Hiroo Onoda surrendered in the Philippines in 1974, decades after Japan’s World War II surrender.
Onoda was a Japanese Imperial Army intelligence officer assigned to Lubang Island in the Philippines in 1944. His orders emphasized guerrilla warfare and instructed him not to surrender. After Japan capitulated in 1945, he continued operating in the island’s forests because he believed the war was still ongoing.
Leaflets and other messages announcing the end of the war did not convince him. Onoda remained in hiding for nearly 29 years, together with several fellow soldiers. One companion surrendered in 1950, another was killed in 1954, and the last, Kinshichi Kozuka, died in 1972.
Onoda finally emerged on March 9, 1974, after his former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, traveled to Lubang and formally relieved him of duty. He surrendered his sword to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in Manila on March 11.