Hiroo Onoda

Hiroo Onoda was born on 19 March 1922 in Kainan, Wakayama Prefecture, Japan. He got married to a lady called Machie in the year 1976 and assumed a major role in Colônia Jamic, the Japanese community in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil.

On 16 January 2014, Onoda died of heart failure due to complications from pneumonia at St. Luke's International Hospital. He was 91.

At the age of 18, Hiroo Onoda joined the Imperial Japanese Army Infantry. He was then trained as an intelligence officer in Nakano School. In 1944, he was sent to Philippines to protect its Lubang Island from enemy attacks. On the island, the officers of the group already there outranked him and prevented him from carrying out his tasks, thus making it easier for the enemy soldiers to take the Lubang Island on which they landed on February 28, 1945. The consequence of this was that most of the Japanese soldiers were either killed or made to surrender. Onoda, who miraculously survived, ordered his companions to take to the hills.

Onoda continued his campaign, initially residing in the mountains with his three fellow fighters. During their stay, they carried out revolutionary activities and performed several shootouts. One of his companions surrendered to the enemy in 1950 and the other two were shot later on. After this, several attempts were made to persuade Onoda to come out of hiding and surrender, but all in vain. Several years later, the Japanese government sent Major Yoshimi Taniguchi (Onoda's commanding officer) to Lubang. Finally the Japanese soldier surrendered and returned his sword, rifle, and other military items and tools to the government.

Though Onoda had killed several innocent people during his hiding, the circumstances (his belief that the war was still going on) were taken into consideration, and finally he received a pardon from the then-President Ferdinand Marcos.