Japanese holdout Hiroo Onoda finally surrendered in 1974, nearly three decades after Japan's formal capitulation.
Onoda was an Imperial Japanese Army second lieutenant left on Lubang Island in the Philippines. He and several companions continued their guerrilla activities because they believed Japan's surrender notices were enemy propaganda and that their mission had not ended.
A Japanese adventurer, Norio Suzuki, located Onoda in February 1974, but Onoda still required direct orders from his former commanding officer. Major Yoshimi Taniguchi traveled to Lubang and formally relieved him of duty. Onoda surrendered to Philippine forces on 10 March 1974. He was not the last known Japanese holdout; Teruo Nakamura surrendered later that year.