In December 1944, Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda of Japanese military intelligence was deployed to Lubang Island in the Philippines with orders to conduct guerrilla warfare and never surrender. His commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, told him: "It may take three years, it may take five, but whatever happens, we'll come back for you."

The war ended eight months later. Onoda didn't believe it.

Twenty-Nine Years

Leaflets were dropped over the jungle announcing Japan's surrender. Onoda dismissed them as Allied propaganda. Family members spoke to him through loudspeakers. He decided they had been coerced. Newspapers were left for him to find. He believed they were forgeries.

With a dwindling group of companions — and eventually alone after the last one was killed by a search party in 1972 — Onoda continued his war. He conducted raids on local farms, engaged Philippine police in firefights, and survived on coconuts, bananas, and stolen cattle. He kept his uniform and rifle immaculate. He maintained radio discipline. He was a soldier following orders.

The End

In 1974, a Japanese college dropout named Norio Suzuki traveled to Lubang specifically to find Onoda. Remarkably, he succeeded. The two men talked, and Suzuki took photographs. But Onoda refused to surrender, explaining that he could only stand down on orders from his commanding officer.

The Japanese government located Major Taniguchi, who was now a bookseller. He flew to Lubang and, on March 9, 1974, formally relieved Onoda of his duties, reading orders that stated his unit was disbanded.

Onoda emerged from the jungle in his tattered uniform, carrying his Arisaka Type 99 rifle (still functional), 500 rounds of ammunition, several hand grenades, and a dagger. He was 52 years old. He had spent 29 years fighting a war that had ended when he was 23.

The Philippine government pardoned him for the approximately 30 Filipino soldiers and civilians killed in his decades-long campaign. He returned to Japan a celebrity but found modern Japan alien and deeply confusing. He eventually moved to Brazil to raise cattle before returning to Japan to start a nature school for children.