Hiroo Onoda: The Soldier Who Fought Until 1974

Japanese intelligence officer Hiroo Onoda was deployed to Lubang Island in the Philippines in December 1944 with orders never to surrender. He and three comrades hid in the mountains, attacking local villagers and Filipino police patrols for 30 years. Leaflets and newspapers dropped from planes telling them the war was over were dismissed as Allied propaganda. Onoda's last companion was killed in 1972 by local police during a firefight. In 1974, a Japanese adventurer found Onoda and brought his former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, to the island to personally relieve him of duty. Only then did Onoda surrender, still armed and in uniform, on March 10, 1974.