Hiroo Onoda surrendered on Lubang Island in 1974 after continuing to resist after World War II.
Onoda was a second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army who had been assigned to guerrilla operations on the Philippine island of Lubang. He and three other soldiers remained in hiding after Japan’s surrender in 1945 because they believed wartime announcements and leaflets were enemy deception. One comrade surrendered in 1950, while the other two later died.
Onoda encountered Japanese adventurer Norio Suzuki in February 1974 but still refused to surrender because his orders required authorization from his former commanding officer. Major Yoshimi Taniguchi traveled to Lubang and formally relieved him of duty. Onoda then surrendered to Philippine forces on 10 March 1974.
He is often described as the last Japanese soldier to surrender, but that wording is imprecise. Private Teruo Nakamura was arrested in Indonesia on 18 December 1974, several months after Onoda. Onoda was therefore one of the last Japanese holdouts, and his case became the best-known example of a soldier remaining in the field decades after V-J Day.