Bring back Samurai Sword from the Philippines

[Timberwolf]

Just acquired this bring back samurai sword  via the vets family on eBay. TSgt W.O. Liscomb Jr acquired this sword while serving in the 129th IR’s Anti Tank Co. in the Philippines he was engaged in some heavy fighting against Japanese forces, according to the family they were running out of ammo and were forced to use bayonets; he then obtained the sword from a Japanese officer he bayoneted. From I was told he was very hesitant to talk about his time in combat, and only talked about it at the end of his life. The tassel is of a company grade officer, and the blade is still razor sharp. I’m not a sword expert but felt this group was worth keeping together.

 

Hope you all enjoy!

 

Ben.

 

 

[Kurt Barickman]

It is a real treasure when you can document when and how those swords were acquired in combat. Personally I value those more than than the truly old swords that veterans brought back from surrender piles. Congrats on a very nice PTO Buckeye group.

 

Kurt

[Timberwolf]

23 minutes ago, Kurt Barickman said:

It is a real treasure when you can document when and how those swords were acquired in combat. Personally I value those more than than the truly old swords that veterans brought back from surrender piles. Congrats on a very nice PTO Buckeye group.

 

Kurt

Thanks Kurt! I know a story is a story, but it wasn't anything "wild". I can definitely picture some nasty fighting going on at this stage of the war. I'm glad I was able to keep the story alive.

[Alwaysonthelookout]

Great sword with a great grouping congrats!

 

[dhcoleterracina]

Very nice and well done. The tang is signed, I wonder how old? 

[Brian Dentino]

Ben, very nice addition to your collection.  This has always been one of my "grail" items to get for my own collection.  Beautiful sword and glad that you can now add this to your impressive collection.  From one Hoosier to another, well done sir..........well done!

[Timberwolf]

15 hours ago, dhcoleterracina said:

Very nice and well done. The tang is signed, I wonder how old? 

Thank you! I was told the 1800's, oddly enough I was told it was a period "forgery". Basically a fake signature to pretend a blade was much older than it was to sell it for more money.

13 hours ago, Brian Dentino said:

Ben, very nice addition to your collection.  This has always been one of my "grail" items to get for my own collection.  Beautiful sword and glad that you can now add this to your impressive collection.  From one Hoosier to another, well done sir..........well done!

Thanks Brian! I really appreciate it!

15 hours ago, Alwaysonthelookout said:

Great sword with a great grouping congrats!

 

Thank You!

[dhcoleterracina]

All I know, which isn't much, is that there are unsigned tangs (WW2 period made) and signed tangs which could be hundreds of years old. There are many good authorities out there who would be glad to help. The WAF has a Japanese section. "period forgery" sounds odd but who knows? 

[644td]

What’s the length of the sword? It looks like a wakizashi 

[katieony]

A really great group...congratulations!

[sundance]

Very nice! Congrats. My dad brought back 2 nice Japanese swords from the war. One was the standard NCO factory made one. The other had the cloth wrapped grip and may have been old and made by someone notable. I'll never know. I went off to school and when I returned, he said he had sold them. 

[Timberwolf]

12 hours ago, 644td said:

What’s the length of the sword? It looks like a wakizashi 

I can measure it when I’m back home tonight.

[Timberwolf]

12 hours ago, katieony said:

A really great group...congratulations!

Thank you!!

9 hours ago, sundance said:

Very nice! Congrats. My dad brought back 2 nice Japanese swords from the war. One was the standard NCO factory made one. The other had the cloth wrapped grip and may have been old and made by someone notable. I'll never know. I went off to school and when I returned, he said he had sold them. 

Oh man I’m sorry, hopefully he kept some other stuff though. 

[sundance]

I do have his Ike jacket which I'm thankful to have. He also brought home a Japanese pistol which my mom insisted he give away (to our neighbor cop) because there were 5 little kids running around our home.

[Timberwolf]

2 hours ago, sundance said:

I do have his Ike jacket which I'm thankful to have. He also brought home a Japanese pistol which my mom insisted he give away (to our neighbor cop) because there were 5 little kids running around our home.

Hoping maybe you were able to buy it back?

[sundance]

No, this all happened 50 years ago. The pistol was  probably gone over 65 years ago. Hopefully someone is enjoying those items now. 

[Deuce]

When I first began collecting, I thought that having a large collection of various unrelated pieces of military history was important. As I’ve gotten older, and more of the vets pass away, I’ve realized that preserving the story of the circumstances behind the items capture and how they made it back to the states is more important. Those young men risked their lives in the conflict and the majority of times had a traumatic experience capturing their souvenirs. This grouping is special and I hope that you keep it together! Thank you for sharing

[manayunkman]

Congratulations Ben on a very interesting acquisition.

 

Like Kurt said in an earlier post, battlefield bring backs have far more appeal then swords brought home from warehouses in Japan.

 

I spent quite a few years finding swords out of the bush and only remember one vet who brought back a Naval officers sword after his unit machine gunned down a charge, the point being is that the circumstances are rare and involves an element of danger as well.

[SA1911A1]

52 minutes ago, manayunkman said:

Congratulations Ben on a very interesting acquisition.

 

Like Kurt said in an earlier post, battlefield bring backs have far more appeal then swords brought home from warehouses in Japan.

 

I spent quite a few years finding swords out of the bush and only remember one vet who brought back a Naval officers sword after his unit machine gunned down a charge, the point being is that the circumstances are rare and involves an element of danger as well.

I am going to ramble a little; I consider it a perk of old age. ;)

 

When I was a kid, in the early 60s, WWII vets were the middle-aged men in the community; our fathers, teachers, cops, etc.    I remember that we used to play with  sword that was "Taken off a dead Japanese" by the father of one of my friends.  Now, as an old man, I wonder if the dad would have let us play with his "trophy" or it it was just a blade picked up in a trade.  I don't know, the story could have been real...  The real problem with the men that were doing the actual fighting in the pacific was that they would have had a heck of a problem getting trophies home.  Everything that they owned, they had to carry, on their backs, with them, the blades would have been common on the battlefield.  I suspect that most of the war trophies brought home were brought home by sailors, who, after the fighting stopped, bartered with the Marines or Soldiers for "Japanese" stuff that Marines or Soldiers that had policed up the battlefield after the shooting stopped.  I have always been skeptical about weapons taken from the hands of the enemy in the heat of battle.   I had two uncles, both Marines, and both severely wounded one on Okinawa, the other on Iwo.  Neither of them had any trophies and neither of them would have wanted to own anything "Japanese."  Any mention of anything Japanese would result in the equivalent of turning their heads and spitting. 

 

My experience with growing up when the war vets were the adults in the neighborhood is that exactly none of them talked about battlefield experiences any time, ever.  (maybe among themselves but certainly not in the presence of others) My favorite teacher of all of my school days was one of Patton's tank drivers during the Battle of the Bulge.  He was a wonderful teacher, he was brilliant, but was quite insane!  (I say that  while holding the man in the greatest esteem)  It was the days before PTSD had been "discovered."  The only thing that he ever said about the war, was a comment about Patton (who he apparently disliked a great deal) it was the old Patton insult; "Our Blood and his Guts."   It is unfortunate that this man did not live to old age; like many combat vets of the day, he only found solace in a bottle and it led to an early death.  One of the uncounted war deaths that happened long after the war was won.

[manayunkman]

Not everyone had the opportunity to bring one home from combat that’s for sure. 
 

For every sword I found I had countless stories of swords left behind.

[P-59A]

1 hour ago, SA1911A1 said:

I am going to ramble a little; I consider it a perk of old age. ;)

 

When I was a kid, in the early 60s, WWII vets were the middle-aged men in the community; our fathers, teachers, cops, etc.    I remember that we used to play with  sword that was "Taken off a dead Japanese" by the father of one of my friends.  Now, as an old man, I wonder if the dad would have let us play with his "trophy" or it it was just a blade picked up in a trade.  I don't know, the story could have been real...  The real problem with the men that were doing the actual fighting in the pacific was that they would have had a heck of a problem getting trophies home.  Everything that they owned, they had to carry, on their backs, with them, the blades would have been common on the battlefield.  I suspect that most of the war trophies brought home were brought home by sailors, who, after the fighting stopped, bartered with the Marines or Soldiers for "Japanese" stuff that Marines or Soldiers that had policed up the battlefield after the shooting stopped.  I have always been skeptical about weapons taken from the hands of the enemy in the heat of battle.   I had two uncles, both Marines, and both severely wounded one on Okinawa, the other on Iwo.  Neither of them had any trophies and neither of them would have wanted to own anything "Japanese."  Any mention of anything Japanese would result in the equivalent of turning their heads and spitting. 

 

My experience with growing up when the war vets were the adults in the neighborhood is that exactly none of them talked about battlefield experiences any time, ever.  (maybe among themselves but certainly not in the presence of others) My favorite teacher of all of my school days was one of Patton's tank drivers during the Battle of the Bulge.  He was a wonderful teacher, he was brilliant, but was quite insane!  (I say that  while holding the man in the greatest esteem)  It was the days before PTSD had been "discovered."  The only thing that he ever said about the war, was a comment about Patton (who he apparently disliked a great deal) it was the old Patton insult; "Our Blood and his Guts."   It is unfortunate that this man did not live to old age; like many combat vets of the day, he only found solace in a bottle and it led to an early death.  One of the uncounted war deaths that happened long after the war was won.

My Grandpaw was a great guy but he was the same way. He only talked about the war once with me and that was only about his experience on the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbour for a high school history project. He never brought anything back from the war, never owned anything made in Japan and he never forgave what they did. My Grandparents slept in different rooms due to his nightmares. A part of the price paid.

[tthen]

 "I suspect that most of the war trophies brought home were brought home by sailors, who, after the fighting stopped, bartered with the Marines or Soldiers"

My dad was one of those sailors. It was traded away by his youngest brother for car parts after he got it home.

[Deuce]

8 hours ago, SA1911A1 said:

I am going to ramble a little; I consider it a perk of old age. ;)

 

When I was a kid, in the early 60s, WWII vets were the middle-aged men in the community; our fathers, teachers, cops, etc.    I remember that we used to play with  sword that was "Taken off a dead Japanese" by the father of one of my friends.  Now, as an old man, I wonder if the dad would have let us play with his "trophy" or it it was just a blade picked up in a trade.  I don't know, the story could have been real...  The real problem with the men that were doing the actual fighting in the pacific was that they would have had a heck of a problem getting trophies home.  Everything that they owned, they had to carry, on their backs, with them, the blades would have been common on the battlefield.  I suspect that most of the war trophies brought home were brought home by sailors, who, after the fighting stopped, bartered with the Marines or Soldiers for "Japanese" stuff that Marines or Soldiers that had policed up the battlefield after the shooting stopped.  I have always been skeptical about weapons taken from the hands of the enemy in the heat of battle.   I had two uncles, both Marines, and both severely wounded one on Okinawa, the other on Iwo.  Neither of them had any trophies and neither of them would have wanted to own anything "Japanese."  Any mention of anything Japanese would result in the equivalent of turning their heads and spitting. 

 

My experience with growing up when the war vets were the adults in the neighborhood is that exactly none of them talked about battlefield experiences any time, ever.  (maybe among themselves but certainly not in the presence of others) My favorite teacher of all of my school days was one of Patton's tank drivers during the Battle of the Bulge.  He was a wonderful teacher, he was brilliant, but was quite insane!  (I say that  while holding the man in the greatest esteem)  It was the days before PTSD had been "discovered."  The only thing that he ever said about the war, was a comment about Patton (who he apparently disliked a great deal) it was the old Patton insult; "Our Blood and his Guts."   It is unfortunate that this man did not live to old age; like many combat vets of the day, he only found solace in a bottle and it led to an early death.  One of the uncounted war deaths that happened long after the war was won.

 

6 hours ago, P-59A said:

My Grandpaw was a great guy but he was the same way. He only talked about the war once with me and that was only about his experience on the USS Oklahoma at Pearl Harbour for a high school history project. He never brought anything back from the war, never owned anything made in Japan and he never forgave what they did. My Grandparents slept in different rooms due to his nightmares. A part of the price paid.

My family member that served in the war was the same way. He was a combat medic in the 13th infantry regiment, 8th infantry division. I was very young when I met him but I did get to meet with him a few times before he passed away. I tried to record an interview speaking about his experiences the time I saw him before he passed. He opened up a little about the war but it was still pretty generic. He was a combat medic, the Hurtgen Forest was traumatic, they saw the remains of the Malmedy Masacre, they didn’t take SS prisoners after that, etc. He never went into great detail on it, he just covered the wave tops. At the time I was frustrated about not knowing more of his first hand accounts. I’ve honestly learned more about him after he passed by piecing together bits of information that I’ve collected on him. 
 

When I joined the Army, went oversees, saw the horrors of what humans can do to each other, and lost two of my close friends, I began to understand why people don’t like to talk about it. There is nothing glorious about war. 

 

I still have the recording of that interview with him. One day I’ll transcribe it and post it on the forum. There’s still a lot that can be learned from them. 

[Timberwolf]

20 hours ago, manayunkman said:

Congratulations Ben on a very interesting acquisition.

 

Like Kurt said in an earlier post, battlefield bring backs have far more appeal then swords brought home from warehouses in Japan.

 

I spent quite a few years finding swords out of the bush and only remember one vet who brought back a Naval officers sword after his unit machine gunned down a charge, the point being is that the circumstances are rare and involves an element of danger as well.

Thanks Pete! Probably not the most high end sword but like you said, the element of combat makes it unique.

[KurtA]

I theorize the largest  % of  war souvenirs were acquired in the months after the war ended and mailed home while the soldier was serving occupation duty/waiting to be discharged/sent home.