Onoda was born on 19 March 1922, in Kamekawa Village, Kaisō District, Wakayama Prefecture, in what was then the Empire of Japan.
When he was 17 years old, he went to work for the Tajima Yoko trading company in Wuhan, China.
When he was 20, he enlisted in the Imperial Japanese Army Infantry.
Onoda trained as an intelligence officer in the commando class "Futamata" (二俣分校) of the Nakano School.
1944
On 26 December 1944, he was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines.
He was ordered to do all he could to hamper enemy attacks on the island, including destroying the airstrip and the pier at the harbor.
Onoda's orders also stated that under no circumstances was he to surrender or take his own life.
When he landed on the island, Onoda joined forces with a group of Japanese soldiers who had been sent there previously.
He turned over his sword, a functioning Arisaka Type 99 rifle, 500 rounds of ammunition and several hand grenades, as well as the dagger his mother had given him in 1944 to kill himself with if he was captured.
1945
Hiroo Onoda was an Imperial Japanese Army intelligence officer who fought in World War II and did not surrender at the war's end in August 1945.
After the war ended, Onoda spent 29 years hiding in the Philippines until Norio Suzuki, a Japanese explorer and adventurer found him and relayed the message that the Emperor wanted him to come back to Japan.
He held the rank of second lieutenant in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA).
The officers in the group outranked Onoda and prevented him from carrying out his assignment, which made it easier for the United States and Philippine Commonwealth forces to take the island when they landed on 28 February 1945.
Within a short time of the landing, all but Onoda and three other soldiers had either died or surrendered.
Onoda, who had been promoted to lieutenant, ordered the men to take to the hills.
Onoda continued his mission, initially living in the mountains of Lubang Island in the Philippines with three fellow soldiers; Private Yuichi Akatsu, Corporal Shōichi Shimada, and Private First Class Kinshichi Kozuka.
During his stay, Onoda and his companions carried out guerrilla activities and engaged in several shootouts with the local police.
Onoda, along with his fellow soldiers, allegedly killed up to 30 Filipino civilians on Lubang over three decades – during and after World War II.
The first time they saw a leaflet announcing that Japan had surrendered was in October 1945; another cell had killed a cow and found a leaflet left behind by islanders which read: "The war ended on 15 August. Come down from the mountains!"
They distrusted the leaflet and concluded that it was Allied propaganda and also believed that they would not have been fired on if the war had indeed been over.
Toward the end of 1945, leaflets were dropped by air with a surrender order printed on them from General Tomoyuki Yamashita of the Fourteenth Area Army.
To the men who had been in hiding for over six months, this leaflet was the only evidence they had that the war was over.
Onoda's group studied the leaflet closely to determine whether it was genuine, and decided it was not.
1949
One of the four soldiers, Yuichi Akatsu, walked away from the others in September 1949 and surrendered to Philippine forces in March 1950, after six months on his own.
This seemed like a security problem to the others and they became even more cautious.
1952
In 1952, letters and family pictures were dropped from an aircraft urging them to surrender, but the three soldiers concluded that this was a trick.
1953
Shimada was wounded in the leg in a shoot-out with local fishermen in June 1953, after which Onoda nursed him back to health.
1954
On 7 May 1954, Shimada was killed by a shot from a police search party looking for the men.
1972
Kozuka was killed by two shots fired by local police on 19 October 1972 while he and Onoda, as part of their guerrilla activities, were burning rice that had been collected by farmers.
Onoda was alone at that point.
1974
On 20 February 1974, Onoda met Norio Suzuki, a Japanese man who was traveling around the world looking for "Lieutenant Onoda, a panda, and the Abominable Snowman, in that order".
Suzuki found Onoda after four days of searching.
Taniguchi went to Lubang Island, and on 9 March 1974, he finally met with Onoda and fulfilled a promise he had made back in 1944: "Whatever happens, we'll come back for you".
Taniguchi then issued Onoda the following orders:
Onoda was thus properly relieved of duty, and he surrendered.
Only Private Teruo Nakamura, arrested on 18 December 1974 in Indonesia, held out longer.
Onoda was very popular following his return to Japan and some people urged him to run for the Diet (Japan's bicameral legislature).
2010
Onoda described that moment in a 2010 interview: "This hippie boy Suzuki came to the island to listen to the feelings of a Japanese soldier. Suzuki asked me why I would not come out...".
Onoda and Suzuki became friends, but Onoda still refused to surrender, saying that he was waiting for orders from a superior officer.
Suzuki returned to Japan with photographs of himself and Onoda as proof of their encounter, and the Japanese government located Onoda's former commanding officer, Major Yoshimi Taniguchi, who had since become a bookseller.
