Hiroo Onoda became famous for surrendering in 1974 after hiding on Lubang Island in the Philippines.
Onoda was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer sent to Lubang in 1944. He was ordered to conduct guerrilla operations and not surrender, and he continued hiding in the island’s forests after Japan’s formal surrender in 1945. Leaflets and other messages announcing the war’s end did not convince him that the conflict was over.
Onoda remained in the Philippines for nearly three decades. His former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, finally traveled to Lubang and formally relieved him of his duties. Onoda surrendered to Philippine authorities on March 9, 1974.
He is often confused with Shoichi Yokoi, another Japanese holdout who was found in Guam in 1972, and Teruo Nakamura, who surrendered in Indonesia in 1974. Onoda’s case illustrates why Japan’s surrender did not immediately end all isolated resistance across Asia and the Pacific.