Witness   /     Hiroo Onoda, Japan’s last WW2 soldier to surrender

Description

Hiroo Onoda was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who spent nearly 30 years in the Philippine jungle, believing World War Two was still going on.Using his training in guerilla warfare, he attacked and killed people living on Lubang Island, mistakenly believing them to be enemy soldiers.He was finally persuaded to surrender in 1974 when his former commander, Yoshimi Taniguchi, found him and gave him an order. In a televised ceremony, Hiroo presented his sword to the then Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos.President Marcos returned the sword and gave him a full presidential pardon and told him he admired his courage.Hiroo died in January 2014 at the age of 91.This programme was produced and presented by Vicky Farncombe, using BBC archive.(Photo: Hiroo Onoda steps out of the jungle. Credit: Getty Images)

Subtitle
Hiroo Onoda spent 30 years fighting in the jungle, believing the war was still going on
Duration
548
Publishing date
2024-04-12 09:00
Link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct5yd9
Contributors
  BBC World Service
author  
Enclosures
http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-low/proto/http/vpid/p0hhgmkn.mp3
audio/mpeg