Veteran who hid in the jungle for 28 years

On this day in 1972, two fishermen, Jesus Mantanona Duenas and Manuel Tolentino De Gracia, were inspecting a shrimp trap in Guam’s Talofofo River when they saw something moving at the bottom of the mountain. A malnourished man suddenly emerged from the long grass and tried to snatch one of their rifles. After a scuffle, the fishermen subdued the stranger and tied his hands. Taken to Dunas’ homeThe man explained that he was Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese soldier who had been hiding in the jungle since the end of World War II. He has been there for almost 28 years.

Photo taken by Yokoi before traveling to Guam | Wikimedia

About Shoichi Yokoi

Hiroshi Yokoi was born in Aichi Prefecture on March 31, 1915, and worked as an apprentice tailor before being drafted into the army in his 20s. After serving in Manchukuo, he was transferred to Guam in February 1943 and served as a sergeant in the 38th Regiment, which was specifically attached to the supply force of the Japanese Naval Garrison. On July 8, 1944, the U.S. Navy fleet began bombing the island in preparation for an amphibious landing two weeks later. according to “The shooting was relentless,” Yokoi said.

When American forces retook the island, Yokoi escaped with nine Japanese soldiers. Thousands more refused to surrender. Most were either captured or killed by the Allies or died from the harsh conditions of the jungle. By the end of the conflict, just over 100 people remained. This number includes Yokoi and the two soldiers who escaped with him: Nana Mikio and Satoshi Nakahata.

In 1952, Yokoi discovered leaflets dropped by the Allies announcing the end of the war. He dismissed them as enemy propaganda. He adhered to the code of Bushido, which stated that surrender was a greater disgrace than death. Yokoi and his two comrades then continued to evade capture by moving from one location to another, eventually building an underground cave. “We dug a cave in the bamboo forest, but within a few months we ran out of food,” explain Yokoi. “The others moved to a new hiding place where there was more food. We visited each other.”

The entrance to a replica of Yokoi Cave, now a tourist attraction in Guam | Wikimedia

Go alone

In 1962, Typhoon Karen hit Guam, causing severe food shortages in the region, making it difficult for diehards to find food or go out to hunt. Two years later, Yokoi discovered the bodies of Nanami and Nakahata, lying side by side in their cave. Their deaths were a heavy blow to Yokoi. exist Private Yokoi’s War and Life on Guam, 1944-1972, Yokoi’s nephew Omi Hatashin told Yokoi’s pain from the perspective of a soldier: “I felt lonely, and every warmth in my heart was deprived… I sat without eating or sleeping, overwhelmed by desperate loneliness.”

Despite feeling sad and isolated, Yokoi has no plans to turn himself in. He lives in a bomb shelter about 2 meters underground and only moves and forages at night, wiping out the sound of his footsteps as he goes to minimize the possibility of being discovered. Yokoi uses his skills as an apprentice tailor to create his own clothes from wild hibiscus fibers and old sacks. He feeds on local wildlife and plants such as shrimp, fish, river eels, toads, rats, frogs, snails, feral pigeons, mangoes, papayas, coconuts and breadfruit.

Yokoi tried to keep himself busy to distract himself from missing his hometown and his elderly mother. “There’s no point in dwelling on these things and causing my heartache,” he said wrote In his memoirs. The most important thing for the man who persevered was that he didn’t get caught. Even when he was seriously ill in the jungle, he was thinking about this. “No! I cannot die here. I cannot expose my body to the enemy,” Yokoi wrote. He added: “I have to go back to my hole and die. I’ve survived so far, but now it’s all gone.”

Photos taken of Yokoi immediately after his discovery, accompanied by images of his clothes and everyday items. Handmade from natural fibers by Yokoi, now housed in the Nagoya City Museum

Back to Japan

Less than two weeks after being discovered by Dunas and De Gracia in the jungle, Yokoi flew back to Japan on a chartered flight. He received a hero’s welcome but said, “I came back embarrassed,” reflecting the shame of having survived the death of his comrade. After returning to his hometown, Yokoi visited the Akahoshi Shrine, where he had visited thirty years earlier before entering the war. At a nearby temple, he wept at his family’s tombstones. The inscription on it states that he died in Guam in the summer of 1944.

Unsurprisingly, the media is obsessed with the true story of Rip Van Winkle. Isolated from the world for 28 years, he knew nothing about major global events that occurred between 1944 and 1972, such as the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the moon landing, and the assassination of US President Kennedy. As someone who had never watched television or heard of jet aircraft, he was baffled by technological advances and, according to Hatashin struggles to return to life in modern Japan.

As an advocate of simple living, Yokoi became a television personality. Two years after his return, two more die-hards appeared in the dense jungle: Hiroo Onoda After returning to Japan from the Philippines, Teruo Nature (originally known as Attulalin) is an indigenous Amis man serving in the Imperial Japanese Army. Nonetheless, the public’s fascination with Yokoi persisted, and in 1977 Oshima released a documentary about the soldier’s experiences in Guam. Twenty-nine years later, a memorial hall was opened in Nagoya in his honor. It closed in 2022 when the director, Mihoko Yokoi’s wife, passed away. In 1997, Hiroshi Yokoi died of heart disease at the age of 82.

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