Hiro Onada after being found in 1974 on Lubang Island
Hiroo Onoda
Born March 1922 in Kainan, Japan
He was sent to Lubang Island at age 23 on December 26th, 1944. He did not surrender for many years until he was found in 1974.
He would write about his wartime experiences and living in a Japanese holdout for 29 years. His work is published as, "No Surrender: My Thirty Year War".
He moved to Brazil to raise cattle following the publication. He was married in Japan in his elderly years and ran a nature camp for kids.
Hiroo Onada with his brother
Hiroo Onada with the Philippine President in 1974
An Elderly Hiroo Onada in the 1990s
Hiroo Onada in Military uniform
Tadamichi Kurabayashi WWII portrait
Tadamichi Kuribayashi
Born: July 7th, 1891 in Nagano Prefecture, Japan
He was the fifth generation of the Kirubayashi family. They served as samurai during the reigns of six emperors. Tadamichi was Caanadian -educated. He wrote his wife, "the United States is the last country in the world Japan should fight".
In 1944, Kuribayashi was handpicked by Emperor Showa and Prime Minister Hideki Tojo to defend the island of Iwo Jima.
He committed Seppuku, which was ritual suicide, after being surrounded by U.S. troops. His body was never found. Kuribayashi would be remembered and honored in memorials decades after his passing.
The Imperial Japanese Academy in 1907 where Kuribayashi trained
Kuribayashi reunion in 2005, which was 60 years after his death and the end of WWII
Tadamichi Kuribayashi Memorial
Kuribayashi with Japanese soldiers
Shoichi Yokoi Portrait
Shoichi Yokoi
Born: March 31st, 1915 in Saoiri, Aichi Prefecture, Japan
He held out in the jungles of Guam as a lance corporal of Imperial Japan. He believed that his comrades would return to him. He made traps and stayed in an underground shelter.
Shoichi was found by local hunters on the island that he stayed at on January 24th, 1972.
He wrote a book titled, "Private Yokoi's War and Life on Guam, 1944-1972. It was published in English in 2009.
Shoichi Yokoi with the press in 1974
Traps made by Shoichi Yokoi
Side by side comparison of Shoichi Yokoi portraits during WWII and after 1974