10. Onoda’s and His Men Dismissed All Evidence of Japan’s Surrender as “Fake News”
Over the years, Onoda and his men came across numerous leaflets announcing that the war had ended. Like other holdouts, they dismissed them as ruses of war and enemy propaganda. When they encountered a leaflet with a copy of an official surrender order, they examined it closely to determine whether it was genuine, then dismissed it as a forgery. It was not. Even when they recovered airdropped letters and pictures from their own families urging them to surrender, Onoda’s band convinced themselves that it was a trick.