Hiroo Onoda, WWII in the Japanese Army. He was a soldier who fought in World War II longer than anyone else on Earth. Faithful to his orders to conduct guerrilla warfare in the Philippines, he remained in the mountains for years, first with a group of soldiers, then alone. Here he planned and carried out attacks, and also stole food from local villages at the foot of the mountain. Several attempts to contact Onoda and his fellow soldiers were unsuccessful, including sending flyers to the group announcing the end of the war with surrender orders signed by General Tomoyuki Yamashita. He did not know that the war was over, and efforts were not enough to persuade him.
You can read the strange story of Hiroo Onoda and the details by clicking here. However, according to one US tradition, he is not the last person to continue to fight, or is presumed to have, even after the war is over. The US Navy tries to communicate with a large group of soldiers each year.
According to the US, 374 officers and 3,131 soldiers who fought in WWII are still officially “on patrol” 77 years after the war ended. All of these soldiers served on US submarines that never returned to the US. Those who do not return on submarines are traditionally listed as “still on patrol” or “on eternal patrol.” However, it is accepted by everyone that these submarines sunk a long time ago.
Still, sailors traditionally send messages to these submarines once a year during the Christmas holidays from their communications centre.
A plaque dedicated to sailors “still on patrol” reads, “We will never forget that it is our submarines that hold the lines against the enemy as our fleets replace casualties and heal wounds.”
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