Hiroo Onoda spent decades of his life fighting on the small island of Lubang, from the first Americans' arrival to his final surrender to the Philippine government in 1974. At first sheer loyalty and persistence drove him, and later his own delusions blinded him to the realities of the situation. Follow his complex tale from the time that he left Japan to his last days on Lubang.
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Lubang Island's jungle
Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda received his orders from Major Taniguchi
and Major Takahasi on Lipa, December 26, 1944:
The commander of the Lubang Garrison will deploy other squadrons and prepare for guerilla warfare. This order does not include groups under senior officers. Apprentice Officer Hiroo Onoda is being sent to lead guerilla operations. (Onoda 76)
On December 30, a Filipino captain took him to Lubang Island where the soldiers had the reputation of being lazy and unmotivated. The forces included the Lubang Garrison (50 men), the Airfield Garrison (24 men), a radar and intelligence squad (70 men), and a navy group without officers (7 men). Onoda could not direct these troops, but was only allowed to work with the officers to coordinate either a retreat or guerilla warfare.
Top,
Lubang Island, The American Arrival,
Onoda's Delusion, Surrender
On February 1, American troops landed on Lubang, trapping the Japanese soldiers stationed there. The soldiers either committed suicide or surrendered to the Americans. Enemy troops killed many soldiers in the jungle skirmishes. By January 1946, only four Japanese, including Onoda, remained on the island. Onoda remained serious about fighting the guerilla war. He and his men engaged in occasional firefights with American and Philippine troops, then local police and villagers. They burned rice harvests and scared villagers away from beaches that would make good landing areas, in case victorious Japanese troops ever returned. All too soon, Onoda would be alone in his fight. One soldier would surrender after receiving American pamphlets proclaiming that the war was over. Two more would be killed two decades later while fighting villagers. Yet, Onoda continued to collect information on troop movements (Philippine police and villagers) even after his small "army" ceased to exist.
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From the early 1950's through 1974, Onoda received Japanese newspapers and pamphlets telling him that the war was over. After the mid-1950's, he and his soldiers began fighting the local villagers to secure supplies and territory. The Japanese government declared the soldiers dead in 1959, but these attacks alerted the government that Onoda was still fighting World War II. Search parties came to Lubang to find Onoda and request his surrender.
After following orders for so many years, Onoda could not give up the guerilla warfare that his superior officers assigned to him. He dismissed each of these methods as being nothing more than thorough American censorship of Japanese papers and common trickery. Going back to the culture of 1944 Japan, he believed that as long as there were Japanese newspapers to be cleverly edited, then Japan could not have surrendered. ("One hundred million souls dying for honor.") Even when he obtained a radio in 1965, he thought that it was Japan's way of telling hidden soldiers to keep on fighting. Again, the very fact that he received broadcasts meant that Japan was going strong.
Onoda's own father begged him to leave the jungle and
surrender.
Onoda was probably delusional at this point. After fighting for so many years, he could not allow the death of friends and his struggles in the jungle to be in vain, so he created these elaborate explanations to deny the evidence he received.
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In 1974, Suzuki, a Japanese college kid, discovered Onoda in the jungle. Onoda told him that he would only surrender on the orders of one of his superior officers as was typical military protocol. (The Japanese military of the time did not give officers the right to change the order's from a soldier's direct superior. A new order had to be passed down the chain of command to replace an older order.) Onoda had received his orders to carry out guerilla warfare from Major Takahashi and Major Taniguchi, and, in his delusional state, he would not surrender until he received new orders from a superior. Suzuki went back to Japan, found one of the officers, and brought him to Lubang Island. At noon, March 9, 1974, Onoda received official orders from Major Taniguchi in the emperor's name to surrender, and the new orders allowed to him accept the reality of the modern world. Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda then surrendered to Philippine forces almost thirty years after Japan's defeat.
Suzuki with Onoda in 1974 before Suzuki retrieved Major
Taniguchi from Japan.
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This exhibit was researched and designed by Jennifer Bernet.
This exhibit and museum were created during an introductory seminar on the Asia-Pacific War, taught at Wake Forest University during the spring semester 2002. The material and opinions are those of the author and do not represent the views of the University or the Department of History.