Hiroo Onoda
Hiroo Onoda | |
|---|---|
| File:Honoda.jpg | |
| Allegiance | Empire of Japan |
| Service | Imperial Japanese Army |
| Years of service | 1941 - 1974 |
| Rank | Second Lieutenant |
| Other work | Cattle Farmer |
Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda (小野田 寛郎 Onoda Hirō; born March 19, 1922) is a former Japanese army intelligence officer who did not surrender until 1974.
Military Service
Onoda was trained by the Nakano School who was stationed on Lubang Island in the Philippines. He was there when it was reclaimed by the Allies in February 1945, towards the conclusion of World War II. Most of the Japanese troops were slain or captured by Allied forces. Onoda, and several other men, hid in the jungle.
Time in Hiding
Onoda continued his campaign, initially living in the mountains with three fellow soldiers (Yuichi Akatsu, Siochi Shimada and Kinshichi Kozuka). One of his comrades, Akatsu, eventually surrendered to Filipino forces in 1950, and the other two were killed in gun battles with local forces—Shimada in 1954, Kozuka in 1972—leaving Onoda alone in the mountains. For 29 years, he refused to surrender, dismissing every attempt to convince him that the war was over as a ruse. In 1959, Onoda was declared legally dead in Japan.
Found by a Japanese student, Norio Suzuki, Onoda still refused to accept that the war was over unless he received orders to lay down his arms from his superior officer. Suzuki offered his help, and returned to Japan with photographs of himself and Onoda as proof of their encounter. In 1974 the Japanese government located Onoda's commanding officer, Major Taniguchi, who had since become a bookseller. He flew to Lubang and informed Onoda of the defeat of Japan in WWII and ordered him to lay down his arms. Lieutenant Onoda emerged from the jungle 29 years after the end of World War II, and accepted the commanding officer's order of surrender in his dress uniform and sword, with his Arisaka Type 99 rifle still in operating condition, 500 rounds of ammunition and several hand grenades.
Though he had killed some thirty Philippine inhabitants of the island and engaged in several shootouts with the police, the circumstances of these events were taken into consideration, and Onoda received a pardon from President Ferdinand Marcos.
Later life
After his surrender, Onoda moved to Brazil, where he became a cattle farmer. He released an autobiography, No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War, shortly after his surrender, detailing his life as a guerrilla fighter in a war that was long over. He revisited Lubang Island in 1996, donating $10,000 for the local school on Lubang. He then married a Japanese woman and moved back to Japan where he established a nature camp for children. At the camp Onoda shares what he learned about survival through resourcefulness and ingenuity. As of 2008, Onoda is still living in Japan.
Popular culture
In 1981, an English progressive rock band Camel released a concept album "Nude", which derives from "Onoda", based on the story.
See also
Selected bibliography
- Onoda, Hiroo. No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War. Translated by Charles S. Terry
- ISBN 0-7394-0756-2
- ISBN 0-233-96697-8
- ISBN 0-87011-240-6
- ISBN 1-55750-663-9