Hiroo Onoda formally surrendered on Lubang Island on 10 March 1974.
Onoda was a second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army who had been sent to Lubang in the Philippines in 1944. He was ordered to conduct guerrilla operations and not surrender. After Japan’s 1945 defeat, he and fellow holdouts continued hiding because they believed surrender reports and leaflets were enemy deception.
Japanese adventurer Norio Suzuki located Onoda in February 1974, but Onoda still required a formal order from his former commanding officer. Major Yoshimi Taniguchi traveled from Japan and relieved him of duty. Onoda then surrendered to Philippine forces at Lubang’s radar base.
A formal ceremony followed in Manila on 11 March, where Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos granted him a pardon. Onoda was not the last Japanese holdout to be found: Teruo Nakamura was arrested in Indonesia later in 1974.