Hiroo Onoda, the famous Imperial Japanese soldier that did not surrender until 1974, pictured here in his cattle farm in Terenos, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
Hiroo Onoda was a stationed in Lubang Island, Philippines during WWII and with three other companions, continued to fight an insurgency against a non-existent enemy well into the 1970s. These "enemies" were civilians Onoda and his companions mistaken to be Allied soldiers in disguise. From 1952 to 1974, two of Onoda's companions would die in skirmishes with police and armed villagers while another one would surrender to police on his own.
It would only be around 1974 when he was discovered by a Japanese college drop out named Norio Suzuki. While he still refused to surrender, Suzuki promised to find Onoda's commanding officer. On March 9, 1974, Suzuki returned to Lubang Island with Onoda's commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, accompanied by journalists, police, and military personnel. He finally met with Onoda and fulfilled a promise he had made back in 1944: "Whatever happens, we'll come back for you".
Onoda was thus properly relieved of duty, and he surrendered widely followed by the media. He turned over his sword, his functioning
Arisaka Type 99 rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition and several hand grenades, as well as the dagger his mother had given him in 1944 to kill himself with if he was captured.
When he returned to Japan, he was disgruntled the fact the country was no longer following the tradational ways as the country opened up to commercialism and western values mainly dominated by America. Onoda was reportedly unhappy being the subject of so much attention and troubled by what he saw as the withering of traditional Japanese values. In April 1975, he followed the example of his elder brother Tadao and left Japan for
Brazil, where he raised
cattle. He married in 1976 and assumed a leading role in
Colônia Jamic (Jamic Colony), the
Japanese community in
Terenos,
Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.
Unfortunately due to Doomsday, Onoda was unable to return to Japan. He spent the remainder of his life in Brazil. On February 9, 2010, Japanese diplomats visited Onoda's farm where he was informed that Japan survived the nuclear war. They offered for his return but Onoda declined due to his age might make him susceptible to radiation poisoning. In 2011, he would write an autobiography entitled
No Surrender, My Thirty Year War which is a best seller in the ANZC, SAC, and the Philippines. Proceeds of the book were donated to the surviving Japanese diaspora and to Lubang Island in the Philippines. He was unable to visit Lubang as well due to his age and the impracticality of travel from Brazil to the Philippines.
Onoda died on January 16, 2014 at the age of 91 in Rio de Jainero, Brazil due to heart failure.
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(I figured with Doomsday occurring it would butterfly Onoda's return to Japan in 1984 and his revisit to Lubang Island in 1996).