Which Japanese intelligence officer surrendered on Lubang Island in 1974?

Hiroo Onoda surrendered on Lubang Island in 1974.

Onoda was a Japanese army intelligence officer sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines in 1944. He was ordered to conduct guerrilla operations and not surrender. After Japan's formal surrender in 1945, Onoda and several companions continued hiding in the island's forests because they believed wartime instructions remained in force and treated later surrender notices as enemy deception.

Three of his companions were killed or surrendered over the following decades. Onoda remained in hiding until February 1974, when his former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, traveled to the Philippines and formally relieved him of his duties. Onoda then surrendered to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.

Onoda is often described as the last Japanese soldier to surrender, but that wording can be misleading. Another Japanese holdout, Teruo Nakamura, surrendered later in 1974 on Morotai Island. Onoda was the most famous long-term holdout and the last Japanese officer to surrender from the war.