and generally just be completely fucking nuts. He took this mission so seriously that he ended up fighting for his life well after everyone else had called it a day and went home. If the delicate line between insanity and badassitude is measured by determination, then Lt. Hiroo is probably high in the running for being one of the most badassed men of World War II.

Onoda and his small, elite four-man reconnaissance team were initially tasked with exploding the airfield and pier on the island, but not long after they deployed the entire Philippines was overrun by American forces. Onoda's men managed to elude capture and retreat back into the dense jungles on the outskirts of the island, where they were forced to live off of the land to avoid detection by enemy scouts and patrols looking to shove their guns up some Japanese asses. From this super-secret base of death, destruction and mayhem, Onodo and his men conducted lightning raids against the occupying armies, engaging in numerous gun battles with U.S. troops garrisoned on the island as well as the local Filipino police force. They survived on rice, coconuts and bananas foraged from the underbrush, and occasionally made daring night raids into town to steal beer and other supplies from peoples' outdoor fridges.

Well, he survived alright.....and stayed hidden in the jungle until 1974!

Read more....
http://http://www.badassoftheweek.com/onoda.html

[NJCardFan]

Seriously? You're nominating a member of the Japanese Imperial Army as a "badass"? Do you also have a member of Hitler's military who could be a badass? Nothing like glorifying a member of a country's military who slaughtered millions of people to meet it's ends.

[Starbuck]

Seriously? You're nominating a member of the Japanese Imperial Army as a "badass"? Do you also have a member of Hitler's military who could be a badass? Nothing like glorifying a member of a country's military who slaughtered millions of people to meet it's ends.

The guy was tough. Resolved. He followed orders. Went waaaay past the call of duty as he understood it.

May be more convenient for you to think that all members of all misled armies are tyrannical bullies, but that flies in the face of reality. Besides, if you had met him in the jungle in The Philippines you would not have walked away. So who's the badass?

[Odysseus]

The guy was tough. Resolved. He followed orders. Went waaaay past the call of duty as he understood it.

May be more convenient for you to think that all members of all misled armies are tyrannical bullies, but that flies in the face of reality. Besides, if you had met him in the jungle in The Philippines you would not have walked away. So who's the badass?

This guy:

http://militarytimes.com/citations-m...ipientid=23085
Wendell W. Fertig

• Date of birth: December 16, 1900
• Date of death: March 24, 1975
• Place of Birth: La Junta, Colorado
• Home of record: Golden, Colorado

Colonel
Wendell W. Fertig
Army
For service as set forth in the following:

CITATION:
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Colonel (Corps of Engineers) Wendell W. Fertig (ASN: 0-254976), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while Commanding the Mindanao-Visayan Force (Philippine Guerillas), in action against enemy forces from 8 May 1943 to 6 August 1943, in the Philippine Islands. Refusing to surrender when the major defense forces were overcome, Colonel Fertig assumed command of scattered forces continuing resistance on the island of Mindanao. He effectively organized many dispersed elements throughout the island, held much strong enemy forces continuously at bay, and denied to them some of the resources of their country. He improvised tactics for effective warfare with limited means, and ingenious methods for supplying his men and their families. He persisted in this enterprise, although a large price was set on his head, and he was of necessity in constant proximity to the enemy. His courage and resourcefulness enabled him to avoid capture, to inspire in the people of Mindanao a will to resist, and to furnish the United States Command with information of great military value.

Isolated in the Philippine Islands after the American surrender, Wendell Fertig "promoted himself" to Brigadier General and assumed command of the scattered and disorganized guerilla forces. He worked closely with Naval Commander Charles "Chick" Parsons, who supplied the guerillas via submarine, to maintain an organized resistance in direct communication with General MacArthur. After the war he served as Special Forces Plans Officer in the Office of the Chief of Psychological Warfare with Headquarters U.S. Army in Washington, D.C., from July 1951 to June 1952. He next served as Deputy Chief of Psychological Warfare from June 1952 to August 1953, and during this time helped establish the Army's Psychological Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, which later became the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.

The Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendell_Fertig)gives the details, but Fertig was far more of a badass than LT Onoda. Holding out is one thing, but marshalling tens of thousands of guerillas and defeating the enemy from behind the lines is an order of magnitude harder. Ultimately, victory is the proof of badassery.

[Starbuck]

Is victory proof of badassery? I dunno. There is sometimes something to be said for valiantly fighting a battle you cannot win, but cannot postpone. Xerxes ran smack dab into one of those badasses.

Here's another holdout, though, in that same area of the world:

George R. Tweed, 86; Eluded Foe on Guam
Published: January 19, 1989

George R. Tweed, a World War II Navy radioman who eluded Japanese forces on the Pacific island of Guam for 31 months, died Monday in an automobile accident in Northern California. He was 86 years old.

When Japanese forces overran Guam in 1941, Mr. Tweed, then a a chief radioman, and several others slipped into the jungle rather than surrender. He became the only survivor after the others were captured and killed.

Mr. Tweed managed to elude Japanese soldiers for two years seven months, providing information to American forces that recaptured the island in 1944. He was awarded the Legion of Merit.

His story was told in a 1945 book, ''Robinson Crusoe USN,'' and a 1962 movie, ''No Man is an Island,'' starring Jeffrey Hunter.

I've got an autographed copy of his book, Robinson Crusoe, USN, and I read it now and then. Chief Tweed wrote in the old, dated, 1945 voice, where he talks about "the swellest guys in the world", and so forth. I was on Guam, where it all took place, in 1967, and have often wished I knew the story then. There would have been people who remembered him.