24. The Japanese Sailor Who Hid in the Jungle
Seaman Noboru Kinoshita was in a Japanese ship that was attacked and sunk off the Philippines in 1944 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 Japanese forces and accompanied them to Luzon, where they fought the US military. When his unit was dispersed, Kinoshita struck off into the jungles of Luzon, successfully evading enemy forces. There, isolated from the outside world, he eked a precarious existence, surviving on lizards, frogs, fruits, monkeys, and any other edibles he could find.