Marine on Peleliu with Japanese Shirt Tag

[River Patrol]

Here's an odd one for me.....In a recent publication, there is a picture of a Marine (with a couple of teeth knocked out) on Peleliu with a tag on the front of his shirt with Japanese writing on it. Has anyone seen this before? If so, what does the tag signify? or a translation?

 

Thanks,

Steve

[River Patrol]

Could this possibly be a POW tag that just wasn't removed?

[Greg Robinson]

My guess is the shirt itself is Japanese and the "tag" is some sort of insignia. Peleliu was a long hot campaign and his USMC dungaree shirt probably rotted off him so he "borrowed" one from the Japanese.

 

Greg

[dustin]

I belive that is a japanese naval uniform.soem one posted one in the uniform section sometime back.

[cbuehler]

That is indeed a Japanese shirt he is wearing and I can make out the large kanji in the middle which is "Tani". That is a Japanese family name. The rest of it is a little to blurred for me to make out, but it would include rank and unit codes.

I believe that it is Naval as well. It was most common to see these various forms of name/rank patches in the field. The Army usually included the rank patch on a pin or button on patch. Rank was not usually worn by the Japanese on the collar when in combat zones, especially towards the end of the war.

 

CB