Shoichi Yokoi; WWII Soldier Hid Until 1972

A Japanese soldier who stayed in the jungles of Guam for 26 years after the end of World War II in adherence to the imperial army’s code of never surrendering has died of a heart attack, hospital officials said Tuesday. Shoichi Yokoi was 82.

Yokoi became a national hero on his return to Japan in 1972 when his dramatic tale of survival became known. His first words upon arriving in Tokyo--”It is with much embarrassment that I return”--were broadcast nationally and instantly became a popular saying.

He died Monday at a hospital in the central city of Nagoya, in his native Aichi prefecture.

Yokoi’s exploits in the jungle fascinated the nation. The Japanese, in the midst of the postwar industrial boom, were intrigued by his diet of nuts, berries, frogs, snails and rats, and by his methods of weaving clothing from tree bark.

His return triggered a search for other Japanese soldiers who had not learned of the end of the war, and turned up another straggler in 1974, this time in the Philippines.

Unlike Yokoi, whose rifle had rusted and become useless, former Lt. Hiroo Onoda had kept a working firearm and killed several villagers before he was discovered in a Philippine jungle.

Yokoi, a former sergeant, was drafted into the army in 1941 and sent to northeastern China, and later to Guam. Japan occupied Guam during the war and most of its 22,000 troops there were killed when U.S. troops recaptured the island in 1944. Yokoi survived by fleeing into the jungle when American troops arrived.

Two local hunters discovered Yokoi in a remote area in January 1972, wearing a pair of burlap pants and a shirt that he said he had made from the bark of a tree.

Upon his return to Japan, Yokoi, who had been reported as killed in action, was dumbfounded by the changes that had occurred since he left on a military transport more than a quarter of a century earlier.

He contracted an arranged marriage in November 1972, and traded his solitary cave in Guam for a home in Aichi prefecture with his new wife, Mihoko.

He became a regular commentator on television programs, where he discussed survival skills. He wrote a best-selling book on his experience in Guam and in 1974 ran unsuccessfully for a seat in Japan’s upper house of parliament.

In 1991, Yokoi had an audience with Emperor Akihito during a reception at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo. Yokoi, who had said upon his return that he regretted having failed to serve the Imperial Japanese army well, was overcome with emotion when he met the emperor, media reports said.