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    tsuki

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    Everything posted by tsuki

    1. tsuki

      Soldier Info

      Hugh is right, at least from the Japanese perspective! The Japanese conscripted heavily out of Korea. In general, Korean troops were not thought to be very good, but you have to remember that most of them were unenthusiastic participants (being, from the Korean point of view, forced into serving in their occupier's army). Remember too that most of the "comfort women" were also "drafted" our of Korea. In general there was little love lost, a sentiment that remains to this day. The Koreans felt (feel) that they were treated badly, used basically as cannon fodder and given the worst jobs, such as labor battalions and POW guards. In terms of your photo, I think all this makes it particularly special!
    2. Thanks Jeff! That was wonderful. Now, my next trick is to ask if anyone out there has either of these two medals. If possible, I'd like to purchase them, but I'd be content to find out where they are and get a photograph if nothing else. This is for a family research project. Thanks again!
    3. tsuki

      Soldier Info

      If indeed he was with the 77th Infantry Regiment, I can give you a bit more info on the unit. 20th Division was activated in 1916 and consisted of the 77th and 78th (as the 39th Infantry Brigade) and the 79th and 80th (as the 40th Infantry Brigade) Regiments as well as other support units. The division was indeed activated in Korea and served there continuously until July 1937 when it popped up in China. It participated in some of the major fights around Beijing , Hankow and Taiyuan until the end of 1939 when it returned to Korea. At the beginning of 1943 it was identified as operating in New Guinea. It suffered heavy casualties in the fighting there. Around June of 1943 the 77th was reassigned to the 30th Division back in Korea. In May 1944 the division moved to Mindinao in the Philippines. I don't have the rest of my material at hand, but I know other elements of that division were decimated at Leyte in late 1944. I doubt if the division got out of the Philippines. The home station (Regimental District) for this regiment was Heijo, which is the Japanese name for Pyongyang, Korea. It was under the Korea Army District, whose HQ was at Keijo (Seoul). The Divisional District was also at Keijo. The odds are thus pretty good that your soldier was an ethnic Korean rather than Japanese. Hope this helps.
    4. Hello All, Does anyone out there have medal rolls for the Navy Spanish Campaign or Philippine Campaign Medals? I'm looking for medals awarded to a Navy enlisted man named George Stillson. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!
    5. Thanks Joe. I figured that the German system was much like the U.S. Navy's, ie., different ratings for certification to different depths and types of tasks performed. I would still like to find a source where these are actually spelled out though. I couldn't find any reference to it in the 1943 edition of Stelzner's classic Tauchertechnik: Handbuch fur Taucher but there must be a Kriegsmarine diving manual or other regs which actually give specifics.
    6. Please forgive what may be a dumb question, but can anyone tell me what precisely were the duties of the men rated as "U-Boat Divers" as opposed to the "torpedo" and other divers? Did the former actually serve on U-Boats or were they more what we would call submarine rescue or salvage personnel? I don't think I've ever come across any details on this in any of my reference books, but perhaps I'm just looking in the wrong place.
    7. Hi John, No, the NKKK Newsletter is long gone. I "published" it for a year in 1985-86, mostly because almost no one was collecting Japanese awards or knew much about them. It was more or less monthly and contained eight pages of info each time. It was nothing fancy, but did contain some useful bits of info like the names of awards in kanji, romanized, and in English to help folks figure out if they had mis-matched cases (I saw 2 on ebay this morning!), a few pre-1940 articles/ book excerpts mentioning the awards, a nengo chart, etc. Basically the stuff that Peterson didn't cover. I did this while I was in grad school, but as time became tighter I handed it off to my friend Louis Demers who kept it going for a bit longer. I gave a set to the OMSA library, but it never seems to have made it into their collection somehow. One interesting thing, though, is that we kept a running record of the prices various awards were gettting off of dealers lists and auctions. Looking at it today I think I can safely say that the prices haven't changed all that much!
    8. A number of years ago I put this small chart in old NIPPON KUNSHO KENKYU-KAI Newsletter I published that might be of interest. I had picked up a group of 18 Red Cross medals during a flea market expedition one day in Kyoto and tallied the marks found on them. Here are the results: At the time I thought that perhaps the Red Cross Membership Medals might be marked with the I-RO-HA system, but I haven't found much beyond these, and the few kanji marked pieces seem to prove otherwise. There were several distinct die versions among the medals as well.
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