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40 Facts About the Japanese Who Refused to Surrender After WWII Had Ended

Khalid Elhassan January 3, 2019 25 min

Hiroo Onoda - Ishinosuke Uwano — Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese soldier who kept fighting for nearly three decades after WWII had ended. Observer

Captain Sakae Oba’s surrender. Japan Times

31. Sakae Oba’s Surrender

The Japanese general tramped alone through Saipan’s jungle, whistling military tunes, until he drew out some of Oba’s men, who took him to their commander. After presenting Oba with official documents from Imperial General Headquarters ordering him to surrender, the holdout ended. On December 1st, 1945, Sakae Oba marched his charges out of their hideouts, and in a dignified ceremony, surrendered his sword and his command. Upon returning to Japan, Sakae Oba led a productive life, working in the private sector, before turning to politics. He died in 1992, aged 78.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.