ON THIS DAY – 24 January 1972 – An extraordinary discovery made headlines around the world. Shoichi Yokoi, a sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army, was found alive on the island of Guam after spending 28 years hiding in the jungle – completely unaware that World War II had ended in 1945.
Yokoi was a 26-year-old tailor when he was conscripted into the Japanese Army in 1941. In 1944, as U.S. forces advanced across the Pacific, he was deployed to Guam. Later that year, American troops recaptured the island. As Japanese resistance collapsed, Yokoi and several other soldiers fled into the dense jungle to avoid capture.
Many were eventually killed or taken prisoner, but Yokoi remained hidden. For nearly three decades, he lived in isolation, convinced that surrender would bring unbearable dishonour. He did not know that Japan had formally surrendered in 1945.
By the late 1940s, food became increasingly scarce. Constant movement was necessary to avoid detection, and Yokoi and two remaining companions formed a tight survival group. They hunted, foraged, and carefully avoided local villagers, constructing underground shelters to remain unseen.
The small group lived with extreme discipline. They made clothing from tree bark and fashioned tools from bamboo, bone, and scraps of metal. Over time, their numbers dwindled. By the late 1950s, the group had begun to shrink, and by around 1963, Yokoi’s last two companions had died – leaving him completely alone.
Throughout the 1960s, Yokoi survived entirely by himself in a small underground cave reinforced with bamboo. He hunted eels, fish, and small animals, and gathered coconuts and breadfruit. Despite the passage of decades, he remained in constant fear of discovery. Although the war had long since ended, Yokoi was unaware of it and believed it was his duty to remain hidden to preserve his honour and that of the Imperial Army. He deliberately avoided contact with the growing civilian population and the expanding development projects on Guam. Emaciated and isolated, he maintained a strict military routine deep in the jungle.
On 24 January 1972, two local hunters checking fish traps along the Talofofo River encountered Yokoi. He attempted to attack them but was subdued and taken into custody.
Upon his return to Japan, his first words became famous: ‘It is with much embarrassment that I have returned alive.’ The statement reflected the wartime code of honour that valued death over capture.
Yokoi later wrote an autobiography, gave public talks, married, and lived quietly until his death in 1997.