English: Japanese Imperial Army Captain Sakae Ōba surrenders his Samurai sword to Lieutenant Colonel Howard G. Kurgis, USMC, at Saipan, Mariana Islands on Saturday morning, December 1, 1945. Oba and 46 other Japanese soldiers and sailors finally gave up after hiding out in the jungles and coral caves of Saipan for almost 17 months. They were the last of the once-mighty force of 30,000 Japanese military personnel either killed or captured since U.S. forces invaded Saipan on June 15, 1944.