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Japanese Group From The Nagato


daniel griffin
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daniel griffin

This is a group of Japanese Navy Insignia and Badges removed from the Battleship Nagato by a US Sailor at the end of the war and purchased from his son about 3 weeks ago.

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vintageproductions

Beyond amazing. There are Japanese Naval Profeciency badges / patches I have never seen except in books.

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My wife's stepfather went aboard the Nagato and came away with a brass sign from a door to a "fire control" room. I need to take a larger photo of it, but I do have small images of it on scans of a note he wrote about the piece. The note is interesting because he explains the souvenir scavenging.

 

"Small groups from the various US ships [anchored in Tokyo Bay] were allowed to go aboard Nagato. As expected, they were supposed to learn about Japanese ship construction, but were more scavengers looking for war souvenirs."

 

The Nagato was the pride of Japan's Navy and the command to attack Pearl Harbor came from the Nagato, as Wikipedia notes:

 

Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto issued the signal "Niitaka yama nobore" (Climb Mount Niitaka) December 2, 1941 from the Nagato at anchor at Hashirajima to signal the in the North Pacific to proceed in its attack on Pearl Harbor, committing Japan to the Pacific War.

 

So sending US sailors to souvenir hunt on the Nagato right after the surrender was rather like a grand scale version of taking the enemy's sword and breaking it over your knee.

 

Here's his letter of provenance for the Nagato sign:

 

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Very nice collection :)

 

Below is a picture of a flag from the Nagato that was on display at the museum in Roanoke, Va. The information with the flag stated that it was captured by a Naval officer and dontated to the museum several years later.

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-Ryan

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Very nice items.

 

I think this topic thread was a great idea. I am looking forward to seeing other souvenirs brought back by members of our Armed Forces

 

Leigh..

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As a collector/historian/ of military artifacts I also think the "Spoils of War" thread is a good idea........with controls as stated by Admin,

Bobgee

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Corpsmancollector

I also think this sub-forum is a great idea and it has the potential to have some really amazing items shared that might not necassarily have been brought to light on USMF previously. Really looking forward to seeing this develop!

 

Fantastic items, Daniel. Thanks for posting.

 

Will

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This is a group of Japanese Navy Insignia and Badges removed from the Battleship Nagato by a US Sailor at the end of the war and purchased from his son about 3 weeks ago.

 

WOW! Speechless...

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

I'm glad I was able to find this forum since my father served on the USS Delta at the end of the war and was one of the first to board the Nagato when they began repairs to the ship. He has a number really interesting items that he either shipped or carried home after he finished his stint of occupation duty. He's still kicken at 95 and is gradually starting to tell me more about how came into possesion of some of the items. He has a whole bag full of what appear to to proficiency pins as shown earlier in this thread which is interesting because I've been able to find nothing on them until now.

 

He was a yeoman (Navy term for "clerk") on the Delta who was responsible for procurring many of the parts or machinery for completing repairs. he became friendly with who I guess was a quartermaster at the Yokasuka naval base. When he was waiting for material one day he spied a large teak box on a desk and inquired what it was. he was told it was the optics from a periscope off of a suicide sub. After looking at it for a while his friend offered it to him and he quickly jumped at it and hauled it back to the ship. Somehow he managed to get it home and he still has it. i remember as a kid star gazing with it out in the back yard not knowing what it was. I've tried my best to research it on the web to confirm what it is but with no luck. Would anyone have any suggestions on where i might go next?

 

His prized possestion is a lamp he took off the admirals desk in his stateroom. It's just amazing everytime I see it to think about it's connection to Yamamoto planning and executing the attack on Pearl Harbor. He's been offered a sizable amount of money for it but he won't part with it for anything. The story on how he got it was interesting. When he first boarded the Nagato his CO told him that he should head right to the Admirals quarters to get some of the good stuff before it was all gone and he took his advice. Right after he grabbed the lamp and a few other things he took off back to the Delta and went down to the carpentry shop and had them fashion a wooden box to ship the lamp home. When that was done he went right over to the military APO and shipped it right away. He just had a feeling that the quicker he got it off the ship the better. Everyone was taking whatever they could carry even the Admirals. When he returned to the Nagato later in the day an exec officer for Admiral Spruance stopped my dad and questioned him on the lamp saying he knew my dad took it and he should turn it over to him. My dad looked at him and shrugged saying "lamp? I don't have any lamp" he said the exec was fuming and threatened to throw him in the brig if he found out he had it. My dad didn't feel the least bit guilty since he witnessed them hauling away entire silver and china sets. He saw the lamp as rather paultry in comparison. Next time I visit I'll take a few photos and post them here.

 

He also has photos of him standing on the deck just forward of the 16-inch guns. It hardly looked like a deck since it was teak and all warped from the bombing and all the water they must have pured on it to extinguish the fires. Based on the photos I've seen it's a miracle that ship ever made it to the Bikini Islands. It looked like it was good for nothing but scrap and could sink at any time.

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Jack's Son

I wonder how the Japanese Government will feel about this collection? Does anyone think there can be a claim made by their government to ours? I put nothing past one CiC.

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  • 3 years later...

My dad was also stationed on the Nagato for a short while. He was a CPO on the USS Delta and tasked with getting steam up on the Nagato so that could be moved out of the bay and away from American ships. Was not able to get the ship under power but did manage to "liberate" a few items which he sent home. One item he shipped home was an optical device I have not been able to identify.. It appears to be a sighting device that mounted on a large compass. Will try to post a picture when I figure out how. Would appreciate hearing more about folks stationed on the Nagato.

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This is one heck of an interesting thread. One of my collecting friends has a set of Japanese officer's binoculars that came off the Nagato. They were taken by a local vet who found them on the bridge on top of a desk and after living here for decades he moved up to Ohio sometime in the 80s. The binoculars were purchased at a military show there a few years ago by my friend after the vet had passed away. My friend brought it one show to let me take a look at it and fate intervened in a funny way. One of my other friends I see every gun show took a look at the binoculars and from the provenance written by the original sailor and he recognized the name as his former childhood neighbor.

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