January 24: On This Day in World History … briefly
“It is with much embarrassment that I return,” he said upon his return to Japan. The remark quickly became a popular saying in Japan.
1972: Japanese sergeant found hiding 28 years after WWII
Shōichi Yokoi was a sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during the Second World War, and was among the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the end of hostilities in 1945. He was discovered in the jungles of Guam on January 24, 1972, almost 28 years after US forces had regained control of the island in 1944
Yokoi was born in Saori, Aichi Prefecture. He was an apprentice tailor when he was conscripted in 1941. Initially, Yokoi served with the 29th Infantry Division in Manchukuo. In 1943, he was transferred to the 38th Regiment in the Mariana Islands and arrived on Guam in February 1943. When American forces captured the island in the 1944 Battle of Guam, Yokoi went into hiding with nine other Japanese soldiers. Seven of the original ten eventually moved away and only three remained in the region. These men separated, but visited each other periodically until about 1964, when the other two died in a flood. For the last eight years, Yokoi lived alone. He survived by hunting, primarily at night. He also used native plants to make clothes, bedding, and storage implements, which he carefully hid in his cave.
On the evening of 24 January 1972, Yokoi was discovered in the jungle by Jesus Dueñas and Manuel De Gracia, two local men checking their shrimp traps along a small river on Talofofo. They had assumed Yokoi was a villager from Talofofo, but he thought his life was in danger and attacked them. They managed to subdue him and carried him out of the jungle with minor bruising.
Yokoi later told reporters that he expected to be killed shortly upon capture; instead the locals sent him to the local Commissioner’s office for questioning, allowing to stop temporarily at their house to eat some hot soup before doing so. Upon arrival Yokoi apologised to the commissioner and his captors and confessed his identity. A physical examination found him to be thin and weak but relatively healthy. Despite having hidden for twenty-eight years in a jungle cave, he had known since 1952 that World War II had ended. He feared coming out of hiding, explaining, “We Japanese soldiers were told to prefer death to the disgrace of getting captured alive.”
Most notable historic snippets or facts extracted from the book ‘On This Day’ first published in 1992 by Octopus Publishing Group Ltd, London, as well as additional supplementary information extracted from Wikipedia.
HAVE YOUR SAY
Like the South Coast Herald’s Facebook page, follow us on Twitter and Instagram
To receive our FREE email newsletter, click HERE
