Noboru Kinoshita
In 1944, seaman Noboru Kinoshita of the Imperial Japanese Navy was in a troop transport of the Philippines when the ship was attacked and sunk by American planes. He was one of the few survivors who managed to swim to safety, reaching the shores of Samar Island after hours in the water. There, he joined with Japanese forces and accompanied them to Luzon, where they fought the US military.
When his unit was dispersed, Kinoshita struck off deep into the jungles of Luzon, successfully evading American forces and Filipino partisans. There, isolated from contact with the outside world, he managed to eke out a precarious existence, surviving on lizards, frogs, fruits, monkeys, and any other edibles he could find.
Unaware that the war had ended, Kinoshita struggled to stay alive, as he awaited the day when victorious Japanese armed forces would return to recapture the Philippines and rescue him. He waited for 11 years, until 1955 when he was apprehended by Philippine police as he raided a villager’s sweet potato patch.
In custody, Kinoshita asked his Filipino guards to kill him, because he was too ashamed to return to Japan in defeat. They declined, but a month after his capture, Noboru Kinoshita managed to commit suicide by hanging himself. He was 33 years old.
