Japanese soldier found hiding on Guam | January 24, 1972 | HISTORY (2024)

FAQs

Japanese soldier found hiding on Guam | January 24, 1972 | HISTORY? ›

On the evening of 24 January 1972, Yokoi was discovered by two local men checking 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.

Over the next three decades 114 stragglers surrendered, the rest had been killed, and Sergeant Yokoi, the last straggler, was found on 24 January 1972—26 years after the official end of World War II.

Hiroo Onoda (middle): The Imperial Japanese soldier who hid in the Philippine jungle for 30 years after WWII. March 11, 1974 (photo), Imgur.

Yokoi's Cave is the cave on the island of Guam in which Imperial Japanese Army Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi hid until he was discovered in 1972.

On January 24, 1972, local farmers on Guam discover Shoichi Yokoi, a Japanese sergeant who fought in World War II, still hiding in the jungle—26 years after the official end of the war. Japanese soldiers had been trained that death was preferred to the disgrace of being captured alive.

Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda in 1944 while on Lubang Island, Philippines before becoming a Japanese holdout. Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi was discovered on Guam on 24 January 1972, almost 28 years after the Allies had regained control of the island in 1944.

Shōichi Yokoi (横井 庄一, Yokoi Shōichi, 31 March 1915 – 22 September 1997) was a Japanese soldier who served as a sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during the Second World War, and was one of the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the end of hostilities in 1945.

As WW2 neared its end, Mr Onoda, then a lieutenant, became cut off on Lubang as US troops came north. The young soldier had orders not to surrender - a command he obeyed for nearly three decades.

Since this is largely based on official figures released shortly after the war, I give no high and low. For nations releasing figures on both the total number of POWs captured and the number dying in Japanese captivity, the POW death rate averaged nearly 29 percent.

Japanese troops used some POWs for bayonet practice, tortured and starved others, and forced many to perform hard labor.

What was the name of the man stuck in the cave? ›

On November 24, 2009, 26-year-old John Edward Jones became stuck and died in the cave after being trapped inside for 27–28 hours. Jones and three others had left their party in search of "The Birth Canal", a tight but navigable passageway with a turnaround at the end.

At the end of World War II, some Japanese soldiers retreated into the jungle and continued to “fight,” not believing the call for surrender by the Emperor. One of the most famous and longest of those fighters was Hiroo Onoda.

Incredibly, Siffre went on to endure a six-month stay in a cave in Texas. Following the longer stint, he made an amazing discovery, finding that without modern day time cues, he adjusted to a 48-hour cycle rather than the 24 hours we're all used to.

In February 1972, Yokoi departed from Guam, 56 years old and in all likelihood the Emperor's last soldier of World War II. After U.S. forces liberated the island in July 1944, Yokoi lived the next 28 years as a straggler and recluse.

Guam remained in Japanese hands for two and a half years and Chamorros were forced to endure hard ships of the military occupation in a war not of their own making. For the first four months the island was controlled by army troops, who were housed in schools and government buildings in Agana.

Given the contentions with these terms, “Guamanian” became the replacement term of choice. For roughly thirty years, the word was synonymous with “Chamorro.” It was a convenient term for the governing authority, and it was used interchangeably with “Chamorro” by Chamorros themselves.

Onoda, a Japanese army lieutenant, was sent to Lubang Island in the Philippines late in the war to help with the fight against MacArthur's “return.” Under orders to surrender under no circ*mstances, he continued his resistance there until 1974, preying on the local islanders to survive.

A Japanese soldier who refused to surrender after World War Two ended and spent 29 years in the jungle has died aged 91 in Tokyo. Hiroo Onoda remained in the jungle on Lubang Island near Luzon, in the Philippines, until 1974 because he did not believe that the war had ended.

With great formality and commensurate dignity, Captain Ōba surrendered his sword to Lieutenant Colonel Howard G. Kirgis, and his men surrendered their arms and colors. They were the last organized resistance of Japanese forces on Saipan.

Fighting in the thick jungle and steep terrain was difficult for both sides, with about 3,000 U.S. troops killed and more than 18,000 Japanese dead when it was over.