Hiroo Onoda remained in hiding on Lubang Island until surrendering in 1974.
Onoda was a second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army who continued guerrilla activities in the Philippines after Japan’s surrender in 1945. He and fellow holdouts believed that reports of the war’s end were enemy propaganda or could not be trusted.
Japanese adventurer Norio Suzuki located 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 surrendered to Philippine forces on March 10, 1974.
Onoda is often described as the last Japanese soldier to surrender, but that wording is imprecise. Teruo Nakamura, a Taiwanese-born soldier serving in the Japanese military, was arrested in Indonesia later in 1974. Onoda was nevertheless among the best-known and longest-lasting Japanese holdouts.