The World War II soldier hid in a cave for 28 years

Shōichi Yokoi was a Japanese sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during the Second World War. He was among the last three Japanese hold-outs to surrender after the end of hostilities in 1945.

In 1943, he was transferred to the 38th Regiment in the Mariana Islands. He arrived on Guam in February 1943. When American forces captured the island in the 1944 Battle of Guam, Yokoi went into hiding with ten other Japanese soldiers. He would remain in hiding until 1972. Seven of the original ten holdouts eventually moved away. Only three remained in the region. Later these last three separated, but they visited each other until about 1964, when Yokoi found his two friends dead, apparently of starvation. The last eight years he lived entirely alone.

Yokoi survived by hunting, primarily at night. He used native plants to make clothes, bedding, and storage implements, which he carefully hid in his cave.

On the evening of January 24, 1972, Yokoi was discovered in the jungle. He was found by two local men who were checking their shrimp traps along a small river on Talofofo.

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