The Last Soldier – Shoichi Yokoi

Shoichi Yokoi was a Japanese soldier who refused to surrender at the end of World War II. Instead, he vanished into the jungles of Guam and lived in an underground cave for nearly 28 years after the war was over.He survived on fruit, nuts, snails, shrimp, eels, and rats. Today, he is remembered for the ingenuity that kept him alive and unseen for almost three decades. But it is hard to admire that feat without feeling the sting of its irony. Yokoi did eventually return to Japan. What he could never recover was half a lifetime spent on a struggle that no longer needed to be fought.How could a soldier stay hidden that long, and why was he so afraid to come out? In this program, Gary Kent tells the heroic and tragic story of Shoichi Yokoi, the fear that kept him underground, and what that story has to say about your life.