If you've watched a few episodes and feel like I've earned it, be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss any new content when it comes out. Also be sure to check out The Gettysburg Museum of History and their store at gettysburgmuseumofhistory.com. Thanks!!!
War souvenirs of all types have been a reality since the beginning of human history. For anyone who says otherwise hasn't educated themselves on the history of warfare.
28 / 5.000 So they were right? By saying this you become an accomplice. The level of brutality of the war in the Pacific was determined by the total and horrific racism of the US troops. Racism encouraged by the highest army ranks. A lot of GI and pilots was simply serial killer, even in the Vietnam war. Do you remember My Lai massacre? USA stay home, is better for the planet.
War came to the U.S. and the U.S. responded in kind. To win wars you must become war. My great Uncle was killed in the Pacific. Another fought and was wounded on Iwo Jima. His stories were said to be unbelievable when it came to the enemy. The Japanese were merciless. And yes JD, I am calm
Oh please cut the apologist bullshit, they were literally hunting for human remains, this mindset went on in both Korea an Vietnam because Asians were seen by Americans as subhuman. Go read about the No Gun Ri bridge massacre of korean civilians, and orders given to US air force strafing civilian refugees fleeing south...
@@TheHistoryUnderground I keep telling people that, it's just hidden away. I've known some people from the Baton death March that just finally got there metals after they passed which is really sad
I lived on Okinawa in the late 60's. We used to play in old war bunkers and airfields. We knew not to touch old ordinance and to tell our Dad's if we found any. Some of them were pretty creepy.
After the war, my grandfather brought back one of those signed Japanese flags. Unfortunately, my dad and his brother were messing with it one day and left it out on the front porch of their house. A neighborhood dog got ahold of it and ripped it to shreds. When my grandfather got home and saw what had happened, he quietly went around and picked up all the pieces and went to his workshop. He then cried, from my dad’s perspective, for what felt like hours. It was one of only a handful of times my dad ever saw my grandfather cry. After that night it was never spoken of again, but my dad always felt horrible about what happened.
Bear this in mind regarding "Dark Souvenirs". Many soldiers were like my dad. They were dirt poor, uneducated, farmers. My mother tied my older sister to her back and picked cotton all day. My dad butchered hogs, skinned cattle, and anything else he could. Their upbringing was brutal. I have sugar-coated this . My family members and neighbors were all cut from the same cloth. When it came to being brutal, we gave as good as we got. Thanks for your outstanding work.
These artifacts help tell the story that needs to be remembered. I'm glad you showed us these items. Not to glorify death but to understand the people involved.
BTW, one of the Kanji signed flags that he captured was much later sold to a fellow in Australia, who got the kanji translated and then was able to contact some of the families of the soldiers, who were from an outfit in Tokyo. The families had never found out what had happened to their family members after they had gone off to war, and so 60+ years later were able to learn that they had ended up finally in New Guinea...
It's important to see these things as a reminder, that war should be a country and its people's last resort. Thank you to all that served, and did nothing less than save the world.
From what I was told from vets from WW2, Korea and Vietnam taking skulls was quite common. They saw it as no different than a deer head on the wall. My Green beret taekwondo instructor said one of his buddies from Georgia collected skulls in Vietnam and took one home with him.
Well done, JD. My father fought at Okinawa. Rarely would he ever speak of it, But we would hear his dreams. The only thing he showed us was a picture of him and his men at the surrender ceremony.
Seen your Facebook post on this video and your wife was right, think TH-cam will demonetize this episode also and probably restrict it as well. The fact is it happened and it is not being swept under the rug, this is history of this period and should not be hidden from the young in class. A very good and respectful as could be presented representation of those primal events. Good video, hope it is used in some classes.
Great video, it educates us on a different level. I personally believe we cannot under any circumstances judge what those men did. The stress probably would crush us yet they did their duty, came home and managed to carry on with those experiences buried deep in there souls. We are better, because men like those lived among us. Godspeed to all. 🙏🇺🇸
Correct. He mentioned propaganda in the US mentioning they were considered inhumane. The same goes for Japanese propaganda. US men and women were portrayed in the same light. Dark history indeed.
The differences between the Pacific Theater and the European Theater are absolutely incredible! It's also very interesting to see how differently the Japanese operated during the conflict compared to the Germans, despite both being part of the Axis Powers. Thanks for sharing this!
JD my hats off to you and Erik. You’ve taken a subject that is often overlooked or disregarded and shined the light of truth upon it. Even knowing that this will probably get demonetized or worse, as has happened before, you gentlemen still endeavor to show history as it truly is. It’s sad that people cannot look upon videos such as this as the informative, instructional, and educational material that it is, but are only able to react on an emotional level. Yes it’s hard to see and hear things like this, but if history doesn’t make you uncomfortable at times then it’s only propaganda.
I agree. The repression of true history should never be the norm. Even the dark and gritty aspects of the past should be brought into the light, no matter how it may reflect upon us.
Thank you JD and Erik for showing these souvenirs. This serie seems to become more variant and abundant with every new episode! The Kanji issue, however, also grows more abundant and complicated. 😂 This time, I'll try to analyze just one object or topic at each comment section, in hopes of making my immature thoughts more easier to digest. First, I'll try to cover the officer's belongings that didn't have enough notation for further understanding, at 2:00. The green paper box in the middle left is actually not a cigarette pack, but for medicine package. While the English title "Jintan" is quite obvious, on the top of the English title is some white Kanji that says "口腔殺菌" & "滋強劑." The first phrase roughly means "Oral Sterilizer," and the latter "Tonics." (Disclaimer: My poor English might hinder the translation/understanding.) Futher proof are at the bottom, while the first line of white Kanji writes "常備、救急、護身藥," which roughly means "officinal, emergancy, gardian medication." Moreover, in the last line of white Kanji, "銀粒仁丹," is a medication that is still being produced today by a company called 森下仁丹. It was founded in Feb, 1893. I find the modern package on its official website: www\jintan\co\jp/healthcare/product/jintan/ Also, there's a Taiwanese history website that has kept a photograph of the old package (Taiwanese version): collections mth\gov\tw/CollectionContent.aspx?a=132&rno=2010.031.0288.0023 (Please replace "\" with "." TH-cam autoblock is quite annoying sometimes.) To the top right, the Kanji on the little green bottle is too small, so I'll skip it. BTW, this bottle must have been contained in the green paper box. Since similar bottles are shown beside the company's packages. To the next top right, the black Kanji on the orange box says "光," which I believe it means "the light." There's a clear sun pattern on the box, with clouds floating around, so it makes total sense to put the "light" word on it. There's no more obvious evidence to distinguish what this box was for, so I'll leave it here. The paperwork beneath the paper currency is for accounting purpose. In the middle of its cover, there's 6 Kanji from top to bottom, printing "保險料領收帳." From the end first, "帳" means the accounting paperwork/book. "領收" equals to "receive." And "保險料" is "Insurrance fee." So basically, it was a paperwork designed for keeping account of receiving insurance fee. That explains the reason for all the paper money. I'll continue the rest Kanji-related subjects by replying under this thread.
My father was in the pacific during the war. Had many stories to tell. One story was specifically dark. He and his platoon were tasked to clear an island of the Japanese. So they offered one American dollar for every pair of Japanese ears, to the natives of that island. Although he did not bring such dark trophies back, he said there were many, no doubt who did.
Well did he say there was a pile of ears and how much they had to shell out?Sorry if I seem direct I grey up hearing stories from 8 years old on up...after your around them its almost a bit like you were there...when you carry your grandads burdens like I did the shit is very real.
@@samuraisakura9064 that is a two sided response. I’am sure if you interviewed your own, you would be unpleasantly surprised to find some evil that lurks within!
Well done! Erik Is so knowledgeable about things. But the way you handled the dark photos of skulls….well done! It’s definitely a lesson in contrast to the touchy geeky lesson in most schools. Really illustrates how brutal the war was~tragic!
@@TheHistoryUnderground I agree, I certainly wasn’t until I started reading first hand accounts and memoirs. While I make no claim as an “expert” on anything-it has expanded my understanding. Seeing this channel and reading the memoirs = mindblown
When you see someone kill your best friends beside you I guess it would make you change pretty quick .I've heard stories were the vets from the pacific were they said it was a shock but they got over it quick they was to busy trying to stay alive to dwell on it to much at the time .people seem to forget that they were kids imagine going through those things they did.thank you to all vets
An old mates father died in Vietnam and a friend of my mates dad went and brung home to Australia the skull of his first kill. That means he skinned gutted and cleaned it. It’s in his display cabinet and has a bullet hole in the front and a big hole at the back.
You be surprised, l saw agrouping of 82nd air borne each with a necklace of ears and penises standing behind a vc buried with airborne patches nailed to his feet. That was 1968 when l ŵas in the USN.
Ears in Vietnam - skulls during WWII - war is hell and once you're dead, well... how soldiers prepared for battle, and perchance to die, is fascinating - glad you have the courage to show this Recondo. Keep preserving.
My family recently found a rising sun flag my grandfather brought back. He was a corpsman, and according to the flag involved in all the pivotal battles. His flag belongs in a museum, but rests in a box full of belongings by my uncle. Rest In Peace, Doc Sego!
I have a Japanese bayonet my father brought back from Tarawa, a brass anchor he took off a Japanese tank and a Japanese flag along with a Japanese canteen from Saipan. When he passed away in 2003 he still had the shrapnel he got on Iwo Jima.
@@TheHistoryUnderground got two Purple Hearts. One of earliest memories when I was still in diapers was watching my dad sit on the living room floor with his shirt off and my mom had a bottle and cotton balls. She was taking slivers of metal from his back that had worked their way out and cleaning with alcohol. That was twenty years after the wounds.
Yeah, that's why I don't judge. What the men on both sides went through is unthinkable. As combat vet, I can tell you that it changes a person. I now understand my granddad better than ever. He was a three war combat vet (WWII, Korea & Vietnam). Listen, to be able to kill the enemy and impose your will, dehumanization is a necessary component. They have crossed a line which has made you decide to use deadly force. However dark you may find these things, they were not as dark as being there. After all, what is the difference between willingly mowing down men by the thousands landing on a beach...or boiling a skull of the enemy? It's all dark. Finally, the Japanese were as dark as the Americans. They took skulls and fingers hone. They posed with dead Americans. No one is 'noble'. We're all flawed humans.
Amazing how all of these items were used or worn by enemy soldiers. It definitely paints a picture how even relieved they must've been to have captured the flags. I'm sure it was no easy task
Unless you have gone to war, hunted and being hunted, it will be impossible for a civilian to understand how a combatant's mindset changes. Iraq was nothing compared to World War Two, but the constant missions and reports or observations of Iraqi attrocities and perversion resulted in my ceasing to view Iraqis as humans. I would imagine the animoosity was 100% more intense during WW2, especially considering the fanaticism and depravity of the Japaese during the war. On a happier note, great work. Thank you for your high-quality videos.
I have always categorized the pacific theater of world war two on a totally different level in terms of the psychological effect it had on the men who fought There and also when you talk about the Insanity and the brutality when it comes to the Imperial Japanese army, That was on a totally different level that nobody can understand.
As always, great stuff JD. Any plans on tackling the Aleutian Islands and the conflict that took place there in the future? I can't imagine it's a tremendously easy place to get to, but if anyone would do a fantastic job telling the story, its you and your channel!
My Grandfather brought back some things. Coins, sword, Type 38 carbine, map pamphlet, crystal or glass wax stamp. Philippine carved mohagany bolo knife. A few years ago we had some Japanese foreign exchange students stay with us. I gave them the coins.
My dad served USN as a Frogman / Seal in the Pacific Theater. Received 3 Purple Hearts, Silver Star and 2 Bronze Stars. He had a Japanese sniper bullet in his back to close to his spine to remove. He retired from the Navy after 35 years. I saw lots of things brought back from the war but never heard much about what happened. He didn't like talking about it except for the time he spent on the USS California. Do have pictures. Some pretty bad scenes of war. The US Marines and Sailors were bad ass .
My father was a SeaBee in the Pacific. His first island he arrived on was Guadalcanal and his last was Leyte Gulf. I do know that he brought back 4 small Japanese flags with writing on them. He said that these were on the Japanese soldiers I think for luck. All throughout his 4 years he said that it was brutal and the brutality he saw was mind numbing which he refused to go into detail. He also mentioned that the Merchant Marines were vicious as they didn’t have to “play by the same rules” as our military did.
When I was an elementary school student ( a long time ago) my grandfather was the local fire chief. He lived in a part of town that might be considered lower class today. But one day he was called to a neighbor’s property where an explosion had occurred in a shed on the back of the property. On investigating they found two kids were killed in the shed and had apparently set off a grenade they found in the shed. Someone had apparently brought it home from the war.
I mean its dark and questionable till you are in a situation where your friends or someone you just met the day before , are knifed to death in there fox hole every night , you completely dehumanize the enemy, taking skulls was seen as revenge. what so many people dont understand, ( not the speaker in the vid, just in general), is that you cant look at it with a modern viewpoint , history ,(and war for that matter), is dirty, brutal, and sometimes inhuman, but in my opinion, it is better to learn it than forget and have history repeat itself yet again. love your videos keep it up!
I still have all the trophies that my Father and Uncle brought back from the Pacific Theater, WW2. These include an Arisaka rifle and bayonet, cigarette box, paper money and the top of a japanese marine's skull made into an ashtray.
Outstanding content as always. You guys get this stuff down on a personal level so well. The perfect learning vehicle for American youth to know what their forbears did to preserve their freedom. BRAVO GENTS!!!
@@TheHistoryUnderground I send them to everyone I know that have children or grands of any age. I also constantly share them on my FB page when Im not in FB jail for upping kleenexs stock and making snowflakes cry.
Just a hint, for the flags signed on both sides. sandwich it between two pieces of Low-E glass. This will add some protection from fading more and allow both side to be seen without excessive handling.
My grandpa fought the Japanese throughout the Pacific. Island to Island ending with Okinawa. He had nightmares almost nightly until the day he passed away my grandmother told me. She would get jolted awake with him screaming and yelling in the middle of the night often. War is hell no matter how you look at it. But War in the Pacific and Europe during WW2 was as bad as it gets just like Vietnam Korea and Iraq and Afghanistan. Was is just brutal
My uncle was a Navy medic in the Pacific. He only spoke about the war with me one time, that was when I joined the Army. It was to say the least brutal, and terrifying. I understand why those men collected the trophies they did. My uncle only brought home a few flags and rifles and a helmet.
my grandfather fought in ww1,was gassed in the muese argon battle. came home in September 1919.my dad was in the coast guard in ww2,was a gunner on the use mayo, brought back U.S. POW's from Europe ,made to trips from US to TOKYO to bring back US POW's from Japan ,brought back several rifles. helments etc . I fought in Vietnam,brought back some stuff too. I have always thought that if I had served in ww2 that I would have done anything I could to be sent to the European theatre and not the pacific. all war is HELL... but the pacific war was a special form of hell. they were all "SOS OF THE GREATEST GENERATION!!!
Thank you for always presenting us with excellent content. It's a sensitive subject but knowing what nightmares these men walked through on a daily basis, it's not surprising what extremes they were driven to. Watching these videos regarding souvenirs and bring back trophies I've often wondered if this was something that was also a practice in the reverse with the Germans and the Japanese. I'm sure it happened, just not something you hear much about.
OMG J.D. a local fella, who is long gone, spoke in 1993 to my high school history class along with my other vets including my grandpa, and he had a 1000 stitch belt. I haven't heard of that belt since back then. His ancestors are still around local, if I see any of them I will be sure to ask if they have that. Man I hope they do.
I know in our comfort of modern existence that the dark souvenir taking seems macabre but I do not fault either side. War is the underbelly of human existence and terrible as it seems we have to lower our expectations as most of us have not experienced such an event so horrific
To protect your own, you become an individual that no body would recognize. War is kill or be killed. Wars are horrible for all involved. But at the end of the day, we gotta do what we gotta do. The Japanese and Nazis were ruthless and us Americans had to respond in kind 🇺🇸
My grandpa lied about his age and joined the marines at 16, right after Pearl Harbor, fought on Guadalcanal (turned 17 there and was wounded), Peleliu, and Okinawa (wounded again and received the silver star). He brought back so much stuff that my mom had a large display case of Japanese swords, 3 or 4 rifles, 2 pistols, a couple of helmets, canteens, shoulder patches, battle flags, basically at least one of everything a Japanese soldier would carry into combat. Unfortunately my moms house was broken into and everything was stolen except a prayer book which had the blood of the soldier it came from on it. I kept that for years and my aunt found an organization that tried to find the relatives of the fallen Japanese soldiers to return their personal items like the prayer book. We gave it to the organization and eventually we received a letter saying that they found the soldiers family and returned it to them, with a note of thanks from the family. It's crazy to me that the family said thank you to the family of the man that probably killed their relative.
@@TheHistoryUnderground Yes, I would've loved to have been able to donate it to a museum it was an amazing collection. That case and my grandpas books on American history made me into the history nerd I am today. Great channel and I hope to see more stuff about the pacific theater.
@@stephenm4138 you're welcome, my great-uncle was mine he was a fighter pilot. He was so messed up after he came back from the War that the family kind of disowned him but I loved him so much that's why I have his Japanese sniper rifle a souvenir he picked up. I'm glad your grandpa is your role model we need more people like you and me out there
Originally I'd like my text lined up in one reply. Because of the hyperlink autoblock, causing my replies to disappear, I guess I'll have to seperate them in multiple comments, or condense my subjects into very long one. Sorry for possible trouble caused by this manner. The second Kanji-related topic I like to talk about, is the information plate at 2:58. According to the printed words at the lefthand side in this frame angle, which should be at the bottom if it's in the correct position, there's the name of the manufacturer, 櫻護謨株式會社. Specifically, at the end of this company name, "製" means "made by." 株式會社/株式会社 is overall the Kanji for joint-stock company. 櫻護謨 is its actual name, translated as Sakura Rubber. For those who are interested to find out more, you can copy the Kanji mentioned above to google it. You'll find the company's official website, along with a page stating its history. Yes, just like Jintan/森下仁丹 at 2:05, this company is still running today. There's an English version at the top-right of the website. On the company's history page, it clearly states that durring WWII, the organization was "Designated a munitions factory by the Japanese Army and Navy." It's not hard to imagine, since rubber was and is one of the most essencial war materials. What shocks me, is the fact that this company is still producing military-related products today. In its aerospace department, they produce components for "rockets, satellites, (and) jet engines." I don't know if this metal information plate had been found with the bomber fabric, or they were put together simply because they were brought in by the same veteran or because of similar nature. I doult that for the rubber component manufacturer to have its own identity plate on every small component of the bomber/airplane. Yet, neither am I an engineer, nor am I familiar with Japanese detail-oriented culture to that particular extend. So, more verification is needed. P.S I'll try to open up a new reply thread under this comment. If it doesn't work, please find my next randomly arranged comment for more Kanji-related subjects.
At 3:58, Eric and the message explain quite clear about the objects. I'll put on some more notes on the Kanji of the bags that hold these memorials. With the lock of hair, at the bottom side of the top right, the two Kanji "髮毛" also indicates the content. "毛" is the general term for "hair," and "髮" is specifically designated for hair on head. Differently, the Kanji at the bottom right doesn't specify its content. "御守/Omamori" is Japanese amulet, commonly seen in shrines or temples. Yet the meaning of the terminology is not necessarily gods-related. "御/O" is an honorific prefix, oftenly seen in royal or VIP cases. The main meaning lies in "守/mamori," which roughly means 'guardian' or 'protection.' So, in this case, the owner of this memorial must had regarded the cremation ashes as his (assumedly male) guardian, since Japanese shrines and temples doesn't, or should I say, can't offer random remains as amulets.
As for the Senninbari at 6:33. The term itself is interesting in its own way. 千人針 is the Kanji for Senninbari, and it can be understood seperatedly. "千/Sen" literally means 'a thousand.' "人/Nin" means 'person.' "針" is a little bit tricky, because when used by itself, it should be pronounced as "hari," which means 'needle.' As there can be multiple pronounciations for one Kanji, due to foreign/Chinese influence and the adopting process of Chinese characters, in this case, "針" is pronounced as 'bari,' which I believe have a similar meaning to 'needle.' Sewing-related, perhaps. I belive the specific Senninbari showed in this video is a haramaki/腹卷き, a bellyband. "腹/Hara" stands for abdomen, and "卷き/maki" is a type of Japanese clothing that keep the belly warm. The term Senninbari doesn't necessarily imply the clothing type. As long as there're thousand stitches, it can be generalized as Senninbari. The reason for the tiger pattern was associated with a Japanese folktale. It is said that tigers are able to travel thousands of meters (or yards, kilometers, whichever the case.) and return without significant change.(虎は千里往って千里還る) The key metaphor is 'coming home soundly.' According to Senninbari's Japanese wikipedia: Heartbreakingly, since Japanese official/military had publicly forbidden any mention of "safely return," regarding it as a symbol of defeatism, common people who wished to send their prayers without speaking out loud, found ambiguous ways to express their blessings towards their loved ones. This correlates with the fact that all these flags or Senninbari only have prapaganda type slogans, like "武運長久/eternal good luck in war" or "七生報國/7 lives for the country," with no sign of intimacy affection words, such as "be safe" or "return in one piece." This practice had started since Russo-Japanese War (according to Japanese wikipedia), from 1904! That just shows how twisted Japanese collective social awareness can be, thrive, and last... At 7:17, this prayer strip is also a 御守/Omamori. If you turn it upside down, you'll recognize these Kanji at the very end. (Now its at the top at this filmed position.) I've heard these omamori/御守 would be sewed to the Senninbari as part of its blessings, so I'm not quite sure the upside down position was a purposed meaningful one, or simply a mistake. The type/rank of the shrine which provided the amulet/omamori is also shown, 鄉社御前神社. If we decode it backwards, "神社/Jinja" is literally the Shinto shrine. "御前" is hard to interpret in this case, since in different context, it can be understood/pronounced very differently. My guess would be it still serves as an honorific term, with no specific meaning. "鄉社/Gosha" is not ambiguous hard, like "御前," yet context hard. According to the Modern System of Ranked Shinto Shrines (近代社格制度/Kindai Shakaku Seido), published in 1871, all Japanese Shinto shrines can be categorized into three groups: 1. 官社/Kansha: Official government shrines which pay tribute to famous Shinto Gods or VIPs. Like the famous tourist attraction, Fushimi Inari Taisha/伏見稲荷大社, or the infamous Yasukuni Shrine/靖国神社. These usually have specific names. 2. 諸社/Shosha: Also known as 民社/Minsha, which can literally be translated as 'people's shrines.' These scatter around the nation, providing local service to neighberhood people. Some of them have specific names, yet some are lost in time. 3. 無格社/Mukakusha: Shinto shrines that can't be ranked as the previous two, can't be known for sure which god it is dedicated to, or doesn't have a clear relationship with nearby people. 無格/Mukaku means 'ungraded." The first two categories also have their own hierarchical system. "鄉社/Gosha" belongs to 諸社/Shosha, roughly in the middle class. It serves an area no larger/higher than a prefecture, yet no smaller/lower than a village. Since the omamori at 7:17 doesn't bare a specific shrine title, along with the "Gosha/鄉社" designation, it probably had been given to the owner by his neighboring local shrine. The one at 7:42 is not anyway ordinary, though. (Although it's also upside down.) The Kanji "御守/Omamori" needs no more introduction. What makes this omamori so unique, is the shrine it came from. According to the same shrine ranking system, 熱田神宮/Atsuta Shrine belongs to the highest rank of 官社/Kansha, the official govermnental shrines. The reason why, is because it possesses one of Japanese Three Sacred Treasure, THE SWORD 草薙劍/Kusanagi no Tsurugi. This one piece of three Japanese Imperial Regalia is the main worship of this particular shrine. The close relationship with Japanese royals is reflected on the Paulownia Seal above (now below) its name, one of the most famous Japanese Seal that symbols high ranking government. (Its variant is used as Japan's National Seal.) As the practice of worshiping a sword suggests, Atsuta Shrine has been constantly related with warfare. One of the most well-known history about this shrine is in 1560, when Oda Nobunaga had to face one of, if not the most threatening enemy in his life, Imagawa Yoshimoto, he chose to gather his soldiers in Atsuta Shrine. After praying, Oda led his troops to ambush Imagawa in a sudden heavy storm, winning with a 1-6 disadvantage. Many of the following tactitians have tried to mimic Oda's success in the Battle of Okehazama, but few of them actually make it through. This explains why this strip/omamori was placed between the two Kanji, "武運," the fortune of war. With the example of probably the most famous Japanese historical figure as his back, one could imagine his blessings on the battlefield. (Ironically....)
Moving on to the next. At 8:35, the one Erik holding in his hand is another amulet (omamori/御守). You can find the "御守" upside-down Kanji at the top of this filmed angle, with the character "守" been folded in half due to the paper crease. "神社/Jinja" can also be found just right above Erik's lefthand thumb, also at an upside-down position. From the camera shot, it's impossible to know the name/title for this shrine. However, judging by the material and the rather simple form, compared to the Atsuta Shrine omamori on the Senninbari at 7:42, where the omamori came from is probably a lower rank shrine in 諸社/Shosha category. What's interesting about this amulet, is that it may not be warfare-related. The middle four Kanji between "神社" and "御守" illustrate a different purpose. From the camera angle (although the Kanji is upside-down), the left two Kanji, "開運," might not seem too out-of-context from the first glance. It literally means "make one's luck," without specifying what kind of forturne. (Unlike "武運長久," since the word "武" is warfare/fighting specific.) On the contrary, the right "延壽" is very, very weird to be a battlefield blessing. Afterall, what it means is "lengthen one's life." To explain this amulet's existence, the polytheistic nature of Shintoism needs to be understood. There're multiple gods in charge of different issues in Shintoism. Japanese people will go to different shrines for different wishes. So, the omamori a person can have won't be just one or few. Depends on how many wishes he wants to accomplish, or how badly he wants one specific wish to come true, a person can have multiple omamori with dazzling purposes, or a pile of omamori with only single blessing. I believe the case at 8:36 belongs to the former. On a side note, some believe that omamori have time limits. He/She needs to renew the amulet in order to keep the blessing effect. In other words, buy a new omamori from the shrine. From my superficial understanding, I believe this is one of the financial income for these Shinto shrines. (Reminds me of Middle Age Europe, regardless of polytheism or monotheism.) The fact that a Japanese may have multiple amulet/omamori also explains the existence of the bag at 8:29. Too much prayers/blessings can be confusing sometimes. One thing I failed to mention at the 3:58 section, the omamori containing loved one's hair/ashes, is that Japanese omamori can be in a wild variety of forms. Although amulets from shrines and temples still dominate the majority, the polytheistic context of Shintoism makes amulet monopoly impossible. As long as the subject holds strong enough conception to someone, it can be regarded as omamori. This is demonstrated by these written papers at 8:40. Even with merely words on paper, no trace of any physical material, as long as people believe in it, these can be deemed as omamori. BTW, the practice of believing in the mysterious power of specially-written calligraphy partially originates from Chinese Daoism dating a thousand years back.
Thank you again for showing the things the soldiers brought back. For those who say the U S soldiers were as bad as their Japanese need to go back and look at The Bataan Death March or Pearl Harbor or any other place they wanted to to take. The Japanese were brutal to there prisoners. I don’t condone what the US did but they were at war. They saw things no one should ever see. What they did was their way of getting back at a enemy that had done such evil to them and the civilians around them.
They were just brutal, period. If our nastiness was because we were from the States, then why didn't it happen over in Europe? Because our troops were by and large not treated like that by the German. Big difference. The German was civilized, the Japanese soldier? Not so much.
They totally were, I was at an award ceremony for a gentleman in his 90s about 30 years ago he survived the Baton Death March he was pretty honest about how brutal things were. He was there to receive four medals. Everybody who was in the death march received medals. I didn't know this gentleman I just knew that I had to go and when I saw him I saluted him after all he was a brother in arms in the Marine Corps
They 100 percent deserve it. Many of the Japanese soldiers had just got back from China and Korea diddling woman and kids. So it’s very safe to say the imperial soldiers there were all abusers at the time. Besides most of them got away with their crimes and now you got the world thinking the US was bad for doing this war trophy and atom bomb stuff, but ignore the millions slashed and assaulted civilians by the Japanese.
It really does, my family disowned my a great uncle because he would drink all the time. It was kind of sad but I remember a lot of stories he had from World War II and yes it does make you mad because people didn't see that until they Iraq War and took it seriously, just look at the Vietnam War and the Korean War
Taking skulls of the enemy dead may be a relatively ancient practice, but it wasn't the first instance of skulls taken even during the 20th century. From WW1, they are plenty of photos showing Allied troops with German skulls.
6:04 agreed it definitely not true! The taking human remains is definitely morally wrong. But the Japanese military in ww2 were literally monsters. The Japanese murdered Chinese women and children, slaughtered and beheaded allied POWs and were just as bad as the Nazis. It upsets me when I see videos on TH-cam where people say the war trophy flags should be returned and how the “poor” Japanese soldier died. Never forget what they did to innocent civilians and and cowardly attack on Pearl Harbor. Now when I say never forget, I don’t me hold a grudge on the peaceful Japan of today, they are our allies and have turned their country around. I mean never forget the brutal crimes and criminals of the past.
War crimes were commited by all sides but the japanese encouraged it among their troops and the U.S. troops knew this which explains how they felt about the enemy.
My father managed a large farm owned by a Pacific Marine in the late '70s/early '80s. This particular Marine had an entire room dedicated to his time in the War. He had an ornate candy dish in the collection that was made from the top of a fallen Japanese soldier's skull. He didn't take that particular head or fashion it into the dish, but rather traded for it while in country.
People who never experienced war and knowing the enemy will never understand what they do. Frankly non veterans should just shut their hole thinking our men were no better! War is not tame. Nor friendly or beautiful. This is all the cost of war. Great video history my friend!😊
Thanks for sharing this excellent collection with us Erik and JD, some of the artefacts made for uncomfortable viewing, but they need to be seen by as many people as possible, it is history and history needs to be preserved and the stories told, not by Hollywood or by the commercial filmmakers but by people who have a passion for the reality of war, not being shy to show the horrendous ordeal and actions of both sides, it might be uncomfortable viewing but without showing the truth it would make it easier for others to glorify war and profit from not showing the darkest events that happened and still happen in combat. Thanks again both of you, your work is very interesting and informative in all respects. 😀🇬🇧🏴🇺🇸🇺🇦👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Japs left piles of skulls in Nanking in 37. They had no qualms about butchery. Little Boy saved a lot of lives. Bushido ENDED IN 1945 ENOLA GAY took care of that and resides in a hangar for ALL to see.
When dealing with a ruthless enemy that had a reputation of brutality, whose going to bother punishing any US Marine or soldier that had to deal with them in a likewise manner????
A relative of mine during the Vietnam War, tried to send home a gallon jar of ears. The jar broke when it got to Seattle. Big stink, (in more ways than one;). He sent back other things, clothes/uniforms , weapons, flags, etc. and many real gory photos . The pieces and photos that got home, his mother threw out all the questionable stuff. I got a couple hundred photos , just typical war photos of combat , crashed helos ( some were his, he was shot down 5 times )and base life, no gore. He still asks me if I got any of the "good" photos, he forgets alot of things. Vietnam and later covert gov work, really messed him up.
So this thought just crossed my mind...the people who think these souvenirs are disturbing what do they think of the people in Egypt who remove thousands of year old Pharos from their graves?
They are displayed in a new specialized museum of Egypt to continue preservation of the mummies and photos cannot be taken. If left after discovery, it would have been looted, body stolen and most likely sold off or destroyed. The best thing is to never have found them to begin with.
@@MAINEIAC you are correct...best if they hadn't be discovered! I know they are in museums. I have watched hundreds of documentaries on pharaohs ...just wish they weren't being dug from their graves
I'm curious if you've ever tried to look up what became of the American soldiers who signed the flags? At this time it's unlikely any of the veterans are still alive, but there's a few left. I imagine the children/grandchildren of these men would be interested in seeing the flags.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I think they wanted to leave the war behind, a lot of them came back with PTSD but it wasn't classified as that or I remember my grandfather telling me he says well people call us the greatest generation but we really weren't
@@TheHistoryUnderground One of those flags had the addresses of the men who signed it. Great way to start searching for these men and their descendants.
3:19 is a liner pad from a standard t33 helmet. the airplane fabric is most likely from the control surfaces ie ailerons, elevators, or rudder re; the skulls. cant judge a soldier until youve marched a mile in his boots. yes collecting skulls of a defeated enemy is dark, but it was hardly a new practice. we werent there. we didnt see the soldiers buddies get killed by an implacable enemy. its not our place to judge their actions. love the gi signed flags. sadly many of the japanese signed flags are faked. i guess the seabees among other units had a real cottage industry turning plain flags into signed flags to trade to other gis for stuff.
JD ! What a Life you have! Flying all over the world, creating fascinating videos while making alot of $$ (I did a rough calculation). Some guys have all the Luck, it seems. More power to you, and keep those videos coming. Wish I were in your shoes. Ok, nuff said.
I agree, you have the life that many of us can only dream of. Hard to believe that so many disregard History and are willing to destroy its tenants. God bless your family.
I think that replicas of personal items like ID cards, letters, and other personal effects should be displayed and the originals should be sent home to the families of the fallen Japanese soldiers if they can be located. They were loved, too.
That 1000 stich belt, in sledges book he talks about how when mack shot a soldier with tracer rounds it ignited his bag in a circle and went out. Thats what it reminded me of
If you've watched a few episodes and feel like I've earned it, be sure to subscribe so that you don't miss any new content when it comes out.
Also be sure to check out The Gettysburg Museum of History and their store at gettysburgmuseumofhistory.com. Thanks!!!
War souvenirs of all types have been a reality since the beginning of human history. For anyone who says otherwise hasn't educated themselves on the history of warfare.
28 / 5.000
So they were right? By saying this you become an accomplice. The level of brutality of the war in the Pacific was determined by the total and horrific racism of the US troops. Racism encouraged by the highest army ranks. A lot of GI and pilots was simply serial killer, even in the Vietnam war. Do you remember My Lai massacre? USA stay home, is better for the planet.
War came to the U.S. and the U.S. responded in kind. To win wars you must become war. My great Uncle was killed in the Pacific. Another fought and was wounded on Iwo Jima. His stories were said to be unbelievable when it came to the enemy. The Japanese were merciless. And yes JD, I am calm
Oh please cut the apologist bullshit, they were literally hunting for human remains, this mindset went on in both Korea an Vietnam because Asians were seen by Americans as subhuman. Go read about the No Gun Ri bridge massacre of korean civilians, and orders given to US air force strafing civilian refugees fleeing south...
I would say that people probably don't have a full grasp on how brutal the Japanese were. Dark times.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I keep telling people that, it's just hidden away. I've known some people from the Baton death March that just finally got there metals after they passed which is really sad
@@TheHistoryUnderground you can help that!
The Japanese were totally committed to waging a killing war.
I lived on Okinawa in the late 60's. We used to play in old war bunkers and airfields. We knew not to touch old ordinance and to tell our Dad's if we found any. Some of them were pretty creepy.
After the war, my grandfather brought back one of those signed Japanese flags. Unfortunately, my dad and his brother were messing with it one day and left it out on the front porch of their house. A neighborhood dog got ahold of it and ripped it to shreds. When my grandfather got home and saw what had happened, he quietly went around and picked up all the pieces and went to his workshop. He then cried, from my dad’s perspective, for what felt like hours. It was one of only a handful of times my dad ever saw my grandfather cry. After that night it was never spoken of again, but my dad always felt horrible about what happened.
Oh man. That hurts.
Bear this in mind regarding "Dark Souvenirs".
Many soldiers were like my dad.
They were dirt poor, uneducated, farmers.
My mother tied my older sister to her back and picked cotton all day. My dad butchered hogs, skinned cattle, and anything else he could.
Their upbringing was brutal. I have sugar-coated this .
My family members and neighbors were all cut from the same cloth.
When it came to being brutal, we gave as good as we got.
Thanks for your outstanding work.
This is my favourite episode so far. This is history brought to life in a very personal way.
These artifacts help tell the story that needs to be remembered. I'm glad you showed us these items. Not to glorify death but to understand the people involved.
BTW, one of the Kanji signed flags that he captured was much later sold to a fellow in Australia, who got the kanji translated and then was able to contact some of the families of the soldiers, who were from an outfit in Tokyo. The families had never found out what had happened to their family members after they had gone off to war, and so 60+ years later were able to learn that they had ended up finally in New Guinea...
It's important to see these things as a reminder, that war should be a country and its people's last resort. Thank you to all that served, and did nothing less than save the world.
Excellent work JD!!! Your Pacific trip videos have been outstanding for anyone who has ever read anything about these events.
From what I was told from vets from WW2, Korea and Vietnam taking skulls was quite common. They saw it as no different than a deer head on the wall. My Green beret taekwondo instructor said one of his buddies from Georgia collected skulls in Vietnam and took one home with him.
Like that crazy dude from the movie "Dead Presidents".. 💀
Psychpats
I think that in such an incredibly difficult arena of war such as the Japanese theatre; men had been pushed to extremes by what they had seen.
I don’t know how this channel isn’t well beyond 1 million subscribers yet! Great content as always JD.
Well done, JD. My father fought at Okinawa. Rarely would he ever speak of it, But we would hear his dreams. The only thing he showed us was a picture of him and his men at the surrender ceremony.
🇺🇸
Seen your Facebook post on this video and your wife was right, think TH-cam will demonetize this episode also and probably restrict it as well. The fact is it happened and it is not being swept under the rug, this is history of this period and should not be hidden from the young in class.
A very good and respectful as could be presented representation of those primal events. Good video, hope it is used in some classes.
Thank you. So far, I haven't had any issues. Hope that it stays that way because this stuff is important.
Great video, it educates us on a different level. I personally believe we cannot under any circumstances judge what those men did. The stress probably would crush us yet they did their duty, came home and managed to carry on with those experiences buried deep in there souls. We are better, because men like those lived among us. Godspeed to all. 🙏🇺🇸
Correct. He mentioned propaganda in the US mentioning they were considered inhumane. The same goes for Japanese propaganda. US men and women were portrayed in the same light. Dark history indeed.
I don't blame them one bit or think any less of them in the slightest.
The differences between the Pacific Theater and the European Theater are absolutely incredible! It's also very interesting to see how differently the Japanese operated during the conflict compared to the Germans, despite both being part of the Axis Powers. Thanks for sharing this!
Another great video by both of you! Great job JD and Erik! The Dark Souvenirs was handled very well! Thank you for sharing !
Thank you. Appreciate that.
JD my hats off to you and Erik. You’ve taken a subject that is often overlooked or disregarded and shined the light of truth upon it. Even knowing that this will probably get demonetized or worse, as has happened before, you gentlemen still endeavor to show history as it truly is. It’s sad that people cannot look upon videos such as this as the informative, instructional, and educational material that it is, but are only able to react on an emotional level. Yes it’s hard to see and hear things like this, but if history doesn’t make you uncomfortable at times then it’s only propaganda.
👍🏻
I agree. The repression of true history should never be the norm. Even the dark and gritty aspects of the past should be brought into the light, no matter how it may reflect upon us.
Thank you JD and Erik for showing these souvenirs. This serie seems to become more variant and abundant with every new episode! The Kanji issue, however, also grows more abundant and complicated. 😂
This time, I'll try to analyze just one object or topic at each comment section, in hopes of making my immature thoughts more easier to digest.
First, I'll try to cover the officer's belongings that didn't have enough notation for further understanding, at 2:00.
The green paper box in the middle left is actually not a cigarette pack, but for medicine package.
While the English title "Jintan" is quite obvious, on the top of the English title is some white Kanji that says "口腔殺菌" & "滋強劑." The first phrase roughly means "Oral Sterilizer," and the latter "Tonics." (Disclaimer: My poor English might hinder the translation/understanding.)
Futher proof are at the bottom, while the first line of white Kanji writes "常備、救急、護身藥," which roughly means "officinal, emergancy, gardian medication." Moreover, in the last line of white Kanji, "銀粒仁丹," is a medication that is still being produced today by a company called 森下仁丹. It was founded in Feb, 1893.
I find the modern package on its official website: www\jintan\co\jp/healthcare/product/jintan/
Also, there's a Taiwanese history website that has kept a photograph of the old package (Taiwanese version): collections
mth\gov\tw/CollectionContent.aspx?a=132&rno=2010.031.0288.0023
(Please replace "\" with "." TH-cam autoblock is quite annoying sometimes.)
To the top right, the Kanji on the little green bottle is too small, so I'll skip it.
BTW, this bottle must have been contained in the green paper box. Since similar bottles are shown beside the company's packages.
To the next top right, the black Kanji on the orange box says "光," which I believe it means "the light." There's a clear sun pattern on the box, with clouds floating around, so it makes total sense to put the "light" word on it.
There's no more obvious evidence to distinguish what this box was for, so I'll leave it here.
The paperwork beneath the paper currency is for accounting purpose.
In the middle of its cover, there's 6 Kanji from top to bottom, printing "保險料領收帳." From the end first, "帳" means the accounting paperwork/book. "領收" equals to "receive." And "保險料" is "Insurrance fee." So basically, it was a paperwork designed for keeping account of receiving insurance fee. That explains the reason for all the paper money.
I'll continue the rest Kanji-related subjects by replying under this thread.
I can't get enough of these videos, thank you.
My father was in the pacific during the war. Had many stories to tell. One story was specifically dark. He and his platoon were tasked to clear an island of the Japanese. So they offered one American dollar for every pair of Japanese ears, to the natives of that island. Although he did not bring such dark trophies back, he said there were many, no doubt who did.
Oh dang.
Well did he say there was a pile of ears and how much they had to shell out?Sorry if I seem direct I grey up hearing stories from 8 years old on up...after your around them its almost a bit like you were there...when you carry your grandads burdens like I did the shit is very real.
@@wirelessone2986 it was just an account of what happened, nothing more or less. I don’t carry any burden, am only accountable for myself.
Evil 👿 God watches you ! Return all the items which they belong ! Stealing is the sin !
@@samuraisakura9064 that is a two sided response. I’am sure if you interviewed your own, you would be unpleasantly surprised to find some evil that lurks within!
I love your intro to this video. Very well said! Again, a fabulous video!
Thank you. Appreciate that.
Well done! Erik Is so knowledgeable about things. But the way you handled the dark photos of skulls….well done! It’s definitely a lesson in contrast to the touchy geeky lesson in most schools.
Really illustrates how brutal the war was~tragic!
Thank you. I don't think that people are aware of how brutal it got over there.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I agree, I certainly wasn’t until I started reading first hand accounts and memoirs. While I make no claim as an “expert” on anything-it has expanded my understanding. Seeing this channel and reading the memoirs = mindblown
We are screwed if we have to fight WW3 with troops that require ' trigger warnings '
@@TheHistoryUndergroundNo and many young people today still don't understand the sacrifices made for them to act like fools today.
When you see someone kill your best friends beside you I guess it would make you change pretty quick .I've heard stories were the vets from the pacific were they said it was a shock but they got over it quick they was to busy trying to stay alive to dwell on it to much at the time .people seem to forget that they were kids imagine going through those things they did.thank you to all vets
An old mates father died in Vietnam and a friend of my mates dad went and brung home to Australia the skull of his first kill. That means he skinned gutted and cleaned it. It’s in his display cabinet and has a bullet hole in the front and a big hole at the back.
What a disgusting thing to do. No REAL veteran would do that.
You be surprised, l saw agrouping of 82nd air borne each with a necklace of ears and penises standing behind a vc buried with airborne patches nailed to his feet.
That was 1968 when l ŵas in the USN.
6:00 This photo definitely shows the duality of war and those who fight it.
Cuddling a cute little puppy while posing with Japanese skulls
Ears in Vietnam - skulls during WWII - war is hell and once you're dead, well... how soldiers prepared for battle, and perchance to die, is fascinating - glad you have the courage to show this Recondo. Keep preserving.
👍🏻
Japanese teeth were a big souvenir. Wy wife’s grandfather had teeth. They show it on the mini series The Pacific
A friend of mine had six necklaces.
Another classic episode…enjoying the Pacific series…thanks, Andrew
Thank you.
My family recently found a rising sun flag my grandfather brought back. He was a corpsman, and according to the flag involved in all the pivotal battles. His flag belongs in a museum, but rests in a box full of belongings by my uncle. Rest In Peace, Doc Sego!
Wow!
I have a Japanese bayonet my father brought back from Tarawa, a brass anchor he took off a Japanese tank and a Japanese flag along with a Japanese canteen from Saipan. When he passed away in 2003 he still had the shrapnel he got on Iwo Jima.
Wow!
@@TheHistoryUnderground got two Purple Hearts. One of earliest memories when I was still in diapers was watching my dad sit on the living room floor with his shirt off and my mom had a bottle and cotton balls. She was taking slivers of metal from his back that had worked their way out and cleaning with alcohol. That was twenty years after the wounds.
Yeah, that's why I don't judge. What the men on both sides went through is unthinkable. As combat vet, I can tell you that it changes a person. I now understand my granddad better than ever. He was a three war combat vet (WWII, Korea & Vietnam).
Listen, to be able to kill the enemy and impose your will, dehumanization is a necessary component. They have crossed a line which has made you decide to use deadly force. However dark you may find these things, they were not as dark as being there. After all, what is the difference between willingly mowing down men by the thousands landing on a beach...or boiling a skull of the enemy? It's all dark.
Finally, the Japanese were as dark as the Americans. They took skulls and fingers hone. They posed with dead Americans. No one is 'noble'. We're all flawed humans.
Amazing how all of these items were used or worn by enemy soldiers. It definitely paints a picture how even relieved they must've been to have captured the flags. I'm sure it was no easy task
Tough place, for sure.
Unless you have gone to war, hunted and being hunted, it will be impossible for a civilian to understand how a combatant's mindset changes. Iraq was nothing compared to World War Two, but the constant missions and reports or observations of Iraqi attrocities and perversion resulted in my ceasing to view Iraqis as humans. I would imagine the animoosity was 100% more intense during WW2, especially considering the fanaticism and depravity of the Japaese during the war.
On a happier note, great work. Thank you for your high-quality videos.
I have always categorized the pacific theater of world war two on a totally different level in terms of the psychological effect it had on the men who fought There and also when you talk about the Insanity and the brutality when it comes to the Imperial Japanese army, That was on a totally different level that nobody can understand.
Thank you for saying " Soldiers and Marines " Alot of people don't realize there's a difference. Soldiers are Army. Marines aren't called soldiers.
👍🏻🇺🇸
As always, great stuff JD. Any plans on tackling the Aleutian Islands and the conflict that took place there in the future? I can't imagine it's a tremendously easy place to get to, but if anyone would do a fantastic job telling the story, its you and your channel!
On my list. Thanks!
Wow, very very cool stuff as usual ! Great content JD !! Erik sure has the stuff !
My Grandfather brought back some things. Coins, sword, Type 38 carbine, map pamphlet, crystal or glass wax stamp. Philippine carved mohagany bolo knife.
A few years ago we had some Japanese foreign exchange students stay with us. I gave them the coins.
My dad served USN as a Frogman / Seal in the Pacific Theater. Received 3 Purple Hearts, Silver Star and 2 Bronze Stars. He had a Japanese sniper bullet in his back to close to his spine to remove. He retired from the Navy after 35 years. I saw lots of things brought back from the war but never heard much about what happened. He didn't like talking about it except for the time he spent on the USS California. Do have pictures. Some pretty bad scenes of war. The US Marines and Sailors were bad ass .
My father was a SeaBee in the Pacific. His first island he arrived on was Guadalcanal and his last was Leyte Gulf. I do know that he brought back 4 small Japanese flags with writing on them. He said that these were on the Japanese soldiers I think for luck. All throughout his 4 years he said that it was brutal and the brutality he saw was mind numbing which he refused to go into detail. He also mentioned that the Merchant Marines were vicious as they didn’t have to “play by the same rules” as our military did.
Awful.
Your Pacific episodes are great !!! Thank you very much.
Thanks! Appreciate that.
It is odd what can become a souvenir during wartime. Thanks for this.
Thanks. Pretty interesting to see what they came back with.
When I was an elementary school student ( a long time ago) my grandfather was the local fire chief. He lived in a part of town that might be considered lower class today. But one day he was called to a neighbor’s property where an explosion had occurred in a shed on the back of the property. On investigating they found two kids were killed in the shed and had apparently set off a grenade they found in the shed. Someone had apparently brought it home from the war.
Dang!
the saddest thing about war is if you did not kill you were going to be killed
I mean its dark and questionable till you are in a situation where your friends or someone you just met the day before , are knifed to death in there fox hole every night , you completely dehumanize the enemy, taking skulls was seen as revenge. what so many people dont understand, ( not the speaker in the vid, just in general), is that you cant look at it with a modern viewpoint , history ,(and war for that matter), is dirty, brutal, and sometimes inhuman, but in my opinion, it is better to learn it than forget and have history repeat itself yet again.
love your videos keep it up!
Love watching you guys ! Always super fascinating, Thanks for sharing, Regards from Australia.
Wow JD outstanding video enjoyed it thank you so much and love your channel JD
Thanks so much
I still have all the trophies that my Father and Uncle brought back from the Pacific Theater, WW2. These include an Arisaka rifle and bayonet, cigarette box, paper money and the top of a japanese marine's skull made into an ashtray.
Another well done video. Thanks. Everyone needs to know the good, the bad and the ugly things of war. 👍👍👍👍👍
👍🏻
Outstanding content as always. You guys get this stuff down on a personal level so well. The perfect learning vehicle for American youth to know what their forbears did to preserve their freedom. BRAVO GENTS!!!
Thanks! Hope that people are sharing these videos with the younger crowd.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I send them to everyone I know that have children or grands of any age. I also constantly share them on my FB page when Im not in FB jail for upping kleenexs stock and making snowflakes cry.
Just a hint, for the flags signed on both sides. sandwich it between two pieces of Low-E glass. This will add some protection from fading more and allow both side to be seen without excessive handling.
Thanks. He has them properly stored. Just got them out for the video.
Who cares ! Return all the items to whom they belong 😢
@@samuraisakura9064why?
My grandpa fought the Japanese throughout the Pacific. Island to Island ending with Okinawa. He had nightmares almost nightly until the day he passed away my grandmother told me. She would get jolted awake with him screaming and yelling in the middle of the night often. War is hell no matter how you look at it. But War in the Pacific and Europe during WW2 was as bad as it gets just like Vietnam Korea and Iraq and Afghanistan. Was is just brutal
My Grandpa Andrew Carrico was in the 511th PIR. This was amazing to see.
My uncle was a Navy medic in the Pacific. He only spoke about the war with me one time, that was when I joined the Army. It was to say the least brutal, and terrifying. I understand why those men collected the trophies they did.
My uncle only brought home a few flags and rifles and a helmet.
my grandfather fought in ww1,was gassed in the muese argon battle. came home in September 1919.my dad was in the coast guard in ww2,was a gunner on the use mayo, brought back U.S. POW's from Europe ,made to trips from US to TOKYO to bring back US POW's from Japan ,brought back several rifles. helments etc . I fought in Vietnam,brought back some stuff too. I have always thought that if I had served in ww2 that I would have done anything I could to be sent to the European theatre and not the pacific. all war is HELL... but the pacific war was a special form of hell. they were all "SOS OF THE GREATEST GENERATION!!!
Great video JD, thanks.
Thank you for always presenting us with excellent content. It's a sensitive subject but knowing what nightmares these men walked through on a daily basis, it's not surprising what extremes they were driven to. Watching these videos regarding souvenirs and bring back trophies I've often wondered if this was something that was also a practice in the reverse with the Germans and the Japanese. I'm sure it happened, just not something you hear much about.
OMG J.D. a local fella, who is long gone, spoke in 1993 to my high school history class along with my other vets including my grandpa, and he had a 1000 stitch belt. I haven't heard of that belt since back then. His ancestors are still around local, if I see any of them I will be sure to ask if they have that. Man I hope they do.
Also this 1000 stitch belt also was of a Bengal I do remember.
Oh wow! I would very much like to see that. Thanks!
I know in our comfort of modern existence that the dark souvenir taking seems macabre but I do not fault either side. War is the underbelly of human existence and terrible as it seems we have to lower our expectations as most of us have not experienced such an event so horrific
I totally remember the controversy after platoon came out cuz it was so brutal but it was pretty accurate
Awful stuff, for sure.
Appreciate you putting out the truth of war. Its not a glorious thing, but when you experience what they did, the level and way of fighting changes.
"Just wait, till you see what a man can do to another man". Quote that from the movie "Fury".
To protect your own, you become an individual that no body would recognize. War is kill or be killed. Wars are horrible for all involved. But at the end of the day, we gotta do what we gotta do. The Japanese and Nazis were ruthless and us Americans had to respond in kind 🇺🇸
My grandpa lied about his age and joined the marines at 16, right after Pearl Harbor, fought on Guadalcanal (turned 17 there and was wounded), Peleliu, and Okinawa (wounded again and received the silver star). He brought back so much stuff that my mom had a large display case of Japanese swords, 3 or 4 rifles, 2 pistols, a couple of helmets, canteens, shoulder patches, battle flags, basically at least one of everything a Japanese soldier would carry into combat. Unfortunately my moms house was broken into and everything was stolen except a prayer book which had the blood of the soldier it came from on it. I kept that for years and my aunt found an organization that tried to find the relatives of the fallen Japanese soldiers to return their personal items like the prayer book. We gave it to the organization and eventually we received a letter saying that they found the soldiers family and returned it to them, with a note of thanks from the family. It's crazy to me that the family said thank you to the family of the man that probably killed their relative.
Oh wow. Such a shame about the burglary.
From a marine, semper fi to your grandpa! What a nice gesture of you to return the book,thanks for sharing
@@greendragon4058 Thank you, my grandpa was my hero.
@@TheHistoryUnderground Yes, I would've loved to have been able to donate it to a museum it was an amazing collection. That case and my grandpas books on American history made me into the history nerd I am today. Great channel and I hope to see more stuff about the pacific theater.
@@stephenm4138 you're welcome, my great-uncle was mine he was a fighter pilot. He was so messed up after he came back from the War that the family kind of disowned him but I loved him so much that's why I have his Japanese sniper rifle a souvenir he picked up. I'm glad your grandpa is your role model we need more people like you and me out there
Thank you for all you do.
Originally I'd like my text lined up in one reply. Because of the hyperlink autoblock, causing my replies to disappear, I guess I'll have to seperate them in multiple comments, or condense my subjects into very long one. Sorry for possible trouble caused by this manner.
The second Kanji-related topic I like to talk about, is the information plate at 2:58.
According to the printed words at the lefthand side in this frame angle, which should be at the bottom if it's in the correct position, there's the name of the manufacturer, 櫻護謨株式會社. Specifically, at the end of this company name, "製" means "made by." 株式會社/株式会社 is overall the Kanji for joint-stock company. 櫻護謨 is its actual name, translated as Sakura Rubber.
For those who are interested to find out more, you can copy the Kanji mentioned above to google it. You'll find the company's official website, along with a page stating its history.
Yes, just like Jintan/森下仁丹 at 2:05, this company is still running today.
There's an English version at the top-right of the website.
On the company's history page, it clearly states that durring WWII, the organization was "Designated a munitions factory by the Japanese Army and Navy." It's not hard to imagine, since rubber was and is one of the most essencial war materials.
What shocks me, is the fact that this company is still producing military-related products today. In its aerospace department, they produce components for "rockets, satellites, (and) jet engines."
I don't know if this metal information plate had been found with the bomber fabric, or they were put together simply because they were brought in by the same veteran or because of similar nature. I doult that for the rubber component manufacturer to have its own identity plate on every small component of the bomber/airplane. Yet, neither am I an engineer, nor am I familiar with Japanese detail-oriented culture to that particular extend. So, more verification is needed.
P.S I'll try to open up a new reply thread under this comment. If it doesn't work, please find my next randomly arranged comment for more Kanji-related subjects.
At 3:58, Eric and the message explain quite clear about the objects. I'll put on some more notes on the Kanji of the bags that hold these memorials.
With the lock of hair, at the bottom side of the top right, the two Kanji "髮毛" also indicates the content. "毛" is the general term for "hair," and "髮" is specifically designated for hair on head.
Differently, the Kanji at the bottom right doesn't specify its content.
"御守/Omamori" is Japanese amulet, commonly seen in shrines or temples. Yet the meaning of the terminology is not necessarily gods-related. "御/O" is an honorific prefix, oftenly seen in royal or VIP cases. The main meaning lies in "守/mamori," which roughly means 'guardian' or 'protection.'
So, in this case, the owner of this memorial must had regarded the cremation ashes as his (assumedly male) guardian, since Japanese shrines and temples doesn't, or should I say, can't offer random remains as amulets.
Thanks! Much appreciated!
@@TheHistoryUnderground There's a lot more to come... 😅
As for the Senninbari at 6:33.
The term itself is interesting in its own way. 千人針 is the Kanji for Senninbari, and it can be understood seperatedly. "千/Sen" literally means 'a thousand.' "人/Nin" means 'person.' "針" is a little bit tricky, because when used by itself, it should be pronounced as "hari," which means 'needle.' As there can be multiple pronounciations for one Kanji, due to foreign/Chinese influence and the adopting process of Chinese characters, in this case, "針" is pronounced as 'bari,' which I believe have a similar meaning to 'needle.' Sewing-related, perhaps.
I belive the specific Senninbari showed in this video is a haramaki/腹卷き, a bellyband. "腹/Hara" stands for abdomen, and "卷き/maki" is a type of Japanese clothing that keep the belly warm. The term Senninbari doesn't necessarily imply the clothing type. As long as there're thousand stitches, it can be generalized as Senninbari.
The reason for the tiger pattern was associated with a Japanese folktale. It is said that tigers are able to travel thousands of meters (or yards, kilometers, whichever the case.) and return without significant change.(虎は千里往って千里還る)
The key metaphor is 'coming home soundly.' According to Senninbari's Japanese wikipedia: Heartbreakingly, since Japanese official/military had publicly forbidden any mention of "safely return," regarding it as a symbol of defeatism, common people who wished to send their prayers without speaking out loud, found ambiguous ways to express their blessings towards their loved ones. This correlates with the fact that all these flags or Senninbari only have prapaganda type slogans, like "武運長久/eternal good luck in war" or "七生報國/7 lives for the country," with no sign of intimacy affection words, such as "be safe" or "return in one piece."
This practice had started since Russo-Japanese War (according to Japanese wikipedia), from 1904! That just shows how twisted Japanese collective social awareness can be, thrive, and last...
At 7:17, this prayer strip is also a 御守/Omamori. If you turn it upside down, you'll recognize these Kanji at the very end. (Now its at the top at this filmed position.) I've heard these omamori/御守 would be sewed to the Senninbari as part of its blessings, so I'm not quite sure the upside down position was a purposed meaningful one, or simply a mistake.
The type/rank of the shrine which provided the amulet/omamori is also shown, 鄉社御前神社. If we decode it backwards, "神社/Jinja" is literally the Shinto shrine. "御前" is hard to interpret in this case, since in different context, it can be understood/pronounced very differently. My guess would be it still serves as an honorific term, with no specific meaning.
"鄉社/Gosha" is not ambiguous hard, like "御前," yet context hard.
According to the Modern System of Ranked Shinto Shrines (近代社格制度/Kindai Shakaku Seido), published in 1871, all Japanese Shinto shrines can be categorized into three groups:
1. 官社/Kansha: Official government shrines which pay tribute to famous Shinto Gods or VIPs. Like the famous tourist attraction, Fushimi Inari Taisha/伏見稲荷大社, or the infamous Yasukuni Shrine/靖国神社. These usually have specific names.
2. 諸社/Shosha: Also known as 民社/Minsha, which can literally be translated as 'people's shrines.' These scatter around the nation, providing local service to neighberhood people. Some of them have specific names, yet some are lost in time.
3. 無格社/Mukakusha: Shinto shrines that can't be ranked as the previous two, can't be known for sure which god it is dedicated to, or doesn't have a clear relationship with nearby people. 無格/Mukaku means 'ungraded."
The first two categories also have their own hierarchical system.
"鄉社/Gosha" belongs to 諸社/Shosha, roughly in the middle class. It serves an area no larger/higher than a prefecture, yet no smaller/lower than a village.
Since the omamori at 7:17 doesn't bare a specific shrine title, along with the "Gosha/鄉社" designation, it probably had been given to the owner by his neighboring local shrine.
The one at 7:42 is not anyway ordinary, though. (Although it's also upside down.) The Kanji "御守/Omamori" needs no more introduction. What makes this omamori so unique, is the shrine it came from.
According to the same shrine ranking system, 熱田神宮/Atsuta Shrine belongs to the highest rank of 官社/Kansha, the official govermnental shrines. The reason why, is because it possesses one of Japanese Three Sacred Treasure, THE SWORD 草薙劍/Kusanagi no Tsurugi. This one piece of three Japanese Imperial Regalia is the main worship of this particular shrine. The close relationship with Japanese royals is reflected on the Paulownia Seal above (now below) its name, one of the most famous Japanese Seal that symbols high ranking government. (Its variant is used as Japan's National Seal.)
As the practice of worshiping a sword suggests, Atsuta Shrine has been constantly related with warfare. One of the most well-known history about this shrine is in 1560, when Oda Nobunaga had to face one of, if not the most threatening enemy in his life, Imagawa Yoshimoto, he chose to gather his soldiers in Atsuta Shrine. After praying, Oda led his troops to ambush Imagawa in a sudden heavy storm, winning with a 1-6 disadvantage. Many of the following tactitians have tried to mimic Oda's success in the Battle of Okehazama, but few of them actually make it through.
This explains why this strip/omamori was placed between the two Kanji, "武運," the fortune of war. With the example of probably the most famous Japanese historical figure as his back, one could imagine his blessings on the battlefield. (Ironically....)
Moving on to the next.
At 8:35, the one Erik holding in his hand is another amulet (omamori/御守). You can find the "御守" upside-down Kanji at the top of this filmed angle, with the character "守" been folded in half due to the paper crease. "神社/Jinja" can also be found just right above Erik's lefthand thumb, also at an upside-down position.
From the camera shot, it's impossible to know the name/title for this shrine. However, judging by the material and the rather simple form, compared to the Atsuta Shrine omamori on the Senninbari at 7:42, where the omamori came from is probably a lower rank shrine in 諸社/Shosha category.
What's interesting about this amulet, is that it may not be warfare-related. The middle four Kanji between "神社" and "御守" illustrate a different purpose.
From the camera angle (although the Kanji is upside-down), the left two Kanji, "開運," might not seem too out-of-context from the first glance. It literally means "make one's luck," without specifying what kind of forturne. (Unlike "武運長久," since the word "武" is warfare/fighting specific.)
On the contrary, the right "延壽" is very, very weird to be a battlefield blessing. Afterall, what it means is "lengthen one's life."
To explain this amulet's existence, the polytheistic nature of Shintoism needs to be understood.
There're multiple gods in charge of different issues in Shintoism. Japanese people will go to different shrines for different wishes. So, the omamori a person can have won't be just one or few. Depends on how many wishes he wants to accomplish, or how badly he wants one specific wish to come true, a person can have multiple omamori with dazzling purposes, or a pile of omamori with only single blessing.
I believe the case at 8:36 belongs to the former.
On a side note, some believe that omamori have time limits. He/She needs to renew the amulet in order to keep the blessing effect. In other words, buy a new omamori from the shrine.
From my superficial understanding, I believe this is one of the financial income for these Shinto shrines. (Reminds me of Middle Age Europe, regardless of polytheism or monotheism.)
The fact that a Japanese may have multiple amulet/omamori also explains the existence of the bag at 8:29. Too much prayers/blessings can be confusing sometimes.
One thing I failed to mention at the 3:58 section, the omamori containing loved one's hair/ashes, is that Japanese omamori can be in a wild variety of forms. Although amulets from shrines and temples still dominate the majority, the polytheistic context of Shintoism makes amulet monopoly impossible. As long as the subject holds strong enough conception to someone, it can be regarded as omamori.
This is demonstrated by these written papers at 8:40. Even with merely words on paper, no trace of any physical material, as long as people believe in it, these can be deemed as omamori.
BTW, the practice of believing in the mysterious power of specially-written calligraphy partially originates from Chinese Daoism dating a thousand years back.
Thank you again for showing the things the soldiers brought back. For those who say the U S soldiers were as bad as their Japanese need to go back and look at The Bataan Death March or Pearl Harbor or any other place they wanted to to take. The Japanese were brutal to there prisoners. I don’t condone what the US did but they were at war. They saw things no one should ever see. What they did was their way of getting back at a enemy that had done such evil to them and the civilians around them.
They were just brutal, period. If our nastiness was because we were from the States, then why didn't it happen over in Europe? Because our troops were by and large not treated like that by the German. Big difference. The German was civilized, the Japanese soldier? Not so much.
They totally were, I was at an award ceremony for a gentleman in his 90s about 30 years ago he survived the Baton Death March he was pretty honest about how brutal things were. He was there to receive four medals. Everybody who was in the death march received medals. I didn't know this gentleman I just knew that I had to go and when I saw him I saluted him after all he was a brother in arms in the Marine Corps
You are crazy 😜 return all the items to Japanese families 😢you stole from !
They 100 percent deserve it. Many of the Japanese soldiers had just got back from China and Korea diddling woman and kids. So it’s very safe to say the imperial soldiers there were all abusers at the time. Besides most of them got away with their crimes and now you got the world thinking the US was bad for doing this war trophy and atom bomb stuff, but ignore the millions slashed and assaulted civilians by the Japanese.
11:48 Sgt. Dwight Daniel Dippel, 1916-2004 weapons platoon, I Co. 34th Regiment. Was in the Philippines when Japan surrendered.
War does some dark shit to people
It really does, my family disowned my a great uncle because he would drink all the time. It was kind of sad but I remember a lot of stories he had from World War II and yes it does make you mad because people didn't see that until they Iraq War and took it seriously, just look at the Vietnam War and the Korean War
Definitely.
respect JD. The pacific was so grewsome. You rock man keep it going
Thank you.
I love the artifacts episodes I have a few things my grandfather brought back from the pacific very cool Thank you
Thanks!
My parents-in-law were Chinese. They had to endure the Japanese invasion. I heard their stories.
Remember Nanjing. Bushido died
In1945 NOW the Japs can't live without us, how ironic. Was In Yakasuka USN, they love OUR money NOW!!!!
a history museum has to accurate record it what happened and we should not be offended by the truth representation of it - love the story
Taking skulls of the enemy dead may be a relatively ancient practice, but it wasn't the first instance of skulls taken even during the 20th century. From WW1, they are plenty of photos showing Allied troops with German skulls.
6:04 agreed it definitely not true! The taking human remains is definitely morally wrong. But the Japanese military in ww2 were literally monsters. The Japanese murdered Chinese women and children, slaughtered and beheaded allied POWs and were just as bad as the Nazis. It upsets me when I see videos on TH-cam where people say the war trophy flags should be returned and how the “poor” Japanese soldier died. Never forget what they did to innocent civilians and and cowardly attack on Pearl Harbor. Now when I say never forget, I don’t me hold a grudge on the peaceful Japan of today, they are our allies and have turned their country around. I mean never forget the brutal crimes and criminals of the past.
These guys do a great job of presenting the artifacts with relevant history and good video footage. Thanks 👍
Glad you like them!
Great Video JD!!
Always Great Videos. Thanks.
Thanks for watching!
Interesting and fascinating stuff. Great to see.
I guess I have said this before but, war tend to bring out the best and the worst in us. Great artifacts and video!!!!
War crimes were commited by all sides but the japanese encouraged it among their troops and the U.S. troops knew this which explains how they felt about the enemy.
Yeah, it's often overlooked how awful the Japanese were to the civilians.
My father managed a large farm owned by a Pacific Marine in the late '70s/early '80s. This particular Marine had an entire room dedicated to his time in the War. He had an ornate candy dish in the collection that was made from the top of a fallen Japanese soldier's skull. He didn't take that particular head or fashion it into the dish, but rather traded for it while in country.
😳
There -but for the Grace of God -could be any of us ! 😊
I was just reading With the Old Breed and Sledge wrote about one Marine who was planning on taking home a hand he cut off a Japanese soldier
You should look up the addresses and oldtimers. One might still be kickin and have a story of the day he signed the flag
People who never experienced war and knowing the enemy will never understand what they do. Frankly non veterans should just shut their hole thinking our men were no better! War is not tame. Nor friendly or beautiful. This is all the cost of war.
Great video history my friend!😊
Thanks for sharing this excellent collection with us Erik and JD, some of the artefacts made for uncomfortable viewing, but they need to be seen by as many people as possible, it is history and history needs to be preserved and the stories told, not by Hollywood or by the commercial filmmakers but by people who have a passion for the reality of war, not being shy to show the horrendous ordeal and actions of both sides, it might be uncomfortable viewing but without showing the truth it would make it easier for others to glorify war and profit from not showing the darkest events that happened and still happen in combat. Thanks again both of you, your work is very interesting and informative in all respects. 😀🇬🇧🏴🇺🇸🇺🇦👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Japs left piles of skulls in Nanking
in 37. They had no qualms about
butchery. Little Boy saved a lot of
lives. Bushido ENDED IN 1945
ENOLA GAY took care of that and resides in a hangar for ALL to see.
I'm fascinated with the flag with the soldier's addressed. I'd be curious if those homes are still around and if their families are nearby.
And lot’s of us soldiers committed war crimes themselves yet were never brought to justice for their crimes
When dealing with a ruthless enemy that had a reputation of brutality, whose going to bother punishing any US Marine or soldier that had to deal with them in a likewise manner????
A relative of mine during the Vietnam War, tried to send home a gallon jar of ears. The jar broke when it got to Seattle. Big stink, (in more ways than one;). He sent back other things, clothes/uniforms , weapons, flags, etc. and many real gory photos . The pieces and photos that got home, his mother threw out all the questionable stuff. I got a couple hundred photos , just typical war photos of combat , crashed helos ( some were his, he was shot down 5 times )and base life, no gore. He still asks me if I got any of the "good" photos, he forgets alot of things. Vietnam and later covert gov work, really messed him up.
So this thought just crossed my mind...the people who think these souvenirs are disturbing what do they think of the people in Egypt who remove thousands of year old Pharos from their graves?
They are displayed in a new specialized museum of Egypt to continue preservation of the mummies and photos cannot be taken. If left after discovery, it would have been looted, body stolen and most likely sold off or destroyed. The best thing is to never have found them to begin with.
@@MAINEIAC you are correct...best if they hadn't be discovered! I know they are in museums. I have watched hundreds of documentaries on pharaohs ...just wish they weren't being dug from their graves
Really neat collection.
I'm curious if you've ever tried to look up what became of the American soldiers who signed the flags? At this time it's unlikely any of the veterans are still alive, but there's a few left. I imagine the children/grandchildren of these men would be interested in seeing the flags.
I've looked in the archives, but haven't reached out personally.
@@TheHistoryUnderground I think they wanted to leave the war behind, a lot of them came back with PTSD but it wasn't classified as that or I remember my grandfather telling me he says well people call us the greatest generation but we really weren't
@@TheHistoryUnderground One of those flags had the addresses of the men who signed it. Great way to start searching for these men and their descendants.
Shame on you! Return all the items to their families in Japan 🇯🇵
@@jeffe9842 Thanks 😊 as a Japanese ❤
3:19 is a liner pad from a standard t33 helmet.
the airplane fabric is most likely from the control surfaces ie ailerons, elevators, or rudder
re; the skulls. cant judge a soldier until youve marched a mile in his boots. yes collecting skulls of a defeated enemy is dark, but it was hardly a new practice. we werent there. we didnt see the soldiers buddies get killed by an implacable enemy. its not our place to judge their actions.
love the gi signed flags.
sadly many of the japanese signed flags are faked. i guess the seabees among other units had a real cottage industry turning plain flags into signed flags to trade to other gis for stuff.
Interesting to see a soldier's signature and a home address that isn't more than 60 miles from where I'm sitting.
JD ! What a Life you have! Flying all over the world, creating fascinating videos while making alot of $$ (I did a rough calculation). Some guys have all the Luck, it seems. More power to you, and keep those videos coming. Wish I were in your shoes. Ok, nuff said.
I agree, you have the life that many of us can only dream of. Hard to believe that so many disregard
History and are willing to destroy its tenants. God bless your family.
I think that replicas of personal items like ID cards, letters, and other personal effects should be displayed and the originals should be sent home to the families of the fallen Japanese soldiers if they can be located. They were loved, too.
That 1000 stich belt, in sledges book he talks about how when mack shot a soldier with tracer rounds it ignited his bag in a circle and went out. Thats what it reminded me of
What's your favourite ww2 book to read enjoyed the video mate can't wait for the next video mate 👍👍
With the Old Breed.