# Cases where a soldier (or civilian) deliberately sought an enemy after the war for revenge/reconciliation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [June 29, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276 "2025-06-29T23:54:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2025, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276/1 "2025-06-29T23:54:55Z")
I’m aware of at least two such cases. In the first one, the specifics elide me but an Allied Guy(AG), I think he was British but he might have been American), was taken POW in WWII in Japan. One Japanese Guard (JG) was particularly brutal to AG. After the war, AG made it his mission to find JG and exact his revenge. Except what he found was a broken shell of a man, torn apart by guilt and shame, contemplating hari kiri to preserve his honor. The. Two made up, and I believe there was a movie about them. The other has a less than Disney-died ending. Eastern European Guy (EEG) watches his family get mowed down in front of his eyes by the SS. EEG remembers the guy’s name, ends up in at least three different armies, including the French Foreign Legion, and deserts at least one if not all three. He ends up finding the guy and killing him, presumably with a smile on his face. Again, the details elude me. What are some others? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276/2 "2025-06-30T00:04:20Z")
I think I’ve heard of participants in the Christmas Truce of 1914 looking each other up after the War. Presumably those were of the happy sort. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276/3 "2025-06-30T00:14:18Z")
Louis Zamperini, a B-24 bombardier and former U.S. Olympian as a distance runner, was captured after spending 46 days adrift at sea. Taken back to the Home Islands, he survived the war in a Japanese prison. Postwar, he tried to find some of those who tormented him, including one camp guard name Mutsuhiro Watanabe who was particularly sadistic in his treatment. He made peace with many of the guards, but Watanabe did not meet with him, even after Zamperini sent him a letter saying he forgave him. Laura Hillenbrand wrote his story in _Unbroken_, later made into a film directed by Angelina Jolie. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276/4 "2025-06-30T00:24:03Z")
I may have some of the details of this story wrong because it’s a while since I read the books and I can’t be bothered digging them out. Spike Milligan fought in North Africa in WWII. In his first book about his experiences, he told the story of how one night he got disoriented. He approached a hillside and announced himself but was met with a hail of gunfire because he had accidentally stumbled on some Germans. Spike escaped unscathed. After the war, a German ex-soldier read Spike’s book and realised he had been one of the Germans who had shot at Spike. He got in touch and they became friends. On one occasion, the German was in London and called at Spike Milligan’s house unannounced. Spike wasn’t home so the German left a note saying “Sorry I missed you…” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276/5 "2025-06-30T01:15:56Z")
The former POWs from Stalag Luft III (the one from m_The Great Escape_) Held reunions every year. On at least one occasion they brought over the German camp guard they nicknamed “:Rubberneck”. Also there’s the case of two pilots who met in combat during WWII and got together afterwards: > **[The Face of A Young Pilot Shot Down Over Iwo Jima by Justin R. Taylan](https://pacificghosts.com/articles/iwo/)** > > This is the story of an American and a Japanese pilot who met in aerial combat. Their deadly aerial engagement began with a moment of humanity. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276/6 "2025-06-30T01:44:23Z")
Corey Ten Boom who was sent to Nazi concentration camp with her family for helping Jews in Nazi occupied Holland, famously met two of the SS guards from the concentration camp after the war and forgave them ---
**Author:** ![gkster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gkster/32/14107_2.png) [@gkster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gkster)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276/7 "2025-06-30T01:59:40Z")
Nitpick, Corrie Ten Boom, not Corey. And a fictional example is Frederick Forsyth’s book, with a civilian searching for revenge on an SS Camp Commandant: The Odessa File - Wikipedia [The Odessa File - Wikipedia](https://share.google/kpQJrQ1Z2OQoxfF9v) ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276/8 "2025-06-30T02:00:15Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > The other has a less than Disney-died ending. Eastern European Guy (EEG) watches his family get mowed down in front of his eyes by the SS. EEG remembers the guy’s name, ends up in at least three different armies, including the French Foreign Legion, and deserts at least one if not all three. He ends up finding the guy and killing him, presumably with a smile on his face. Again, the details elude me. [Eliahu Itzkovitz](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliahu_Itzkovitz) More revenge: [Joachim Peiper](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Peiper) of the Malmedy massacre at the Battle of the Bulge. Postwar, inexplicably moved to France. Who in their right mind would underwrite a fire insurance policy for him? Asa Harmon McCoy was murdered while returning home from service in the Union Army by Confederate irregular Jim Vance, an uncle to Devil Anse Hatfield. A spiral of revenge killings followed. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276/9 "2025-06-30T03:24:44Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > [Joachim Peiper](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joachim_Peiper) of the Malmedy massacre at the Battle of the Bulge. Postwar, inexplicably moved to France. I had a chuckle about his Wikipedia description, " …convicted war criminal and car salesman". ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276/10 "2025-06-30T04:33:27Z")
This isn’t quite the same thing, but it’s close. Nobuo Fujita was the pilot that bombed the forest near Brookings, Oregon attempting to set it on fire. That failed because it’d been a wet summer and the forest was too damp. Anyway, after the war in 1962, the Brookings Jaycees invited Fujita to come celebrate the bombing or something like that. At first he was reluctant, thinking the Americans would put him on trial as a war criminal. After being persuaded that that wasn’t the case, he came and brought along his 400-year old samurai sword, which he donated to the city. It now can be seen in the public library there. > **[Fujita Sword | Brookings, OR - Official Website](https://www.brookings.or.us/291/Fujita-Sword)** ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276/11 "2025-06-30T04:57:58Z")
“I am firmly convinced that a person who practice tolerance to your former enemy like you, if elected to the high office in your country, would no doubt contribute not only to the promotion of genuine friendship between Japan and the United States, but also the establishment of a universal peace.” Sent by former INJ Commander Kohei Hanami to newly-elected Senator John F. Kennedy. Hanami had captained the Amagiri, which cut through PT-109, and who attended JFK’s presidential inauguration as his guest. Also in the spirit of reconciliation was this message from Kemal Atatürk to the mothers of Australian and New Zealand war dead: “Those heroes that shed their blood and lost their lives… you are now lying in the soil of a friendly country. Therefore, rest in peace. There is no difference between the Johnnies and the Mehmets to us where they lie side by side here in this country of ours… You the mothers who sent their sons from far away countries wipe away your tears. Your sons are now lying in our bosom and are in peace. After having lost their lives on this land they have become our sons as well.” (Beautiful words, though an embellishment made on top of much more terse remarks from Atatürk by Australian politician Alan Johnston Campbell) Back to revenge: there was Boer veteran in the service of Imperial Germany [Fritz Duquesne](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_Duquesne,) who claimed to have caused Lord Kitchener’s death in revenge for Kitchener’s South African concentration camps. ---
**Author:** ![themapleleaf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/themapleleaf/32/14349_2.png) [@themapleleaf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/themapleleaf)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2025, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cases-where-a-soldier-or-civilian-deliberately-sought-an-enemy-after-the-war-for-revenge-reconciliation/1020276/12 "2025-06-30T17:55:52Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > In the first one, the specifics elide me but an Allied Guy(AG), I think he was British but he might have been American), was taken POW in WWII in Japan. One Japanese Guard (JG) was particularly brutal to AG. After the war, AG made it his mission to find JG and exact his revenge. Except what he found was a broken shell of a man, torn apart by guilt and shame, contemplating hari kiri to preserve his honor. The. Two made up, and I believe there was a movie about them. I’m pretty sure you mean British officer [Eric Lomax](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Lomax). The biopic about him was [_The Railway Man_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Railway_Man_(film)).