Shoichi Yokoi's 28 Years In Hiding

 The person I interviewed is DeDra St.Clair. Her relationship to me is my mother. When I asked to interview her about the event she was quite willing to tell the story. The event that the interview is about is the discovery of a soldier in hiding after the war was over.

It was January twenty-fourth, 1972 in the woods of the Talofofo Basin in Guam. Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi, one of the last Imperial Soldiers from Japan was discovered under ground. Yokoi thought that WWII was still going on for eight years. But Yokoi was in hiding for twenty-eight years under ground. So why was he in hiding for an extra twenty years? That was for two reasons; first, he was afraid that the Americans would kill him if he came out. Second, he was reluctant to try and return to Japan due to the old custom of the Japanese to serve the Emperor and not surrender.

Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi went into hiding on July twenty-first, 1944 during the American Invasion and Liberation. His family was notified in September of 1944 that he was killed in action. There were originally ten other people that lived in the underground cave but ten eventually died from reasons such as diseases. Yokoi himself avoided illness and infection by keeping extremely clean by use of the river for washing. Sgt. Yokoi had to make due with what he had in the wilderness to ensure his survival. He ate things such as nuts and fruits from plants and trees, and shrimp and fish that he caught himself. Before he became a soldier, Yokoi was a tailor. He used these skills to make his own clothes. He even kept track of what day it was. Sun up to sun down was one day, and every new moon was one month. When he was discovered, he knew that it was the year 1972.

 My mom was only eight and one half years old at the time this event happened but she remembered the details of it and how she felt about what happened. She was in Guam where she lived when the soldier was found. Especially after looking at the many news clippings kept by her mother after all these years. Even though so young, she realized at the time how sad it was that he had to be all alone for so many years. She said that at the time she was sad for the soldier that was in hiding all that time.

At the time the event occurred, she felt sorry for the alone soldier. "I felt sad that he had to live alone for all those years." Also, she thought is kind of scary because where Yokoi was found is in the area that she would play with her friends and sisters. She wanders what he might have done if he had of found her playing in the area. Now she can remember how overwhelmed he was when being reunited with his family for the first time, and how happy she felt for him. She is today, still amazed by the event and is glad to be able to share the story with others.

This interview went much easier that I had expected, I thought that it would be hard to try and tell a story of an event and include all the important details. I learned a lot about this event. I learned of the many ways that the soldier had managed to stay alive all that time, and how he made due with what he had in his surroundings. I would have to say this interview was a positive one. It taught me a lot about the subject as well as gave my mom a chance to tell of the event and how she felt about the whole thing.