National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi Collection

Madrid, Carlos

A National Register of Historic Places Registration Form for the Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi Collection. Narrative Description Summary Paragraph: "The collection of artifacts used by Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi, the last Japanese straggler in Guam, represents the main set of vestiges of his 28 years history of survival and endurance. The set is comprised of approximately forty pieces of artifacts, varying from clothes, tools, guns and ammunition. The collection is owned by the Guam Museum where it's currently stored. It retains its integrity in materials and workmanship. Some items show corrosion and smoke blackening, as a result of their use for over 28 years. Some of the items were handcrafted, like the loom he made to weave clothes. Yokoi, a tailor's apprentice before the way, used fibers of local plans such as the Pago tree to make trousers, shirts, etc. He also made sandals, sewing implements, and buttons, including items of the simplest commodities for daily use, such as utensils, canteens, etc., which he either kept with him since before hiding, or obtained from surrounding properties. The set of artifacts offers contemporary visitors tangible testimonies of the hardships of the living conditions and struggle to survive endured by Sergeant Yokoi. The Collection also serves as a complement to Yokoi's Cave, located in Talofofo, Guam, in which Sergeant Yokoi lived out his 28 years, from the time Guam was recaptured by the United States July 21, 1944, to the time he was discovered in 1972. A replica of Yokoi's Cave is visited every year by hundred of tourists. The original cave has been listed in the National Register since January 16, 1980." Statement of Significance Summary Paragraph: "The collection of artifacts of Sgt. Yokoi, last active Japanese soldier in U.S. Territory, after the end of World War II, is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) at the National, state and local levels. The period of significance covers the period from July 21, 1944, when Guam was liberated from Japanese Military rule, to the end of World War II, and up to 1972, when Sgt. Yokoi was discovered and he surrendered. The artifacts of Yokoi are a tangible indication, three decades after the end of the hostilities, of the extreme difficulties that the people of Guam and the U.S. troops faced against the suicidal determination of Japanese soldiers, who took to the extreme their loyalty to an Emperor of quasi-divine status. The Collection provides valuable insights of his life in Guam throughout the 28 years of his hideout, the hardships he went through, and his ingenuity in solving the needs of daily life using limited resources that he could obtain in the area surrounding the cave he constructed as his refuge." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Guam State Historic Preservation Office, Bureau of Parks and Recreation, administered by the Pacific West Regional Office, National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior.

National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Sergeant Shoichi Yokoi Collection

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