Teruo Nakamura was the last known Japanese World War II holdout to surrender, in Indonesia in 1974.
Nakamura, an Amis soldier serving in the Imperial Japanese Army, was discovered on Morotai Island and arrested by Indonesian authorities on 18 December 1974. He had remained in hiding after Japan’s surrender, unaware or unwilling to accept that the war had ended.
His case is often confused with Hiroo Onoda, who surrendered earlier in 1974 on Lubang Island in the Philippines. Onoda received much greater international attention, but Nakamura held out longer. Nakamura had been listed under a Japanese name, Attun Palalin, and his identity and status were clarified after his capture.
Nakamura was repatriated to Taiwan, where he had been born under Japanese colonial rule. His surrender came nearly three decades after the formal surrender ceremony aboard the USS Missouri. Other Japanese holdouts also remained in remote areas after 1945, but Nakamura is generally identified as the last confirmed wartime holdout to surrender.