Here are some facts for this day. You are welcome to log your interesting, quirky or fun fact/s with your log.
On This Day - January 24th
World History
1972 - A Japanese soldier, unaware that World War II ended almost thirty years earlier, is discovered hiding on Guam.
During World War II, in late 1941 the Japanese began their conquest of the Pacific region, hoping to take control from the Indian/Burmese border, south through Malaya, across the islands of Indonesia to New Guinea, northwest to the Gilbert Islands and north to the Kuril Islands off the Japanese coast.
Guam was a US possession and military base bombed by the Japanese the day after Pearl Harbour was attacked. Within weeks, Guam was taken by the Japanese in their sweep across the western Pacific as it would provide a supply base. It remained under Japanese control until American forces retook the island in August 1944. During the battle for Guam in which around 55,000 American troops took place, over 7,000 Americans and approximately 17,000 Japanese were killed.
On 24 January 1972, a Japanese soldier was discovered hiding on Guam, unaware that the war was over. Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi was found near the Talofofo River by either hunters or local farmers. When the Japanese retreated, Shoichi Yokoi hid, rather than surrender to the enemy forces. For 28 years, he had survived by eating coconuts, breadfruit, papayas, snails, eels and rats, and living in an underground cave within a grove of bamboo. He used his skills as a tailor to create clothing from the fibres of wild hibiscus plants.
Following his discovery in the jungles of Guam, Shoichi Yokoi was discharged and returned to Japan, where he was welcomed as a hero. He later married and, ironically, had his honeymoon on Guam.