Hiroo Onoda surrendered on Lubang Island in 1974 after nearly three decades in hiding.
Onoda was an Imperial Japanese Army second lieutenant trained in intelligence and guerrilla warfare. He was sent to the Philippine island of Lubang in December 1944 and ordered to continue his mission even if Japan’s regular forces were defeated. He and several companions remained in the jungle after Japan’s surrender.
Onoda refused to accept leaflets and other reports saying the war had ended because he believed they were enemy propaganda. Japanese adventurer Norio Suzuki located him in February 1974, but Onoda still would not surrender without orders from his former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi. Taniguchi traveled to Lubang and formally relieved him of duty.
Onoda surrendered on March 10, 1974. He is often described as the last Japanese soldier of World War II, but Teruo Nakamura surrendered later that year in Indonesia, so Onoda was one of the most famous, not the final, holdouts.