UBANG, PHILIPPINES – MARCH 10: (CHINA OUT, SOUTH KOREA OUT) Former Japanese Imerial Army intelligent officer Hiroo Onoda attends a press conference on March 10, 1974 in Lubang, Philippines. Lieutenant Onoda, who spent almost 30-years holding out in the jungle on the Philippine island of Lubang, had refused to surrender until he received direct orders from his commanding officer until 1974. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
A tired Onoda, who turned 52 when he surrendered, walked from the jungle in full-dress uniform on March 10, 1974. He surrendered his sword to Major General J. L. Rancudo of the Philippine Air Force who immediately returned it to Onoda as a mark of respect. This ceremony was repeated for the world press with the president of The Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos, who pardoned him for his three decades of crimes due to the circumstances of Onoda believing that the war was ongoing.

11 Mar 1974 — World War II Japanese straggler Lt. Hiroo Onada surrenders his sword hereon March 10, 1974, to Major General Jose L. Rancudo the Philippine Air Force Chief at Government radar site on Lubang Island. — Image by © Bettmann/CORBIS
Onoda and his men killed about thirty Lubang Islanders while foraging for food, and wounded approximally one hundred more. At the time of his surrender, he had his sword, a functioning rifle with 500 rounds of ammunition, and several hand grenades. He also had the dagger his mother had given him in 1944 to kill himself with if he was ever captured.
Onoda returned to a drastically different Japan. He was much troubled by what he saw as the withering of traditional Japanese values. He left for Brazil a year later on April 25, 1975 to raise cattle, an interest he acquired when he was listening to Australian cattle shows on his stolen transistor radio during his years in the jungle.
hatena.ne.jp
In 1984, Onoda once again went back to Japan to establish an educational camp for the young, after reading about a Japanese teenager who had murdered his parents in 1980.
He returned to Lubang Island in 1996 to donate $10,000 to local schools. Many think of him as part of their local history, and officials from the Philippines sent their condolences when he passed away in 2014 due to heart failure in Tokyo.

TOKYO, JAPAN – SEPTEMBER 25: (CHINA OUT, SOUTH KOREA OUT) Former Japanese Imperial Army intelligent officer Hiroo Onoda speaks during the Asahi Shimbun interview on September 25, 2013 in Tokyo, Japan. Leutinant Onoda, who spent almost 30-years holding out in the jungle on the Philippine island of Lubang, had refused to surrender until he received direct orders from his commanding officer until 1974. (Photo by The Asahi Shimbun via Getty Images)
“Men should never give up. I never do. I would hate to lose.”
– Hiroo Onoda
Did you know? While Hiroo Onoda was not the last Japanese soldier to surrender?
Private Teruo Nakamura, was the last known Japanese holdout, surrending several months after Onoda, on December 18, 1974 when he was discovered by the Indonesian Air Force Morotai Island, in one of Indonesia’s nothernmost islands. Mr Nakamura was repatriated and died in 1979.
It was also rumoured that a captain named Fumio Nakaharu might still be holding out at Mount Halcon in the Philippines. A search team headed by his former comrade-in-arms had found what they believe to be his hut. Unfortunately, no evidence that Nakaharu lived as late as 1980 has been documented.
The most recent case of Japanese holdouts was in 2005, where two former solders from the Panther division of the Japan’s Imperial Army, was discovered in Mindanao Island in the Philippines. The men are Yoshio Yamakawa 87, and Tsuzuki Nakauchi, 85 and although they knew of Japan’s defeat, they did not surrender themselves as they were afraid of getting court-martialed if they returned home.
No Surrender : The Story of A Japanese Soldier Who Did Not Surrender Until 29 Years After WWII