Hiroo Onoda – Almost 30 years in the jungle

This is possibly the longest survival story of all time, but also quite far from what many people would consider to be a survival story. Hiroo Onoda was born in 1922 and joined the Japanese Imperial Army when he was 18 years old after working for about a year at a Japanese trading company in China. He trained as an intelligence officer at the Nakano school, which was Japan’s primary intelligence personnel training facility during the Second World War, and on 26 December 1944, he was sent on an assignment to Lubang island in the Philippines.

(Hiroo Onoda shortly after his surrender in 1974)

Onoda’s orders were to create as much disruption for the enemy as possible on the island, which included destroying the harbor and airfield, and he was also ordered not to surrender or kill himself under any circumstances. Shortly after arriving on Lubang island, Onoda ran into a group of Japanese soldiers that were already stationed there and was prevented from carrying out his mission by the group’s superior officers.

When the Allied forces landed on 28 February 1945, the island’s harbor was intact, and it only took a short amount of time before the entire defending force was overrun. The only ones left were Onoda himself and three other soldiers who managed to escape with him into the jungle. The Allied attackers quickly took all settlements and defenses on the island, and after initial patrols, they determined there were no more Japanese troops on the island.

Onoda had trained with the intelligence core and had professional knowledge of how to survive in hiding and use guerilla tactics, so the plan was for the four of them to attack the Allied troops whenever they could. The Philippines were part of the Commonwealth, which automatically made Onoda and his men outlaws. They would occasionally run into civilians or police, which sometimes ended in shootouts between them, leading to an estimated 30 deaths across the island during the 29 years he was there, most of which were civilian locals.

(A satellite view of Lubang island, with most of the mountainous enter covered completely in thick jungle)

One of the group walked away in 1949 and spent 6 months on his own before surrendering to Philippine authorities. This presented a security threat to the rest of the group and they became even more paranoid, which is one of the reasons they refused to listen to the messages sent to them. Starting in 1952, a series of letters including pictures of the men’s families were air-dropped over the jungle in an attempt to get them to surrender, but they deemed it to be a trick by the Allies.

On 7 May 1954, One of Onoda’s men was killed in a gunfight with a search party that had been sent to find them, and the other one was killed in 1972 after getting shot by police while he and Onoda were trying to burn rice storage facilities as part of their “resistance”.

On 20 February 1974, Onoda met with a Japanese man named Norio Suzuki who was traveling the world and for whatever reason wanted to find Onoda. The pair met in the jungle and Suzuki told him about the war being over and what had happened to Japan, but most importantly he came to an agreement with Onoda. If he got Onoda’s old commanding officer to order him to surrender, then he would do so.

(Onoda at a press conference posing with his surrendered sword)

Suzuki went back to Japan and approached the government with pictures of himself and Onoda as proof of their meeting, and the government made efforts to find his old commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi who had since become a bookseller. Taniguchi agreed to go to Lubang island and meet with Onoda, which he did on 9 March 1974, and issued him with the following orders:

1) In accordance with the Imperial command, the Fourteenth Area Army has ceased all combat activity.

2) In accordance with military Headquarters Command No. A-2003, the Special Squadron of Staff’s Headquarters is relieved of all military duties.

3) Units and individuals under the command of the 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.

Onoda was now officially relieved of duty and he surrendered his sword to the President of the Philippines on 11 March 1974 after just under 30 years of hiding in the jungle. Apart from his sword, he turned over 500 rounds of ammunition, several grenades, an Arisaka Type 99 rifle in surprisingly good condition, and a small dagger his mother had given him to kill himself with if he had been captured.

When he returned to Japan he was treated as a hero and wrote a book called “10,000 Nights in the Jungle”, though he was apparently unhappy at receiving so much attention. He moved to Brazil for a while before returning to Japan where he stayed until his death on 16 January 2014.