HIROO ONODA
HIROO ONODA 1922-2014
Japanese soldier who continued to fight after the war was over
Hiroo Onoda, was an Imperial 2nd Lieutenant in the Japanese Army. He was posted to Lubang Island in the Philippines in 1944 to perform guerrilla and intelligence duties, with orders to continue fighting even if his entire unit was wiped out. Onoda obeyed these orders and continued fighting after his unit was wiped out and after his country had surrendered.
At the end of World War II in August 1945, Onoda was alone and refused to surrender for 29 years after the war ended and remained in fighting mode. He refused to believe stories that the war was over and believed what he was being told was US propaganda. Leaflets confirming Japan’s surrender which was signed by his chief of staff was dropped on the island but Onoda believed this was a trick tactic by the opposition.
Japanese police officers were dispatched to Lubang, and Onoda greeted them with a hail of bullets. Onoda changed his hide out, and as the years went on, he took care to conserve his ammunition, however killed 30 islanders after the war.
In 1974, he came across Norio Suzuki, a Japanese student who was on a camping holiday. He was about to shoot the tourist but Suzuki said he knew of Onoda’s story and told him that the Emperor and the people of Japan were concerned for his safety.
Onoda said he would only lay down his weapons if ordered to do so by his commanding officer. Major Yoshimi Taniguchi temporarily left his job as a bookseller to fly to Lobbing, where at 3pm on 10 March 1974, Onoda was persuaded to stop fighting.
Onoda later said, “I became an officer and I received an order. If I could not carry it out, I would feel shame. I am very competitive.”
Onoda died of heart failure in 2014, aged 91 due to pneumonia.
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