Behavior: Rip Van Yokoi

Rip's heart died away at hearing of these sad changes in his home and friends, and finding himself thus alone in the world. Every answer puzzled him, too, by treating of such enormous lapses of time, and of matters which he could not understand.

In those words, published in 1819, Washington Irving described the state of his fictional hero Rip Van Winkle when Rip woke from a sleep of 20 years. Irving's words apply equally well today to a real-life Rip Van Winkle: Shoichi Yokoi, the Japanese army corporal who fled into the jungles of Guam when U.S. troops retook the island...

Want the full story?

Subscribe Now

Subscribe
Subscribe

Learn more about the benefits of being a TIME subscriber

If you are already a subscriber sign up — registration is free!