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Onoda: The man who hid in the jungle for 30 years

December 1944: in the final months of World War Two, a Japanese lieutenant named Hiroo Onoda was stationed on Lubang, a tiny island in the Philippines.

Within weeks of his arrival, a US attack forced Japanese combatants into the jungle – but unlike most of his comrades, Onoda remained hidden on the island for nearly 30 years.

The Japanese government declared him dead in 1959, but in reality, he was alive – committed to a secret mission that had instructed him to hold the island until the imperial army's return.

He was convinced the whole time that the war had never ended.

When he returned to Japan in 1974, Onoda received a hero's welcome – he was the last native Japanese soldier to return home from the war, and his memoir, published soon after, became a bestseller.

His experience is told in Arthur Harari's epic, three-hour film Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle, which has won critical acclaim and created controversy since its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in 2021

Source: James Balmont for BBC

Picture: Hiroo Onoda, pictured in 1974 leaving the Lubang jungle, where he had hidden for nearly 30 years (Credit: Getty Images)