Hiroo Onoda surrendered in the Philippines in 1974 after decades of hiding. The former Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer had continued living on Lubang Island because he believed the war had not ended and regarded postwar leaflets as enemy deception.
Onoda had been ordered to conduct guerrilla operations and avoid surrender. His commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, eventually traveled to the Philippines and formally relieved him of duty on March 9, 1974. Onoda then handed over his sword to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos.
Onoda was not the final Japanese soldier discovered after World War II. Teruo Nakamura, a Taiwanese-born soldier serving in the Japanese army, was captured in Indonesia later in 1974. Shoichi Yokoi had been found in Guam in 1972.
Onoda’s story illustrates why Japan’s surrender did not immediately end every isolated military presence. Scattered holdouts remained in remote areas for years, often lacking reliable information about the war’s conclusion.