Shoichi Yokoi

On January 24, 1972, two hunters captured a Japanese soldier who had been hiding in the jungles of Guam since the American forces took the island in 1944. His name was Shoichi Yokoi, and in the summer of 1944, he had retreated into the jungle rather than surrender, and had been there ever since. He resided in a cave he had dug from a bamboo thicket, and lived on a diet of nuts, mangos, papaya, breadfruit, snails, and rats. Having been a tailors apprentice before the war, he was able to fashion clothing and footwear from tree bark, and coconut husks using needles he made from nails, and buttons he made from wood. He made a calendar from a tree trunk that he notched it at every full moon, and though he had read from a leaflet that the war had ended, he was determined to avoid capture until the Imperial Japanese Army returned. Once captured, he was taken to Guam Memorial Hospital were doctors who had examined him were surprised to find him in good health. Evidently, his first question was, "Tell me quick, is Roosevelt dead"? When news of his capture reached Japan, he became an instant hero. People gave him gifts that totaled $80.000, and job offers and marriage proposals poured in. But there were some dissenting voices as well. Some felt that since so many Japanese men hadn’t come home from the war, why was so much attention being given to this one man? Others found his devotion to the Emperor antiquated and embarrassing. Some wondered that if he were such a good soldier, why hadn’t he committed Hara-Kiri when Guam fell. He was surprised and a little saddened at how his country had changed. He was quoted as saying, "The glories of nature that I used to know have all disappeared. Instead up in the sky we have this thing called smog. On Earth, cars are killing more people than the war". Most disturbing to him were modern Japanese women. "They are monsters whose virtue is all but gone from them, and who screech like apes". Before the war they were, "virtuous, and obedient to the commands of menfolk, lovely to look at, gentle and retiring. Eventually, his countrymen began to forget about him, and he bought a house with the money his countrymen had donated. He settled down with Mihoko Hatashin whom he married. He described her as a nice old-fashioned Japanese girl.