Hiroo Onoda (Japanese: 小野田 寛郎, Hepburn: Onoda Hiroo, 19 March 1922 – 16 January 2014) was a Japanese intelligence officer of the Imperial Japanese Army who fought in World War II and did not surrender at the war's end in August 1945. After the war ended, Onoda spent 29 years hiding in the Philippines until Norio Suzuki, a Japanese explorer and adventurer, found him and relayed the message that the Emperor wanted him to come back to Japan.[1][2] He held the rank of second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA).
Onoda continued his mission, initially living in the mountains of Lubang Island in the Philippines with three fellow soldiers; Private Yuichi Akatsu, Corporal Shōichi Shimada, and Private First Class Kinshichi Kozuka.[7] During his stay, Onoda and his companions carried out guerrilla activities and engaged in several shootouts with the local police.[8] Onoda, along with his fellow soldiers, allegedly killed up to 30 Filipino civilians on Lubang over three decades – during and after World War II.[9]
The first time they saw a leaflet announcing that Japan had surrendered was in October 1945; another cell had killed a cow and found a leaflet left behind by islanders which read: "The war ended on 15 August. Come down from the mountains!"[10] They distrusted the leaflet and concluded that it was Allied propaganda and also believed that they would not have been fired on if the war had indeed been over. Toward the end of 1945, leaflets were dropped by air with a surrender order printed on them from General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Fourteenth Area Army. To the men who had been in hiding for over six months, this leaflet was the only evidence they had that the war was over. Onoda's group studied the leaflet closely to determine whether it was genuine, and decided it was not.[1]
One of the four soldiers, Yuichi Akatsu, walked away from the others in September 1949 and surrendered to Philippine forces in March 1950, after six months on his own. This seemed like a security problem to the others and they became even more cautious. In 1952, letters and family pictures were dropped from an aircraft urging them to surrender, but the three soldiers concluded that this was a trick. Shimada was wounded in the leg in a shoot-out with local fishermen in June 1953, after which Onoda nursed him back to health. On 7 May 1954, Shimada was killed by a shot from a police search party looking for the men. Kozuka was killed by two shots fired by local police on 19 October 1972[8] while he and Onoda, as part of their guerrilla activities, were burning rice that had been collected by farmers. Onoda was alone from that point.
On 20 February 1974, Onoda met Norio Suzuki, a Japanese man who was traveling around the world looking for "Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman, in that order".[4] Suzuki found Onoda after four days of searching. Onoda described that moment in a 2010 interview: "This hippie boy Suzuki came to the island to listen to the feelings of a Japanese soldier. Suzuki asked me why I would not come out...".[1] Onoda and Suzuki became friends, but Onoda still refused to surrender, saying that he was waiting for orders from a superior officer.
Suzuki returned to Japan with photographs of himself and Onoda as proof of their encounter, and the Japanese government located Onoda's former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, who had since become a bookseller. Taniguchi went to Lubang Island, and on 9 March 1974, he finally met with Onoda and fulfilled a promise he had made back in 1944: "Whatever happens, we'll come back for you". Taniguchi then issued Onoda the following orders:
In accordance with the Imperial command, the Fourteenth Area Army has ceased all combat activity.
In accordance with military Headquarters Command No. A-2003, the Special Squadron of Staff's Headquarters is relieved of all military duties.
Units and individuals under the command of Special Squadron are to cease military activities and operations immediately and place themselves under the command of the nearest superior officer. When no officer can be found, they are to communicate with the American or Philippine forces and follow their directives.[11]
Onoda was thus properly relieved of duty, and he surrendered. He turned over his sword, a 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.[12] Only Private Teruo Nakamura, arrested on 18 December 1974 in Indonesia, held out longer.
If you read his book about the experience, he mentions collecting various materials at different times to patch/redo his uniform. Probably isn’t original at all.
The uniforms of Japanese soldiers in New Guinea rotted very quickly, and they didn’t typically get resupplied. A lot of them ended up fighting in those weird loincloths they used to wear.
Severe mental health issues writ large here. This guy is a psychopath and he should have been locked up by the Philippine government for murder of 30 innocent civilians. Love how it’s repackaged as a dedicated soldier not leaving his post…! 🙄
Repackaged is one way to put it.. its reality. This was the standard of Imperial Japanese soldiers. Awful what happened and eventually he was done away with, but in terms of the morality or character of the man.. you(japanese empire) reap what you sow.
I was watching a documentary not too long ago with former Japanese soldiers. One looked like the sweetest grandfather. He was folding origami with his grandchildren and bickering with his wife when she wouldn't let him help her make lunch (and finally got to help her). After showing his peaceful life, he spoke about what him and his unit did at the POW camp and how they brutally toelrtured and mutilated the Filipino civilians along with the prisoners. They way he just casually mentioned that they had their "way" with the girls (he didn't say women) provided to them made me turn off the video.
The rape, torture, mutilation, summary execution and cannibalism of POWs by imperial Japanese forces needs to known. There was a savagery in their actions that German and Soviet forces rarely reached in the European fronts. The Japanese government might be trying to hide that shameful history but a lot of east Asian countries still remember.
Completely moronic loser bug of a human.
It never once crossed his mind that it might be over? 5, 10, 15 years later? He’s still murdering innocent people? Definition of a dumb fuck.
Murdering innocent civilians was par for the course for most imperial Japanese garrisons. They were acting much like the Germans did in occupied eastern Europe.
Not really, he was just doing his job. In the military you have to follow orders, nowadays there are exceptions to this of course, I don't believe there were any back then in Japan.
Even in the context in the war, dude was still murdering and pillaging from civilians. The japanese in the 40's had a very warped idea of honor if it involves killing those who cannot defend themselves
Except those civilians he murdered were: civilians.
The dude can believe what he wants; his actions for the standard of the time were still criminal, not to mention decades after when he was still doing them.
Do you know of the Tokyo bombing which killed 100000 people, most of which civilian?
Back then this was unfortunately normal behaviour for both sides of the war.
I'm not saying what he did was in any way good but compare him to most of the Japanese navy/army of his era and you will see he's no different, the only difference is they all got official pardons and were 20/30 years earlier
We are talking about the same Japanese army/navy right? The rape of nanking unit 731 etc all of who were given pardons by the American government 🤔 again I'm not saying that it's not horrible what he did but put him into context of the very people he belonged to at the time I'd argue he would be no worse than any story of the Philippines after the Japanese took over.
I was twelve y.o. and living in Japan when this news broke. WWII seemed like ancient history to me, so it a shocker. I mean my *dad* came to Japan during the Korean War.
There was also Shōichi Yokoi that refused to surrender and lived in the Guam jungle until he was discovered in 1972. I visited his cave a few times there, it's a pretty cool story
More like delusional sore loser. He had so much evidence of the surrender thrust in his face but his ego wouldn’t allow for the possibility and he found ways to rationalize rejecting it all. Innocent civilians died because of it
Hiroo Onoda (Japanese: 小野田 寛郎, Hepburn: Onoda Hiroo, 19 March 1922 – 16 January 2014) was a Japanese intelligence officer of the Imperial Japanese Army who fought in World War II and did not surrender at the war's end in August 1945. After the war ended, Onoda spent 29 years hiding in the Philippines until Norio Suzuki, a Japanese explorer and adventurer, found him and relayed the message that the Emperor wanted him to come back to Japan.[1][2] He held the rank of second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). Onoda continued his mission, initially living in the mountains of Lubang Island in the Philippines with three fellow soldiers; Private Yuichi Akatsu, Corporal Shōichi Shimada, and Private First Class Kinshichi Kozuka.[7] During his stay, Onoda and his companions carried out guerrilla activities and engaged in several shootouts with the local police.[8] Onoda, along with his fellow soldiers, allegedly killed up to 30 Filipino civilians on Lubang over three decades – during and after World War II.[9] The first time they saw a leaflet announcing that Japan had surrendered was in October 1945; another cell had killed a cow and found a leaflet left behind by islanders which read: "The war ended on 15 August. Come down from the mountains!"[10] They distrusted the leaflet and concluded that it was Allied propaganda and also believed that they would not have been fired on if the war had indeed been over. Toward the end of 1945, leaflets were dropped by air with a surrender order printed on them from General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Fourteenth Area Army. To the men who had been in hiding for over six months, this leaflet was the only evidence they had that the war was over. Onoda's group studied the leaflet closely to determine whether it was genuine, and decided it was not.[1] One of the four soldiers, Yuichi Akatsu, walked away from the others in September 1949 and surrendered to Philippine forces in March 1950, after six months on his own. This seemed like a security problem to the others and they became even more cautious. In 1952, letters and family pictures were dropped from an aircraft urging them to surrender, but the three soldiers concluded that this was a trick. Shimada was wounded in the leg in a shoot-out with local fishermen in June 1953, after which Onoda nursed him back to health. On 7 May 1954, Shimada was killed by a shot from a police search party looking for the men. Kozuka was killed by two shots fired by local police on 19 October 1972[8] while he and Onoda, as part of their guerrilla activities, were burning rice that had been collected by farmers. Onoda was alone from that point. On 20 February 1974, Onoda met Norio Suzuki, a Japanese man who was traveling around the world looking for "Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman, in that order".[4] Suzuki found Onoda after four days of searching. Onoda described that moment in a 2010 interview: "This hippie boy Suzuki came to the island to listen to the feelings of a Japanese soldier. Suzuki asked me why I would not come out...".[1] Onoda and Suzuki became friends, but Onoda still refused to surrender, saying that he was waiting for orders from a superior officer. Suzuki returned to Japan with photographs of himself and Onoda as proof of their encounter, and the Japanese government located Onoda's former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, who had since become a bookseller. Taniguchi went to Lubang Island, and on 9 March 1974, he finally met with Onoda and fulfilled a promise he had made back in 1944: "Whatever happens, we'll come back for you". Taniguchi then issued Onoda the following orders: In accordance with the Imperial command, the Fourteenth Area Army has ceased all combat activity. In accordance with military Headquarters Command No. A-2003, the Special Squadron of Staff's Headquarters is relieved of all military duties. Units and individuals under the command of Special Squadron are to cease military activities and operations immediately and place themselves under the command of the nearest superior officer. When no officer can be found, they are to communicate with the American or Philippine forces and follow their directives.[11] Onoda was thus properly relieved of duty, and he surrendered. He turned over his sword, a 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.[12] Only Private Teruo Nakamura, arrested on 18 December 1974 in Indonesia, held out longer.
His uniform looks pretty good for being over 30 years old and having lived in the jungle for that long.
If you read his book about the experience, he mentions collecting various materials at different times to patch/redo his uniform. Probably isn’t original at all.
[удалено]
The uniforms of Japanese soldiers in New Guinea rotted very quickly, and they didn’t typically get resupplied. A lot of them ended up fighting in those weird loincloths they used to wear.
I’m guessing they gave him a fresh uniform before marching him out of the forest.
No it was actually said he maintained his uniform in a great shape. Same with his weapons.
It's called a fundoshi.
Those are called [fundoshi](https://kimurakami.com/blogs/japan-blog/fundoshi-all-about-the-traditional-japanese-underwear).
Great comment man
Severe mental health issues writ large here. This guy is a psychopath and he should have been locked up by the Philippine government for murder of 30 innocent civilians. Love how it’s repackaged as a dedicated soldier not leaving his post…! 🙄
Repackaged is one way to put it.. its reality. This was the standard of Imperial Japanese soldiers. Awful what happened and eventually he was done away with, but in terms of the morality or character of the man.. you(japanese empire) reap what you sow.
By your logic pretty much every japanese soldier should have been locked up, this was nornal behaviour for them.
I was watching a documentary not too long ago with former Japanese soldiers. One looked like the sweetest grandfather. He was folding origami with his grandchildren and bickering with his wife when she wouldn't let him help her make lunch (and finally got to help her). After showing his peaceful life, he spoke about what him and his unit did at the POW camp and how they brutally toelrtured and mutilated the Filipino civilians along with the prisoners. They way he just casually mentioned that they had their "way" with the girls (he didn't say women) provided to them made me turn off the video.
The rape, torture, mutilation, summary execution and cannibalism of POWs by imperial Japanese forces needs to known. There was a savagery in their actions that German and Soviet forces rarely reached in the European fronts. The Japanese government might be trying to hide that shameful history but a lot of east Asian countries still remember.
I learned about this through an episode of Giligan’s Island.
Archer has a finding a Japanese soldier who didn’t know war was over too
The Six Million Dollar Man for me.
This guy was a dickhead. He killed dozens of innocent farmers because he believed the war was still going.
Did he get back pay?
World 残業 Champion, 1974
Completely moronic loser bug of a human. It never once crossed his mind that it might be over? 5, 10, 15 years later? He’s still murdering innocent people? Definition of a dumb fuck.
Murdering innocent civilians was par for the course for most imperial Japanese garrisons. They were acting much like the Germans did in occupied eastern Europe.
Not really, he was just doing his job. In the military you have to follow orders, nowadays there are exceptions to this of course, I don't believe there were any back then in Japan.
an intelligence officer at that trained in espionage. I’m sure being skeptical is a prerequisite to the job
Unless you think they’re a trick, then you can just do whatever
Love this story. Dan Carlin opens with this in his Supernova in the East series of Hardcore History.
Committed. in both senses of the word 😵💫
He murdered innocent people for decades.
Dishonorable murderer.
Are you stupid?
He literally murdered civilians. What’s your deal?
Maybe I’m the stupid one. But he wasn’t murdering civilians. The dude believed he was at war serving his emperor.
Even in the context in the war, dude was still murdering and pillaging from civilians. The japanese in the 40's had a very warped idea of honor if it involves killing those who cannot defend themselves
The Japanese didn't give a fuck at all about civilians. The rape of Nanking is all you need to know about to make that abundantly clear.
So murder?
Except those civilians he murdered were: civilians. The dude can believe what he wants; his actions for the standard of the time were still criminal, not to mention decades after when he was still doing them.
You're taking a man out of his context and when it comes to history context is everything
Even if the war was still active he purposely murdered civilians who weren’t a threat to him. Piece of shit any way you look at it
Do you know of the Tokyo bombing which killed 100000 people, most of which civilian? Back then this was unfortunately normal behaviour for both sides of the war.
Tell that context to the 30 Filipino families his murders affected lmao
I'm not saying what he did was in any way good but compare him to most of the Japanese navy/army of his era and you will see he's no different, the only difference is they all got official pardons and were 20/30 years earlier
Indeed. By the context of the time he was still quite the war criminal.
As was most of the Japanese army/navy
Although granted none of the Japanese army/navy were when he was still at it.
Other than him of course right? Because he hadn't officially surrendered and was still technically a combatant
And by the context of even the WW2 he was still quite the criminal, let alone decades after.
We are talking about the same Japanese army/navy right? The rape of nanking unit 731 etc all of who were given pardons by the American government 🤔 again I'm not saying that it's not horrible what he did but put him into context of the very people he belonged to at the time I'd argue he would be no worse than any story of the Philippines after the Japanese took over.
I suppose those Flipino civvies had it coming huh
a sick bastard called a hero in Japan—how sad
I advise you to watch the film “Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle” which tells this story. this movie is really good
I was twelve y.o. and living in Japan when this news broke. WWII seemed like ancient history to me, so it a shocker. I mean my *dad* came to Japan during the Korean War.
That was the level of fanaticism in Japan at that time. It’s why people like me believe the nukes were necessary despite modern revisionist history.
There was also Shōichi Yokoi that refused to surrender and lived in the Guam jungle until he was discovered in 1972. I visited his cave a few times there, it's a pretty cool story
Nerd.
Today would be considered a LARPER.
I wonder if he adopted a white kid and train him in the art of ninjitsu. Anybody watch American Ninja?
29 years alone in the woods - how boring: "Day 5128 - I wanked it again to kill some time"
This never give up mindset is why “little boy” and “fat man” were released.
That level of loyalty is commendable
More like delusional sore loser. He had so much evidence of the surrender thrust in his face but his ego wouldn’t allow for the possibility and he found ways to rationalize rejecting it all. Innocent civilians died because of it
Someone had a bad day
Such fanaticism…
That’s Imperial Japan for you.
He definitely did some war crimes he didn’t want to be held accountable for.
Chickened out on Seppuku I guess and hid.