Which Japanese holdout formally surrendered on Lubang Island in 1974?

Hiroo Onoda formally surrendered on Lubang Island in 1974.

Onoda was a second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army who continued guerrilla operations in the Philippines after Japan’s 1945 surrender. He and several companions believed that wartime announcements, leaflets, and messages saying the war had ended were enemy deception.

A Japanese adventurer, Norio Suzuki, located Onoda in February 1974. Onoda still refused to surrender because his wartime orders required him to continue until formally relieved. His former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, traveled to Lubang and issued that order. Onoda surrendered to Philippine forces on 10 March 1974.

Onoda is often called the last Japanese soldier to surrender, but that wording is inaccurate. Private Teruo Nakamura was arrested in Indonesia on 18 December 1974, later in the same year. Onoda became the best-known holdout because of the length of his resistance and the dramatic circumstances of his formal relief from duty.