On January 24, 1972, on the island of Guam, which is now a so-called "non-incorporated territory of the USA", in a self-made cave in the jungle ...







... an unknown man of apparently Japanese nationality was found ...:



When asked by summoned police officers and an interpreter ...





... he identifies himself as Shōichi Yokoi, born on March 31, 1915 and non-commissioned officer in the 38th Infantry Regiment, 29th Manchuria Division of the Imperial Japanese Army ...:






This is the story of this last soldier of the Second World War:

When American troops under General Douglas MacArthur gradually recaptured the Japanese-occupied island of Guam in the summer of 1944, Yokoi retired to the jungle with some members of his unit.

The news of the surrenderof the Japanese Troops on Guam ...



... did not reach the group at first. The discovery of a leaflet in 1952, which informed about the end of the war, did not persuade Yokoi to give up and return to civilization, because he considered a capitulation dishonorable.

After his last two companions died in 1964, he persisted for another eight years and lived in a small, self-dug cave; he lived on nuts, snails, frogs, crabs, birds and rats, among others ...:






In 1972 he was discovered by fishermen in search of crayfish and overwhelmed when he attacked them.

His return home is a sensation ...



... and is watched by more than 70 million Japanese live on TV ...:



Yokoi's first words on Japanese soil are:



恥ずかしながら生きながらえて、帰ってきました。」(speak: „Hazukashinagara ikinagaraete, kaette kimashita.“)

"I am very embarrassed to return alive."

Yokoi spent 83 days in a Tokyo hospital when he returned. After disappearing from the front pages, he married six months after his return and retired to the countryside in Aichi Prefecture ...:



He worked as a survival coach and wrote advice on healthy eating. In 1991 he received an audience with Emperor Akihito. He felt this was the greatest honor of his life ...:


Shōichi Yokoi died on September 22, 1997.
Cheers

Thanks again Martin. Another fascinating story.

Really interesting.

Duty and Honor. Soldier business. A timeless example.