Hiroo Onoda | |
|---|---|
 Onoda, c. 1944 | |
| Native name | 小野田 寛郎 |
| Born | 19 March 1922 Kamekawa, Wakayama, Empire of Japan |
| Died | 16 January 2014 (aged 91) Tokyo, Japan |
| Allegiance |  Empire of Japan |
| Service |  Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1942–1945 (continued service until 1974) |
| Rank |  Second Lieutenant |
| Battles / wars | |
Hiroo Onoda (Japanese: 小野田 寛郎, Hepburn: Onoda Hiroo, 19 March 1922 – 16 January 2014) was a Japanese second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. One of the last Japanese holdouts, he continued fighting for decades after the war's end in 1945.
For almost 29 years, Onoda carried out guerrilla warfare on Lubang Island in the Philippines, on several occasions engaging in shootouts with locals and the police. Onoda initially held out with three other soldiers: one surrendered in 1950, and two who were killed, one in 1954 and one in 1972. They did not believe flyers saying that the war was over. Onoda was contacted in 1974 by a Japanese explorer, but still refused to surrender until he was relieved of duty by his former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, who flew from Japan to Lubang to issue the order.
Onoda surrendered on 10 March 1974 and received a hero's welcome when he returned to Japan. That year he wrote and published his autobiography. He later followed his brother to Brazil, where he joined an established Japanese immigrant community in Mato Grosso do Sul. He set up a cattle ranch. After 1984, he spent three months a year in Brazil and the rest of his time in Japan.