12. Japan’s Most Famous Holdout Was a Trained Commando
In 1944, lieutenant Hiroo Onoda was sent on a reconnaissance mission to the island of Lubang in the western Philippines. A 22-year-old intelligence officer, specially trained as a commando, Onoda was ordered to spy on American forces and conduct guerrilla operations. He was ordered to never surrender, but also expressly ordered that, under no circumstances, was he authorized to take his own life. When American forces eventually captured Lubang, Onoda and three other soldiers took to the hills, where they were cut off from communications with their chain of command, and thus did not receive official word of Japan’s surrender.