Manga artist Mizuki Shigeru, best known for Gegege no Kitarou among other stuff (absolutely famous in Japan; didn't have much chance to catch on abroad or at least in the US, because if pokemon was getting complaints about being "satanic" then Kitarou would have given those same people an aneurysm)
>Mizuki was drafted into the Imperial Army in 1943 and sent to Rabaul, on the island of New Britain, in what is now part of Papua New Guinea. It was one of the worst places to be sent in the war, and quickly became a showcase for some of the worst aspects of the Imperial Army. As one of the lower-ranking, late arrivals in a hierarchical and feudalistic command structure, Mizuki was constantly beaten by his superiors. While on sentry duty in the field one day, his detachment was completely wiped out an in attack by Australians and native forces. Mizuki made a harrowing escape alone back to Japanese lines, only to be reprimanded by his superiors for losing his rifle, and (in Imperial Army style) for surviving. He later lost his arm during an air raid, by Allied airplanes, he was eventually nursed back to health.
>Had he not been out of commission, he probably would not have survived the war. In a fairly famous incident, a unit to which he would have been attached was sent out on a banzai [suicide] charge, but miraculously survived. Since the men's "glorious death" had already been reported to headquarters, it was sent back to the front with orders not to return alive.
(from the introduction of Drawn & Quarterly's translation of Onwards Towards Our Noble Deaths, which was loosely based on the fate of that same unit and his own experiences in the field)