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Philippines Artifact - What is it.

Article about: My late father was in WW2. He is not with us anymore so I can't ask him about this. He was stationed in the Philippines in 1945 right after the war ended. A remember him saying that he had t

  1. #1

    Default Philippines Artifact - What is it.

    My late father was in WW2. He is not with us anymore so I can't ask him about this. He was stationed in the Philippines in 1945 right after the war ended. A remember him saying that he had to guard Japanese soldiers. This seems odd to me since the war was over. He had brought back a small piece of wood about 1-1/2" x 2" with Japanese writing on both sides of it. I thought it might be related to the Japanese prisoners. It might have been from before the war ended. I had it translated by the head of the Japanese Dept at the University of Pittsburgh. Here is what he sent me.

    Hello,

    Japanese 1 is a photo of an exit pass to go outside (of the camp?). “Pass to the outside. Permit # 189.”

    Japanese 2 may be the back side of the pass. 備 can be a particular mission profile of the unit, like 警備 (guard, security), but I don’t know: “No. 2551 Military unit, (commanded by) Sasaki.”

    The faded red square visible on the backside is the official seal of the military unit.

    Hope this helps.

    Best,

    Hiroshi XXXX


    Seems like it was a pass to leave the camp. Prison camp? Why would Japanese prisoners be allowed to leave? Can anyone add any info about this item. What is what used for? When? Pics attached

    Thanks
    Click to enlarge the picture Click to enlarge the picture Philippines Artifact - What is it.   Philippines Artifact - What is it.  

    Last edited by Billygoat; 03-11-2022 at 05:11 AM.

  2. #2

    Default

    Looked into the Augustin Said book: Heitai. Uniforms, Equipment & Personal Items of the Japanese Soldier, 1937-1945, but I have not found similar item.
    It could be however a kind of military temporary pass. Not exactly POW camp issue, but in my opinion it was the pass received by the soldier during the service and not returned to the unit commander.
    This could be still in the soldier's pocket when taken as POW and went with him to the camp.
    Similar system of identification of soldiers at leave was in the tsarist's Russian army - small metal tokens, known as "litchnyi znak" were taken by the men when leaving the unit and going outside.

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