Last week, two Japanese men in their eighties were reportedly found on southern Mindanao Island in the Phillippines. They were Japanese soldiers left behind after WWII. In this case, they seemed to be aware that the war had ended, but it brought to mind the interesting 1972 case of Hiroo Onoda.

In 1944, Lt. Hiroo Onoda was sent by the Japanese army to the remote Philippine island of Lubang. His mission was to conduct guerrilla warfare during World War II. Unfortunately, he was never officially told the war had ended; so for 29 years, Onoda continued to live in the jungle, ready for when his country would again need his services and information. Eating coconuts and bananas and deftly evading searching parties he believed were enemy scouts, Onoda hid in the jungle until he finally emerged from the dark recesses of the island on March 19, 1972.

Great articles about Lieutenant Onoda here and here.