11. Onoda and His Men Kept Fighting After Lubang Fell
Lieutenant Onoda’s last instructions were to fight to the death, and absent countermanding orders, he determined to do just that. For nearly three decades, he survived with his tiny command in the dense thickets of Lubang. They erected bamboo huts and eked a living by hunting and gathering in the island’s jungle, stealing rice and other food from local farmers, and killing the occasional cow for meat. Tormented by heat and mosquitoes, rats and rain, Onoda’s band patched their increasingly threadbare uniforms and kept their weapons in working order.