Japanese WWII straggler hid in Guam's jungle for nearly 8 years

[TomSea]

Japanese WWII straggler hid in Guam's jungle for nearly 8 years
John I Borja and Masako Watanabe , Pacific Daily News Published 7:22 p.m. ET July 12, 2017 | Updated 7:22 p.m. ET July 12, 2017

ASAN, Guam — Hiking up the Asan hillside on a sunny Wednesday, 87-year-old Kazuo Hoshi barely broke a sweat.

"This whole area would have been burned to the ground," he said in Japanese, recalling the American air raids that began in June 1944.

Hoshi was accompanying a small group from the Japan Association for Recovery and Repatriation of War Casualties, which is tasked by the Japanese government to research areas where World War II remains may be found.

Hoshi was a civilian recruit for the Japanese navy's meteorology unit when he first set foot on Guam in 1944. That was the beginning of an eight-year odyssey on the island, most of which was spent hiding and surviving in the jungles.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/07/12/japanese-wwii-straggler-8-years-in-jungle/473990001/