JAPAN: The Last Last Soldier?

When Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi surrendered in the jungles of Guam in 1972, all Japan was excited by the emergence of “the last soldier” of World War II. Yokoi immediately became a national hero. When the second “last soldier” of World War II, Lieut. Hiroo Onoda, was found in the Philippines last March, Tokyo sent a chartered jet to bring him home. When a third last soldier was captured on the remote Indonesian island of Morotai last month, the Japanese began to show a little embarrassment. How many more aging sons of Nippon can still be fighting for the Emperor in remote corners of the Pacific?

Like his predecessors, Private Teruo Nakamura was motivated to hold out both by fear of capture and fidelity to orders. After a final banzai charge against invading U.S. troops failed in January 1945, radio contact between Tokyo and Morotai was lost. Nakamura, who was separated from other members of his commando unit, managed to avoid capture and built a grass hut deep in the jungle. He survived by raising potatoes and picking bananas off the trees. “My commanding officer told me to fight it out,” he explained. Last month he was spotted by a Morotai native, who alerted Indonesian authorities. Four airmen lured the naked Nakamura out of hiding by singing the Japanese national anthem and waving the risingsun flag. Then they pounced on him.

No Banners. Primitive living seemed to agree with Nakamura, 55, as much as it did with the other two holdouts; doctors in Jakarta pronounced him “exceedingly fit,” even though at week’s end he was suffering from a mild case of malaria. A member of the Ami tribe from Taiwan—long reputed for their bravery, stamina and ability to absorb hardship—Nakamura would like to return home and join his wife. She has long since remarried, but says that she will still be happy to see him. So far, the Japanese government has not sent a jet to take him back to Tokyo nor have the banners been brought out for a grand welcome. The Welfare Ministry, however, did compute Nakamura’s back pay. After nearly 30 years alone in the jungle, he is entitled to the princely sum of $227.59.