Sometimes, people in your life tell you to persevere, to never give up. However, sometimes you probably should especially when achieving an unattainable goal. Despite this, some people are really determined to achieve this goal. This is the story of one of those people.

In the ending stages of World War 2, the Japanese realized that they were going to lose, but wanted to hold off the Americans for as long as possible, by making them distracted with other theaters. So, in 1944, some troops were sent to the Philippines to conduct guerrilla warfare, including a lieutenant named Hiroo Onoda. In August 1945, he received final orders to, with 3 other soldiers, continue fighting, and never surrender until he received orders. With that, they went into the jungle.

After the Atomic Bombing of Japan, and the Soviet Japanese War, Emperor Hirohito declared Japan’s surrender on August 15, ending the deadliest conflict in history.

Despite World War 2 ending, several Japanese forces had not realized that Japan surrendered, for various reasons. One could be that the Allies cut off their communications, and had not gotten the message. Also, they might have feared the Allies would kill them if they did surrender. Or, they felt bound to keep fighting, because they were taught that it would be better to die fighting than ever surrender. So, throughout the late 1940’s and early 1950’s several Japanese troops kept fighting. Some Japanese soldiers joined a Malaysian Communist militia, and continued fighting until 1990.

Hiroo Onoda and his troops were some of the soldiers that did not get the message, and continued fighting on the Philippine island of Lubang. However, in October, they found a note by other Japanese soldiers stating that “The war ended on 15 August. Come down from the mountains!” However, Hiroo Onoda and his soldiers deducted it was Allied Propaganda, and continued fighting. Near the end of 1945, the allies dropped some leaflets on the island, with a surrender order from General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the Japanese commander of the Philippines. Again, they doubted it’s authenticity

For the next 30 years, they continued guerrilla warfare on Lubang, surviving on banana’s, coconuts, and stolen rice and cattle. They managed to evade Filipino search parties, and killed up to 30 civilians. However, the Filipinos continued sending pamphlets telling them to surrender, along with family photographs, which they STILL thought was false. However, they began losing soldiers. In 1949, one of the soldiers left, and surrendered to Filipino authorities in 1950. Another got killed in an accidental shootout in 1954. Finally, in 1972, the last soldier in Onoda’s platoon was killed, and Onoda would be alone in the jungle for the next 2 years.

By the 1970’s, most people thought that Onoda and his platoon was dead. However, after one of them was killed in 1972, people realized that Onoda might still be fighting. So, in 1974, a Japanese adventurer named Norio Suzuki set out to find “Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the abominable snowman, in that order. Finally, after 4 days of searching, Onoda was found, and established a companionship with Suzuki. However, he refused to surrender, unless his commanding officer told him to.

Suzuki decided to find Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, who gave Onoda’s final orders, and was currently a bookseller. Finally, on March 19, 1974, he gave Hiroo Onoda his final 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 in the Chief 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.

Thus, Hiroo Onoda finally surrendered. The next day, a formal ceremony was held, where Hiroo Onoda surrendered his sword to President Ferdinand Marcos, his gun, and a dagger his mother gave him in 1944. A few months later, the last Japanese holdout, Private Teruo Nakamura, who held out on a small Indonesian Island, finally surrendered.

After that, Hiroo Onoda received a hero’s welcome in Japan. Until 1984, he lived in Brazil, but returned in 1984, where he lived a peaceful life in Japan until 2014.

And so, when a goal seems to be truly unattainable, you can give up!

Hiroo Onoda surrenders his sword to Filipino president Ferdinand Marcos