Japanese rifle w/grenade fragments OSS soldier bring back

[doyler]

Great items and post

 

Photo/Post # 19 is intresting.

 

Looks like the man is British/Commonweath troop and has a FS Commando knife and a type of camo shirt on.

[blackhawkdown]

Here is a flag he brought home.

[beerdragon54]

Speechless and in love!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[gomorgan]

Thanks for posting Dan, I know I've handled some of this group and am still impressed, you've got a lot of nice militaria, but I think this tops the list..George

[blackhawkdown]

Tending an injury

[blackhawkdown]

Here is his bio from a veteran history book. He died in the 1960's and all the family is deceased.

[blackhawkdown]

Neat photo.

[GIKyle]

whoa! When I think of items that bring war to life, this comes close to the top - thanks for sharing!

 

Kyle

[katieony]

Wow, amazing bring backs! Thanks for sharing the images and his story.

[blackhawkdown]

I have a lot more photos, but these are the best ones. As for what happened to the Japanese soldier, it's a very grim tale. The natives they were working with were head hunters. They did a lot of head hunting, read the book BEHIND JAPANESE LINES WITH THE OSS IN BURMA by Dunlap. I can not relate the story from the vet in a public forum.

[gwb123]

This is exactly the kind of story the Spoils of War Forum was meant for. Thank you for contributing.

[TomP]

Closeup can anyone read Japanese? You can see it was probably folded up and either in the helmet or jacket of the poor fellow.

 

 

Interesting flag. Mostly has well wisher names arrayed around the sun. Information on the right hand side of the flag includes the usual Buunchokyu (Eternal fortune in War) slogan found on most of these flags, the soldier's name who the flag was presented to, the name of a village association, most likely the entity that gave the flag to the soldier, and what is not often seen is a date, possibly when the flag was stamped at a shrine with the shrine seal, or maybe when it was presented to the soldier: September 10, 1943.

 

Very cool bring backs! My grandfather brought back a grenade riddled Arisaka rifle from Tarawa -- still trying to hunt that down.

 

 

Tom

[63 RECON]

Here are some tough looking hombres.

 

 

man! really digging this stuff, great items and pics.

 

You say he was a vet?

 

Is that a cam shirt this guy is wearing or sweat?

[Spy vs Spy]

Whoa, this is probably the best bring back I'we seen. Absolutely amazing.

 

Best

Martin

[Blacksmith]

Yikes, that is cool! Thanks for posting.

[M24 Chaffee]

Great bring backs and thread! The tiger is amazing also!

 

 

Frank

[BROBS]

great post Dan this is Brian from the Iowa forum..

awesome bringbacks and grouping my friend.

 

-Brian

[Eric Queen]

 

 

Interesting flag. Mostly has well wisher names arrayed around the sun. Information on the right hand side of the flag includes the usual Buunchokyu (Eternal fortune in War) slogan found on most of these flags, the soldier's name who the flag was presented to, the name of a village association, most likely the entity that gave the flag to the soldier, and what is not often seen is a date, possibly when the flag was stamped at a shrine with the shrine seal, or maybe when it was presented to the soldier: September 10, 1943.

 

Very cool bring backs! My grandfather brought back a grenade riddled Arisaka rifle from Tarawa -- still trying to hunt that down.

 

 

Tom

The word after the date is kigan (payer) so most likely when the flag was stamped at the shrine.

 

祈願

[bobgee]

Great post! Thanks for sharing these super collectibles. Bobgee

[Eric Queen]

The name on the flag is somewhat hard to read due to the angle and stains but, to me, this is what it looks like. Kakiya (last name) Kouzaburo (first name) Kun (Mr. if young man or boy)

 

垣屋幸三郎君

[sundance]

A rifle, sword and flag - the perfect trifecta. Does it appear that the butt stock has been reattached? You mentioned that you thought it had been knocked off. If someone was holding the rifle - too bad.

[blackhawkdown]

The butt stock is totally missing, looking like it was never on it since coming home. If you look at the shrapnel marks, it had to have been the grenade that knocked it off. The son of the vet showed the rifle to me many years before I was able to aquire it. He told me what his father told him about the action it was acquired in. The vets story was the Japanese charged them, a grenade was thrown killing the enemy. Supposedly there was photos of the incident but I did not see any in the photos I was able to scan. I have well over 100 scans, one is a series of an airplane parachuting supplies to a landing zone.

It's suprising to me a camera was around to record anything. I am sure some of my photos were taken after the surrender, but some before hostilities ended for sure, like the flag souvenir photo.

[Corpsmancollector]

Fantastic grouping!

 

Thank you for taking the time to post and share this with us all,

 

Will

[grovb]

Cool rifle with awesome history. I have one where a bult stuck the stock along the barrell and bent the barrell.

[M1Garandy]

The butt stock is totally missing, looking like it was never on it since coming home. If you look at the shrapnel marks, it had to have been the grenade that knocked it off.

 

Just to clarify, the butt plate is what was knocked off correct?

 

Really neat grouping. How did you manage to get the rifle x-rayed?