Identified Japanese Dog Tag from Okinawa

[SNLF]

I have had this Japanese dog tag for several years from a unit on Okinawa. Whats interesting is the owner (Iwata Takezo) inscribed his name on the backside of the dog tag which is normally not seen on these dog tags. A good friend of mine from Japan flew to Okinawa to visit the Peace Memorial Park last year where the names of all who perished during the Battle of Okinawa is inscribed on the Corner Stone of Peace. After some research on their database, he was able to find the name of the individual whos name is inscribed on the Dog Tag, confirming that he was killed during the Battle of Okinawa. Unfortunately only is name and where he is from is listed in the database. Iwata Takezo from Hokkaido belonged to the 2nd Battalion, 42nd Field Artillery Regiment, 24th Infantry Division, 32nd Army (Unit Code Yama 3480). Photos below are of his dog tag, database info, print out of the location of his name inscribed on the wall and his name on the wall.

Ironically, few years after adding this dog tag to my collection, while relic hunting in a cave on Yeaju Dake on Okinawa, I dug up a dog tag from the same unit, and if you look the kanji is inscribed in a similar way (Notice the Shrapnel damage to the corner). I left the dog tag as it was found and didn't clean it. See Last two photos.

Best, David.

[Nick Komiya]

First name is not read Mitake, but Takezo.

[SNLF]

First name is not read Mitake, but Takezo.

Thank you for the correction.

[Razorback76]

Great stuff David!! Thanks for posting!!

[RussM]

Excellent David, thanks for showing it to us!

Regards

Russ

[Rod]

Great dog tag story, thanks David! Always an honour to safeguard a small piece of history.

Any idea as to what the 54 and 20 in the tags center columns mean?