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Japanese Holdouts after WW2 from 1961 to 1972 | Shoichi Yokoi, Minagawa and Ito

Japanese hold-outs after the second world war are quite the never-ending source of interesting stories. Japanese soldiers were known for their resilience, dedication to the Emperor and often preference to death over surrender. On this channel, I have already discussed the last missing Japanese soldier that was found 63 years after he was sent off to war, in 2006. Another curious tale is that of Hiroo Onoda, a Japanese lieutenant that waged guerilla warfare on an island of the Philippines until nearly 30 years after the war had ended. But besides these 2 cases, several other Japanese hold-outs didn’t quite hold out 30 years but nevertheless refused to surrender for an incredibly long time. ►Consider Supporting HoH: https://www.patreon.com/HouseofHistory ►My Twitter:https://twitter.com/Oscar_HoH My videos tend to get arbitrarily demonetized. That is why I decided to open up a Patreon where people can support the channel. If you decide to pledge as little as 1$/month you will gain access to a monthly series exclusive to my Patrons! Chapters: 0:00 Introduction 0:54 Masashi Ito and Bunzo Minagawa 3:55 Shoichi Yokoi Watch my documentary series: ►History of Prussia playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLazn7eofVtjJjSlui3iOOz0P3KI7-v3o5 ►End of Empire - Downfall of the Qing Dynasty playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLazn7eofVtjLnVJY6NyQX8JlVApf40DLs ►World War 2 playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLazn7eofVtjLYTXde713nRftdAPj7YW_a ►Hitler's Spies playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLazn7eofVtjJGQ4c1q7mQhTh5vM54_17o The content of this video covers events, people or concepts via a lecture-style presentation that is educational and historical in nature. Every video is original content by House of History. The events relating to conflict in this video are portrayed in their historical context without either value judgment or an ideological message attached to it. There is no intent to shock, upset or disgust. The goal of my channel is to make interesting lecture-style videos, no more, no less. Thank you for taking the time to check out House of History, I hope you will find the films informative, interesting and enjoyable! Right, so the first case wasn’t just one soldier, but two. Sergeant Masashi Ito and private Bunzo Minakawa both served in the Japanese army during the second world war. They remained together, becoming one of the last Japanese hold-outs after the war had ended. Ito was a machine gunner in the army and was stationed on the island of Guam. When the Americans invaded the island in summer 1944 Ito, together with Minagawa and another soldier got separated from their unit. Most of the defenders on the island were killed, and Minagawa and Ito were some of the few survivors and retreated into the jungle in order to continue their fight. Just like many Japanese soldiers, the two learned how to survive in the jungle, foraging for food and living in makeshift huts. But in August 1945 Japan surrendered after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Following Japan’s defeat plans were made to rebuild the country and prosecute those responsible for the war. One issue that kind of faded to the background was the Japanese guerillas that were scattered over hundreds of islands in the pacific. All of them received the explicit command to fight until the bitter end, Ito and Minagawa had as well. Following the end of the war, it was known many guerillas were hiding in the jungle on small islands. Authorities on Guam launched a campaign to try and convince missing Japanese soldiers the war was over by dropping leaflets and newspapers on the island. Men like Ito and Bunzo refused to believe they were real, convinced by their superiors that the US would wage psychological warfare on them and would use tricks such as these. For another 16 years, Ito and Minagawa were in a pretty uninhabited situation. Minagawa later described to a journalist: “We ate roots, worms and grasshoppers. It's no use telling because you wouldn’t believe it. You can’t imagine such a life. We were sleeping every night in the rain on the ground.” If you have any feedback, questions or criticism feel free to leave a comment. Your opinion truly aids me in improving the content of the channel! If you have a question, feel free to leave a comment and I will either write a reply, answer your question in a Q&A video, or make an entire video about it! Sources: http://www.lirb.nl/historia-the-historyliner/de-laatste-soldaat-van-de-japanse-keizer-hiroo-onoda-19-maart-1922-16-januari-2014/ https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16681636 https://www.nytimes.com/1997/09/26/world/shoichi-yokoi-82-is-dead-japan-soldier-hid-27-years.html https://historycollection.com/true-believers-10-japanese-holdouts-not-surrender-wwii-ended/4/ Photos, paintings and imagery: Public Domain, Wikicommons #HouseofHistory #History #WW2