Uncategorised Tirad Pass Medal during Japanese occupation in Philippines

[dark379]

Hi everyone im new member here and like to share this medal the "Order of Tirad Pass", which was the only medal that where allowed to awarded the brave soldier, during the Japanese occupation in the puppets state of Philippines....this was only award once in Philippines and only few survive, due to after the war, most of the people try to throw away the Japanese related item in there home, to avoid being accuse to be the traitor of the country, during the war

[JapanX]

Nice and very interesing medal Dark.

Not to mention its rarity.

Thanks for showing and welcome to the Forum!

Cheers,

Nick

P.S. "...for bravery in connection with operations against bandits..." - that`s a good one

[dark379]

Thank you Mr. Nick, im happy that you like the topic about the medal

Thank you also for welcoming me in the forum.

Im also happy to discover and join this forum, it has alot of information about the WW2 medals of Japan

[dark379]

Here the page 2 of the article about the medal!!

[dark379]

Article in May 5 1944 the day after the event!!

[dark379]

Continuation....

[dark379]

Final page about the medal..page 2

[JapanX]

Thanks for all this additional info!

Very interesting!

Give me some time and in Saturday we`ll talk about another medal that is closely connected with japanese occupation of Philippines. So called General Homma medal

Best,

Nick

[dark379]

Hi again Mr. Nick your welcome......About the Homma medal that is a nice topic Mr. Nick....ill wait for it.

Thank you

[drclaw]

Thanks for posting this Dark. A rare medal indeed! I've just posted something of similar vein in the Chinese section.

The original English article is fascinating stuff. "Bandit suppression" was a popular euphemism by the Japanese in occupied territories ....

[drclaw]

Dark, what is the popular view in the Philippines about President Laurel's wartime regime?

It is interesting how history has differently treated "collaborators" in the Pacific War depending on your stand point.

Ho Chi Minh was a "collaborator" but revered in Vietnam as a nationalist and anti-colonialist freedom fighter. The same could be said of Sukarno in Indonesia.

Wang Jingwei is universally condemned in China and Taiwan as a "Hanjin" or traitor, akin to a Benedict Arnold or Vikdun Quisling. However, many now argue that Wang's joining the Japanese was motivated by a genuine belief that the war was lost and there was a need to ameliorate the suffering of Chinese under Japanese occupation.

[dark379]

Thanks for posting this Dark. A rare medal indeed! I've just posted something of similar vein in the Chinese section.

The original English article is fascinating stuff. "Bandit suppression" was a popular euphemism by the Japanese in occupied territories ....

Ya your right drclaw, they like to use that term "Bandit suppression".....in some other news papers or in other articles, this term can be mostly see too, during the puppet state of Philippines

[dark379]

Hi again drclaw, i think President Laurel, has been considered by some Filipinos as traitor of the country, but some Filipinos did believe he had just been used as a puppet during the Japanese occupation... because in 1951 he was elected as a Senate.... He was also urged upon to run for President in 1953, but he declined and became appointed as a head of a mission tasked with negotiating trade and other issues with U.S., which resulted to be called as "Laurel- Langley Agreement".....

But the collectors here, very few do collect Laurel's items, due to some don't like him and some do look him as a traitor of the country......unlike Rizalian's collectors they are alot in here, due to Jose Rizal was Idolized by many Filipinos.

Edited December 14, 2012 by dark379

[drclaw]

Ah, that's very interesting history. I believe a lot of Chinese collectors have the same view when it comes to the Chinese Nanjing Puppet Government orders although that's changing.

Do you know how many Tirad Pass Orders were awarded? It was a little difficult to read the original article so sorry of these questions were answered already. But what is the significance of the "Tirad Pass" and who is the chap who is depicted on the medal obverse?

Thanks for sharing your knowledge on a fascinating topic!

[dark379]

Hi again drclaw, i see.....by the way even in here many older overseas Chinese in Philippines also dont like to collect Japanese related items, especial related to WW2...

About the Tirad pass Medal, i think i was only award once in May 4, 1944, due to there is no other documents ...15 to the Constabularies and 1 to the sister of General Gregorio del Pilar (which was the person in the medal), total of 16 pcs...it is also nice to know that the Japanese, did actually plan to use General Gregorio del Pilar as a war hero medal and a propaganda against US.... to make the Filipinos remember the issue of what did the Americans did to General Gregorio del Pilar during the Phil- American War, and what did the US did to Philippines during that time.

By the way there is only one constabulary did receive the medal alive during May 4,1944, and 14 constabularies have been receive by there family members, due to they have lost their lives during the their service.

After the war, i think there are still few pieces of medals that where survive in the mint house of the famous medal maker "Crispulo de Mendoza Zamora" during the early & mid of 20th century in Philippines.

Edited December 14, 2012 by dark379

[drclaw]

Wow! If only 16 were awarded (plus a few surviving stock at Crispulo de Mendoza Zamora), this would make the medal very very rare indeed!

The use of General Gregorio del Pilar as the central motif was a canny act by the Japanese. Nothing like using a local resistance fighter as a symbol against the evil previous colonial regime.

Thanks for sharing this information. It's fascinating stuff!

[dark379]

Hi again drclaw, ya your right i think not more than a hundred peaces did survive and your welcome im also happy to share some information about the medal, so it will remain its history to other more people and collectors.....by the way nice post also about the Chinese Orders and medals, i like it....i do also collect some Chinese Orders, but very few, due to alot of fakes in the market and sometimes dont know which is real and fake, if it is original price is high too.

Thank you

[JapanX]

Time to give this rarity a proper presentation

Thanks for the HQ scans Dark!

[JapanX]

[JapanX]

Very impressive quality

[JapanX]

Every piece marked with "J.P.L. 1944"

[JapanX]

[JapanX]

[JapanX]

[JapanX]

By the way, for those who are interested in questions "who is the guy on obverse" and "what is this Tirad Pass"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tirad_Pass