Hiroo Onoda surrendered on Lubang Island in the Philippines in 1974, nearly 29 years after V-J Day.
Onoda was an Imperial Japanese Army second lieutenant assigned to conduct guerrilla operations on Lubang. He and several fellow soldiers did not accept evidence that the war had ended, believing surrender notices and family messages were enemy deception. One comrade surrendered in 1950, while the others later died, leaving Onoda alone after 1972.
Japanese adventurer Norio Suzuki found Onoda in February 1974, but Onoda refused to surrender without orders from his former commanding officer. Major Yoshimi Taniguchi traveled from Japan to Lubang and formally relieved him of duty. Onoda then surrendered to Philippine forces on March 10, 1974.
Onoda is often described as one of the last Japanese holdouts, but he was not the final one. Teruo Nakamura, a Taiwanese-born soldier serving in Japan’s army, was arrested in Indonesia in December 1974.