NEVER SURRENDER: THE LONELY WAR OF HIROO ONODA

His home was a dense area ofrainforest and he lived on the wild coconuts that grew in abundance.

Hiroo Onoda: never surrender

His principal enemy was the army ofmosquitoes that arrived with each new shower of rain. But for Hiroo Onoda therewas another enemy - one that remained elusive.

Unaware that the Second World Warhad ended 29 years earlier, he was still fighting a lonely guerrilla war in thejungles of Lubang Island in the Philippines. His story is one of courage, farce and loyalty gone mad.

Lubang Island: news travelled slowly

Hiroo Onoda was born to be a soldier. He had enlisted in the Imperial Japanese Army at the age of 20, receiving training in intelligence and guerrilla warfare. In December, 1944, he and a small group of elite soldiers were sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines.

Their mission was to destroy theisland’s little airstrip and port facilities. They were prohibited, under anycircumstances, from surrendering, or committing suicide.

US landing at Leyte: beginning of the end for Japanese
occupation of Philippines

‘You are absolutely forbidden to die by your ownhand…’ read Onoda’s military order. ‘So long as you have one soldier, you areto continue to lead him. You may have to live on coconuts. If that's the case,live on coconuts! Under no circumstances are you [to] give up your lifevoluntarily.’

Onoda was unable to destroy Lubang’s landingfacilities, enabling US and Philippine forces to capture the island inFebruary, 1945. Most of the Japanese soldiers were either imprisoned or killed.But Onoda and three others fled to the hills, from where they vowed to continuethe fight.

Japanese soldiers in the Philippines

Lubang Island was small: 16 miles long and just sixmiles wide. Yet it was covered in dense forest and the four Japanese soldiersfound it easy to remain in hiding.

They spend their time conducting guerrilla activities,killing at least 30 Filipinos in one attack and clashing with the police onseveral other occasions.

In October, 1945, the men stumbled across a leafletthat read: ‘The war ended on August 15. Come down from the mountains.’

Onoda did not believe it: he was convinced it wasAllied propaganda.

A couple of months later, the men found a secondleaflet that had been dropped from the air. It was a surrender order issued byGeneral Tomoyuki Yamashita, Commander of the Fourteenth Army.

Once again, Onoda and his men did not believe it to begenuine and vowed to continue Japanese resistance.

General Tomoyuki:
'You can surrender now.'

Four long years passed and still the little band wereliving in he forest. But by now, one of the four - Yuichi Aktsu - had hadenough. He abandoned his comrades, surrendered to the Filipino army andreturned to Japan. He informed the army that three of his comrades stillbelieved the war to be ongoing.

Another two years passed before family photographs andletters were finally dropped into the forest on Lubang Island. Onoda found theparcels but was convinced it was all part of an elaborate trick. He and his twocompanions remained determined to continue fighting until the bitter end.

They had little equipment and almost no provisions:they survived by eating coconuts and bananas and occasionally killing a cow.

Their living conditions were abominable: there was thetropical heat, constant rain and infestations of rats. All the while they sleptin makeshift huts made from branches.

Years rolled into decades and the men began to feelthe effects of age. One of Onoda’s comrades was killed by local Filipinos in1954: another lived for a further 18 years before being shot in October, 1972.He and Onoda had been engaged in a guerrilla raid on Lubang’s food supplies whenthey got caught in a shoot-out.

Onoda was now alone: the last Japanese soldierstill fighting the Second World War, a conflict that had ended 27 yearsearlier.

By now his struggle had become a lonely one, yet herefused to lay down his arms. He was still conducting guerrilla raids in thespring of 1974, when a traveling Japanese student, Noria Suzuki, made contactwith him.

Suzuki broke the news that the war had ended a longtime previously.

Suzuki meets Onoda

Onoda refused to believe it. He told Suzuki he wouldnever surrender until he received specific orders to that effect from hissuperior officer.

Only now did the Japanese government get involved intrying to bring Onoda’s war to an end. They managed to locate his previouscommanding officer, Major Taniguchi, who was thankfully still alive.

The major was flown to Lubang Island in order to tellOnoda in person to lay down his weapons.

He was finally successful on 9 March, 1974. ‘Japan,’he said to Onoda, ‘had lost the war and all combat activity was to ceaseimmediately.’

If it's 1974, the war must be over. Onoda lays down
his weapons

Onoda was officially relived from military duties andtold to hand over his rifle, ammunition and hand grenades. He was both stunnedand horrified.

‘We really lost the war!’ were his first words. ‘Howcould they [the Japanese army] have been so sloppy?

When he returned to Japan, he was feted as a nationalhero. But Onoda disliked the attention and found Japan a mere shadow of thenoble imperial country he had served for so many years.

Hiroo Onoda is alive to this day. Now 89 years of age, heremains grateful to Major Taniguchi for tracking him down in the Philippines.

Had it not been for Taniguchi’s mission, he wouldstill be fighting his lonely war in the thick forests of Lubang Island.

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