Yokoi Found Hiding in Guam: 28 Years After WWII Ended
Twelve years after most soldiers had returned home, Shoichi Yokoi was still hunting, trapping, and living like a ghost in Guam's dense jungle. Surviving on wild plants and small game, he'd spent 27 years believing the war wasn't over - convinced Japan would eventually return for him. When two local hunters finally discovered him, Yokoi was wearing a crude cloth made from tree bark, still wearing his Imperial Army uniform's tattered remnants. "I am sorry I did not serve Japan well," he told authorities, bowing deeply upon surrender.
January 24, 1972
54 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Japan
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Shoichi Yokoi
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Guam
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since the end of World War II
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Shoichi Yokoi
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Guam
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Japanese holdout
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Douglas MacArthur
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World War II
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Franklin D. Roosevelt
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Winston Churchill
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Casablanca Conference
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Allies of World War II
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Bangkok
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Thailand
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Japanese
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Declaration of war
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United States
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British
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1874
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Casablanca
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Morocco
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ربيع القاطي
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Theodosius Dobzhansky
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Génétique
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علم الأحياء التطوري
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Ukraine
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Nobel Prize in Literature
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1953
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