Hiroo Onoda’s One Man War
In 1944, as US forces fought to retake the Philippines, a 22-year-old Japanese Imperial Army lieutenant, Hiroo Onoda, was sent on a reconnaissance mission to Lubang Island in the western Philippines. An intelligence officer specially trained as a commando, Onoda was directed to spy on American forces in the area and conduct guerrilla operations. He was ordered to never surrender, but also expressly ordered that, under no circumstances, was he authorized to take his own life. On Lubang, senior Japanese officers meddled and prevented Onoda from carrying out his mission. Within months, American forces invaded the island, and killed or captured all Japanese personnel, with the exception of Onoda and three other soldiers. Onoda took charge of the survivors, and took to the hills.
The US overran the Philippines and overcame organized Japanese resistance on the archipelago. As Onoda, scurried about the rugged terrain of Lubang, he was cut off from communications with his chain of command. As such, he did not receive official word of the Japanese capitulation in 1945. Without new orders to countermand his last received instructions to fight to the death, Onoda displayed a single-minded devotion to duty. He hid in the jungles and mountains of Lubang, and as seen below, fought on for nearly three decades.
