Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda (born March 19, 1922), Japanese army intelligence officer who fought in World War II, and did not surrender until 1974.

Onoda was trained as an intelligence officer by the Nakano School, and on 26 December 1944 was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines. He was ordered to do all that he could to hamper enemy attacks on the island, including destroying the airstrip and the pier at the harbor, his orders also stating that under no circumstances was he to surrender or take his own life.

Towards 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. Having already been in hiding for a year, and the only proof of the end of the war being this leaflet, Onoda and the others scrutinized every letter and every word on this piece of paper. One sentence in particular seemed suspicious; it said that those who surrendered would receive "hygienic succor" and be "hauled" to Japan. Again, they concluded it was an Allied hoax.

Suzuki returned to Japan with photographs of himself and Onoda as proof of their encounter, and in 1974 the Japanese government located Onoda's commanding officer, Major Taniguchi, who had since become a bookseller. He flew to Lubang and on 9 March 1974 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 uniform and sword, with his Arisaka Type 99 rifle still in operating condition, 500 rounds of ammunition and several hand grenades. This makes him the second-to-last fighting Japanese soldier of World War II, before Teruo Nakamura. Although many sources in modern culture poke fun at Onoda for "not believing the war was over," the primary motivation related to his devout belief in military discipline and honor: he had been ordered to never leave his post until he received a specific order enabling him to do so. Those orders did not arrive until 1974.

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.

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um yeah... where you been in the Phillipine jungles??

mind blowing case of military discipline and honor. Sadly, as the article states, they became a bit of a punchline for being uninformed...

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Only in a species of complete puss-bag followers with no fucking principals or concept of sacrifice would people think it funny that a person might actually go against the grain.

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The dude was on Gilligan's Island when I was 10.....

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Didn't Onada return to Japan, and was unable to accept the cultural changes and emigrated to South America?

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Proof that there once was something in this world called honor. Too bad there are few people left with honor of this caliber.