Hiroo Onoda surrendered on Lubang Island in the Philippines in 1974, nearly three decades after Japan's surrender.
Onoda was a Japanese Army second lieutenant ordered to conduct guerrilla operations on Lubang. He and fellow soldiers continued hiding because they believed wartime notices and surrender messages were enemy deception.
A Japanese adventurer, Norio Suzuki, located Onoda in February 1974. Onoda still refused to surrender because his original orders required him to remain on duty until formally relieved. His former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, traveled to Lubang and issued that order.
Onoda surrendered to Philippine forces on March 10, 1974. He was one of the best-known Japanese holdouts, but he was not the final Japanese soldier to surrender; Teruo Nakamura was arrested later that year in Indonesia.