Shoichi Yokoi
ShÅichi Yokoi (横井 庄一 Yokoi ShÅichi, March 31, 1915 – September 22, 1997) was a Japanese sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA) during the Second World War. He was among the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the end of hostilities in 1945, discovered in the jungles of Guam in January 1972, almost 28 years after US forces had regained control of the island in 1944.
Early life
Yokoi was born in Saori, Aichi Prefecture. He was an apprentice tailor when he was conscripted in 1941.[1]
War years and post-war survival
Visitors to Guam can take a short ropeway ride to "Yokoi's Cave", a tourist attraction / monument to Yokoi's life located on the site of the original cave at Talofofo Falls Resort Park. The original cave was destroyed in a typhoon.
Initially, Yokoi served with the 29th Infantry Division in Manchukuo. 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.[1] Seven of the original ten eventually moved away and only three remained in the region. These separated, but they visited each other until about 1964, when the other two died in flooding.[2] The last eight years he lived 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.[1]
https://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Shoichi+Yokoi
