No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War

A fine work and a testimony to the dedication, loyalty and supreme sense of duty in a model Japanese soldier. Coming from a humble background and resigned to military service as a junior enlisted man, Hiroo Onoda unexpectedly found himself in guerilla-warfare training school as an officer-candidate. Because of the exigencies of the war deeply in progress by 1944, Onoda and his classmates graduated early on a expedited training schedule to be able to be put into combat quickly. Onoda and a handful of other officers, along with about forty enlisted men were put on Lubang Island in the Philippines, an Island strategically-located near the entrance to Manila Harbor. While Lubang remained under Japanese control, it was necessary for Japan to guard, fortify and keep it under Japanese control since the Americans were clearly intent on returning. The Americans had started to gain the upper hand in their quest to get back the Philippines. It was unclear if the natives on the Island would continue to reluctantly cooperate with the Japanese occupiers, switch their loyalty over to the Americans or perhaps, pursue a path to independence by playing off one side against the other. Amazing to think about today, Onoda and his small group of four chose to "hold out," even as the majority of Japanese soldiers on Lubang decided to take their chances and surrender "en masse" to the Americans. Even in 1945, it was still unclear as to who would win the war in the Pacific. Onoda and two of the other three surviving comrades would make their bet on Japan and chose to hold out for a long time. One of the two remaining Onoda comrades was shot and killed ten years into the hold-out period. The other comrade would hold out with Onoda for twenty-seven years, almost as long as Onoda. When he arrived there in 1944, Onoda was a young, junior officer, just 22 years old. When he finally came out in 1974, he was 52. So how did Hiroo Onoda manage to hold out for thirty years in the jungle on an Island occupied by Philippine natives, who hunted, fished and farmed? This is the story of "No Surrender: My Thirty-Year War." Onoda was convinced that Japanese surrender propaganda was simply that, propaganda perpetrated by the Americans. Over the years, both he and his surviving comrades became aware that Japan was again prospering. Remarkably, they chose to believe that it was Japan and not the United States who had won the war, even as Lubang had been taken by the Americans. At different times and in different ways, Japanese officers and government officials, as well as members of his own family made appeals for him to surrender. Onoda, however, believed these were subtle, well-crafted hoaxes designed to bring him in and to prevent him from continuing his sworn-to mission as a guerilla fighter. "No Surrender" is at its best in revealing the techniques and tricks that Onoda had to devise, test and master to eat, stay healthy and to not be detected or captured. Much of what is in "No Surrender" would constitute best practices in a Survival Manual for jungle living. Amazingly, when Onoda finally did choose to surrender and return to Japan, in spite of all the privations he endured over thirty years living in the jungle, his general level of health was superior to that of the typical Japanese man of the same age who would have lived in Japan for that time. When Onoda finally came in, he surrendered his most important possession, his prized Samurai sword to Ferdinand Marcos, President of the Philippines, who graciously returned it to him. When Onoda returned to Japan, he was welcomed back as a hero.

Ononda-san was quite the ornery fellow. Several times throughout the book I thought he must’ve been crazy. Crazy dedicated and crazy focused! Incredible story.

I just finished reading "NO SURRENDER; My Thirty Year War" by, Hiroo Onoda. An amazing story to say the least, and...a true one! Here is a real story that would shame any of modern televisions' "Lost" series. Onoda is a Japanese soldier of the Imperial Japanese Army that is sent to the island of Lubang (in the Philippines), to conduct jungle warfare against the American and allied forces in 1944. The main elements of the Japanese army are retreating, as Onoda and others are left behind to continue the fight until..."Japan returns". Onoda remains on Lubang with a few others to continue "the cause" not 5 years, or 10, or even 20 but...thirty years! Onoda finally turns over his sword in 1974! Here is the real story of the "last Samurai." I was in Subic Bay in 1968 as part of the naval forces that were stationed in Viet Nam. Just a few miles away from where I stood, Hiroo Onoda was still fighting "my father's war" under the flag of the Rising Sun! Despite his heroic efforts and on-going pledge to duty, I find it impossible to believe that Onoda did not know the war had actually ended. During his tenure on the island he would have noticed the on-going changes of technology, and...as early as 1965 he and his small group came into possession of a transister short-wave radio. Onoda and the others listened extensively to radio Peking, radio Japan, and even the BBC. Like most people who live their life as a "mission," anything can be justified. In fact, Onoda latter concedes to this very point. I only wish this book contained an updated section to reveal what ever happened to Onoda after he returned to Japan. I wonder if, Onoda finally died or, if like all old soldiers... "just faded away." History buffs or, serious military historians should have at least one copy of this book on their shelf.

This is quite a story. It is also an easy read with the author being clear in his story. This book is one to be read by all.

There is no doubting the veracity of this account. The circumstances are well documented & I even remember seeing the old newsreels of Onoda's return from the jungle. What is beyond belief to me is the manner in which Onoda & his colleagues constantly contrived to disbelieve the news that the war was over. They also managed to re-invent this subterfuge, for another 30 years, as new intelligence became available to them. For goodness sake, he even finished up with a transister radio & tuned in to Japanese radio stations. Daaarrr! The man was treated as a hero & his efforts, & wasted life, seen as devotion to duty. Not so in my opinion! Poor Hiroo was simply reacting to stimuli as part of a blind obedience to a lifetime of Government brain-washing. The actual story is OK, but told with little excitement. Indeed, his contacts with the Philippine population were few & brief, considering the 30 year time-scale. Apart from the death of his two long time colleagues, not much really happens & the story reads rather like a boy scout, outward bound, guide. My efforts to get into the tale were constantly thwarted when reading of the mind-bogglingly silly scenarios that Onoda & his pals created to reject the reality of the Japanese defeat. I would have appreciated knowing more about his post- appearance life though, since the story ends with his walk out of the jungle.

The author was a Japanese soldier in World War II that was abandoned on an island in the Philippines near the end of the war. He was told not to surrender until the rest of the Japanese army came back for him. He and a handful of others held out for years. Gradually, all of his comrades were killed. He survived in the mountains of his populated island by killing nearby livestock, hiding such food and ammunition as he had, stealing supplies from nearby houses, etc. He held out until 1974, despite attempts by his own government and family to retrieve him. Amazingly, he was still engaged in shootouts with police and others decades after the war ended. This book is his own account. He provides as near a how-to manual for survival in the wilderness as is possible under the circumstances. He also provides an explanation as to how he could believe that the war continued into the 1970's (despite stealing and listening to a radio at certain times). He describes how it was that he finally came to accept the end of the war and the end of his mission in the jungle. The book is of interest far beyond those who study war and jungle survival. This book is a study in perspective, duty, honor, commitment and even culture. No Surrender comes as close as possible to answering the question of how someone could do something like this. While Americans were enjoying the Super Bowl, color television, the moon landings, the jet age, Japanese imports, etc., the author was still fighting World War II. Exploring his perspective is as interesting as any other part of the story.

This is basically an awesome novel that happens to be nonfiction. Any history buff or outdoorsman would probably find a lot to appreciate in this text. Most of it isn't really about war, but about being self-reliant and surviving a seemingly impossible situation through wit and perseverance. Obviously, the efforts of Onoda and his small (and slowly shrinking) group of soldiers was pointless; the war was over and they were fighting and dying for nothing. And it's quite wrenching to see how Onoda reacted to learning this--reflecting on the deaths of his comrades after learning that they died over an incredible misunderstanding. But how they managed to keep at it against incredible odds is very inspiring--possible only because these were some seriously tough dudes with an astonishing degree of self-discipline and excellent jungle survival skills. It's fascinating and most bizarre to read about the way Onoda's unit reacted to news they got from papers dropped by airplanes and from radios that they stole from villagers. The thought of Japanese defeat being inconceivable, they had constructed this entire alternate history to try to explain what they were seeing and why the "propaganda" lied about some things and not others. They weren't entirely frozen in the 1940s, being aware of numerous technological advances--not least of which were the pilfered transistor radios--and the development of a democratic government in Japan. It's hard to believe at first that a guerilla soldier could keep fighting a long-concluded war for decades, and still have hundreds of rounds of ammunition and a functional rifle after thirty years, but to read about how and why it happened is a unique and enlightening experience. This is a serious historical document.

Interesting insight into how duty, honor, and commitment can cause a human being to lose complete sight of reason. Hiro Onoda spends 30 years fighting for Japan in WW2, 29 years of which after the war was over. Despite having access to current newspapers, his own brother (via megaphone) pleading with him to come out of the jungle, and leaflets falling from the sky informing Hiro and his companions the war had ended, Hiro perseveres. The only downside to this autobiography is that Hiro glosses over the fact that he and his companions killed 30 people while conducting guerrilla warfare upon the citizens of Lubang Island (in the Philippines). With good reason, I suppose. His adventure explains a lot about the psychology of Japanese soldiers during WW2 who typically preferred suicide or kamikaze attacks rather than surrender.

Incredible story, One wonders how it can happen until you read the details and events that all came together.

L' autobiographie d'un soldat japonais qui a poursuivi la 2ème guerre mondiale jusqu'en 1974. Sa vie, sa solitude,ses réflexions. ... Livre uniquement en japonais ou en anglais. Livre arrivé en bon état et avant la date escomptéet. Super....

Shows us a lot from Japan's first steps in to guerrilla warfare in late WWII. Hiro Onoda show to us that the Bushido values are timeless.

I loved this book. I come across the story of Hiroo Onada while browsing the internet, I was intersted to know a little more, so got this on the Kindle.... I couldn't stop reading it. It is written by the man himself and starts with a nice background of his life leading up to the war in both Japan and China, and a bit if the military training he undertook. It moves onto story of being assigned a mission which leads into the story of how he become holdout with a few other soldiers at the end of the war, believing the war was still going and that airdropped pamphlets and newspapers were propaganda. It was very interesting to learn of their reasoning and the mindset of a Imperial Japanese soldier at the time. A favourite chapter was called Jungle Life which goes into detail of how he survived; what he used for clothes, shelter and for food and that sort of stuff. The book was written in the 1970s, not long after he surrendered, which is the only downside, I really would have liked to have known how he adapted to life following his 30 year war. Excellent book, I look forward to reading this again sometime.

Ele passou 29 anos numa ilha acreditando que a guerra não terminou. Incrível.