Learoyd Riley (born in 1897) was an American deserter during World War II who became king of the Dayak people in Indonesia.
Biography[]
Learoyd was born in Oregon in 1897. From a young age, he joined the Communist Party of the United States. In 1941, he was a soldier in the Philippines, having been imprisoned at a demonstration and choosing the army over prison. During the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, Learoyd escaped to Borneo, where several of his comrades were killed by the Japanese. Learoyd escaped through the jungle until he found the Dayaks, who initially planned to hand him over to the Japanese in exchange for protection. However, Learoyd's tattoo on his chest led the Dayaks to mistake him for a god from their mythology and crown him king. In 1945, Captain Fairbourne of the British Army and his men arrived at the village and allied themselves with Learoyd to fight the Japanese. After fierce and bloody battles, the Japanese managed to find Learoyd's village, where they killed, raped, and cannibalized those who were there. Learoyd and Fairbourne took revenge and massacred the Japanese. In the midst of the skirmish, Fairbourne was wounded and taken to the headquarters of the allied troops. When the war ended, the Japanese surrendered to Learoyd. Learoyd, for his part, surrendered to the British in exchange for their pardoning his people. Learoyd was taken by ship to Mindanao to be tried for desertion. The ship ran aground on a reef, and Fairbourne, who was also traveling on the same ship, took advantage of the chaos to sneak into the hold and rescue Learoyd, who jumped overboard and managed to escape. Learoyd disappeared forever in the jungles of the Philippines.