FORMOSA FILES PODCAST S1-E9: THE EMPIRE'S LAST SOLDIER
He was the last Pacific WWII holdout and a native Taiwanese from the Amis tribe... here's the remarkable story of a Japanese colonial soldier who didn't get home until the mid-1970s!
Attun Palalin, for much of his life known by his Japanese name Nakamura Teruo (中村 輝夫), returns home to eastern Taiwan circa late 1974/early 1975. Upon returning to Taiwan he was informed he had been given the Chinese name Lee Kuang-hui (李光輝). The last "holdout" of WWII, this Amis native Taiwanese was one of a group of native Taiwanese volunteers -- 4th Takasago Volunteer Unit 高砂義勇隊 -- who served with distinction in the Japanese military. He was found on Moratai Island, Indonesia, and arrested by Indonesian soldiers on December 18th, 1974. Attun Palalin's return to Taiwan, now controlled by the Republic of China (nationalist) authorities, was not an easy transition. He died in Taiwan of lung cancer on June 15th, 1979.
Cover Photo Via http://davidaldia.blogspot.com/2013/04/los-topos-errantes-iii-teruo-nakamura.html / Wikimedia Commons
#formosafiles #podcasts #taiwan #history #formosa #formosan #japan #wwii #ww2 #war #usa #natives
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The Formosa Files podcast is sponsored by the FRANK CHEN FOUNDATION (陳啟川先生文教基金會)
Website: https://www.frank-chen.org.tw/
This top-rated history podcast tells stories from the history of Formosa (Taiwan) from circa 1600 C.E. - 2000 C.E., via interesting, lesser-known short stories presented in a non-chronological order.
HOSTS: John Ross is an author and co-founder of publisher Camphor Press, which specializes in books on Taiwan and China in English, while Eryk Michael Smith has worked as a writer and journalist for multiple media outlets in Taiwan, including the island's only English-language radio station ICRT (FM 100.7). Both Ross and Smith have lived in Taiwan for well over 20 years and call the island home.
