Two Enemies Who Saved Each Other

The picture above shows Manuel Roxas of the Philippines and Colonel Nobuhiko Jimbo of the Imperial Japanese Army who was part of the forces that occupied The Philippines during the Second World War. These two men began and ended the conflict on opposite sides and yet each man owed the other his life. Manuel Roxas was a prominent leader in The Philippines before the war, serving for twelve years as the Speaker of the House of Representatives. When the United States of America agreed to grant independence to The Philippines, Roxas served in the convention to draw up the constitution for the new country and he served as Secretary of Finance along with other positions and was a brigadier general in the Filipino army. Elected to the Senate, he was unable to take his seat because of the outbreak of war and when Japanese forces attacked the Philippines he was made liaison officer between the armies of the Commonwealth of the Philippines and the United States of America. Eventually, of course, the American and Filipino forces were defeated by the Japanese troops under the noble General Masaharu Homma and finally surrendered. Roxas was among those taken prisoner.

This was a time of great pain and suffering. General Homma gave orders to treat the Filipinos as brothers and forbid any acts of cruelty, however, there were others who were hate-filled and who did horrible things, sometimes on orders they had forged in General Homma's name. Whenever the general found out about such things, he had the guilty officers reprimanded. A few weeks after the surrender, General Manuel Roxas was taken prisoner and the local Japanese commander, General Torao Ikuta, received an order to execute him. General Ikuta was also an honorable man and was greatly distressed at being given such an order. He sent the order on to a subordinate officer, Colonel Nobuhiko Jimbo. As it happened, Colonel Jimbo was another example of an upright officer. He was also a Catholic, the same as Roxas, and was disgusted by the very idea of murdering him, regardless of military orders which seemed to be genuine. He struggled with his conscience as he was transporting the prisoners.

Roxas and a local governor were both taken by Colonel Jimbo to be executed but the governor pleaded for his life and Colonel Jimbo bravely determined that he could not and would not execute the two men. He went personally to General Ikuta to urge him to spare the two men, regardless of what orders had been issued. It would be barbaric and such orders, he reasoned, had to be some sort of mistake. General Ikuta quickly agreed and had the prisoners hidden away. However, an officer soon arrived from Manila demanding that the executions be carried out and that Colonel Jimbo be court-martialed for his efforts to save their lives. Again, showing great courage and character, Colonel Jimbo was still not prepared to give up and traveled to Manila himself to confront General Homma directly. General Homma was not in his office when Jimbo arrived but he spoke to Homma’s chief of staff who could not believe that the general would give such an order. Jimbo handed him the document which the Chief of Staff suspended and immediately and then confronted the junior general he suspected of being responsible for the false order.

When General Homma returned to his headquarters and learned of the whole situation, he immediately countermanded the execution of Roxas and personally thanked Colonel Jimbo for his brave stand in the cause of justice and humanity. He told the colonel that he would be sure to mention his actions when he returned home and gave his report to the Emperor. Roxas would go on to be the first President of The Philippines after the war. General Homma, however, was not allowed to make his report to the Emperor as his enemies within the army succeeded in having him relieved of command and sent home. Not being allowed to report to the Emperor, as was customary, was done as a sign of his semi-disgrace. He was an unjust action for a general so talented, dedicated and honorable as General Homma. Worse was to come, however, as after the war, General Homma was returned to The Philippines where he was convicted and executed as a war criminal; a case so blatantly unjust that even a number of very prominent Americans spoke out against it and harshly condemned their own countrymen for participating in such a disgraceful act.

The upright Colonel Nobuhiko Jimbo almost suffered a similar fate. He had been transferred to China and was himself arrested at the end of the conflict as a potential "war criminal". In 1946, Filipino President Roxas, however, learned that Colonel Jimbo was being held in prison in northern China awaiting trial and he acted to return the favor the colonel had done in saving his life. Roxas wrote personally to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, explaining the situation and asking that Colonel Jimbo be given amnesty. The Chinese leader agreed and the following year Colonel Jimbo was released and returned to Japan. He had survived but only because of the timely intervention of the man whose life he had saved. If Roxas had not found out about Jimbo in time, he mostly likely would have been executed in the wave of anti-Japanese hysteria in China in the aftermath of the war. These two men, one Filipino, one Japanese, had started and ended the war on opposite sides and yet each had saved the life of the other. While many seem to enjoy remembering only the cruel and sad events of the war, more emphasis should be given to remembering those like Colonel Jimbo Nobuhiko who risked everything to save the life of one man.