Hiroo Onoda surrendered on Lubang Island in 1974 after holding out since World War II.
Onoda was an Imperial Japanese Army second lieutenant assigned to Lubang in the Philippines. He continued guerrilla activities with fellow soldiers after Japan’s 1945 surrender because he believed that wartime orders remained in force and that surrender notices were Allied deception.
Three companions initially remained with him. One surrendered in 1950, another was killed in 1954, and the last was killed in 1972. Japanese adventurer Norio Suzuki located Onoda in February 1974, but Onoda refused to surrender until his former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, formally relieved him of duty.
Onoda surrendered to Philippine forces on 10 March 1974. He was not the final Japanese holdout: Private Teruo Nakamura was arrested in Indonesia later that year. Onoda is nevertheless the most famous example of a Japanese soldier who continued resisting decades after V-J Day.