Masashi Itō

Imperial Japanese Army soldier

Masashi Itō (伊藤正, 1921–2004) was a machine-gunner^[1] and sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War. He was among the last holdouts to surrender after the war ended.

War years and post-war survival

When the Americans liberated Guam in July 1944, Itō was separated from his unit.^[1] He hid with two other soldiers and learned to survive in the jungle.^[1] For sixteen years, he hid even after finding leaflets declaring that the war had ended.^[2]

Surrender

When the last of his companions, Bunzō Minagawa (皆川文蔵), was captured by woodsmen in 1960, Itō was convinced to surrender on 23 May 1960, after 14 years and 264 days of Japan's surrender in World War II and was treated at a nearby American military base.^[1]^[3]

Later life

Itō married on January 7, 1961,^[2] and had a daughter. A movie was made about his life.^{[citation needed]} He later worked as a watchman for the Toei Motion Picture Company in Tokyo.^[2] He wrote a book about his experiences entitled The Emperor's Last Soldiers, published in 1967.

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Books: Straggler's Ordeal". Time Magazine. July 14, 1967. Archived from the original on December 15, 2008.
^ ^a ^b ^c Kahn, E. J. (March 24, 1962). "II-The Stragglers:: Oh What a Miserable Life This Is!". The New Yorker. p. 47.
^ Trefalt, Beatrice (18 June 2004). Japanese Army stragglers and memories of the war in Japan, 1950–1975. ISBN 9780203480472.