Tang translation help needed

[Geoff Ward]

I received this sword from the family of a dear friend whom I traveled all over the U.S with In an 80's Big Hair Spandex metal band.Back then the more you looked like a girl the more the girls liked you! and we had a great time with being "Rock Stars"Time goes by quickly and last December Nate's Dad passed away.My Father passed in 97 and Nate and my friends rallied around me while I undertook the task of making the arrangements and accompanying Dad to be buried in Arlington National Cemetery. After Dads passing I told Nate not to leave anything unsaid between himself and his father.With myself,that was my biggest regret.We are only here here for a short time so don't leave things Unsaid.When Tom passed I wanted to support my friend and made the trek to Texas to show my support and was welcomed by the family like I was a son.Years before we hand rehearsed at the Hanlon house before hitting the road and I was always fascinated by a Japanese sword that hung on the wall in the living room. Nate told me it came home in a footlocker that had belonged to his Uncle John Hanlon who went missing in WWII.After sitting around the table having snacks and exchanging stories about the family and funny things that happen in life there was an awkward silence and Nate got up and left the room.When he returned he was carrying the sword "Dad and all of us wanted you to have this because we know you will appreciate it and see that is taken care of"
I have never been so honored and humbled in my life.Although it will never be for sale I would like to get as much info as possible any help on the Kanji would be appreciated I will post pictures of the fittings and saya soon as they are unusual . Thanks ,Geoff

[Geoff Ward]

John W. Hanlon
Corporal, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # 38269554
India-China Wing, Air Transport Command
Entered the Service from: Oklahoma
Died: 27 March 1944
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery
Manila, Philippines

7 May 2006
AMARILLO, Texas -- Army Air Corps Cpl. John Hanlon will be buried with full military honors this week, ending six decades of uncertainty for relatives who last saw the young man with the gold-toothed smile in the winter of 1944, as he headed back to fight in World War II.

Two of his brothers returned from World War II, and a nephew fought in Vietnam, but there was no word about Hanlon's fate.

The first break in the silence for his family came in 2002, when the Chinese government notified American military officials that the wreckage of a World War II-era plane had been found on a mountainside in the Himalayas of southeastern Tibet.

Investigators went to Tibet and found the remains of four crew members, said James Pokines, a forensic anthropologist for the U.S. military's Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, which is in charge of recovering missing American soldiers. They returned in 2004 to recover the remains.

DNA samples were taken from members of Hanlon's family, and Pentagon officials notified the family last fall that a match was found.

The news confirmed what relatives suspected all along, although they had held out hope that Hanlon somehow had survived all these years.

"I just kept praying that he would show up, that maybe he had been picked up as a prisoner," said 89-year-old Cathryn Hanlon Brown.

Brown, her sister, three brothers and other family members were leaving this weekend for Washington, D.C. Hanlon will be buried Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from the capital.

Brown's son, James, said family members are relieved they can lay him to rest.

"My mom and everybody has been elated," he said. "It has brought up a lot of memories, and there have been a lot of tears shed."

Brown, who now lives in Panhandle, recalled the last time she saw her brother in 1944.

The family threw a party for Hanlon, who was returning to the war after a short leave. The happy-go-lucky young man boarded a train in Shattuck, Okla. He flashed a big grin and tossed his sister a silver dollar as the train pulled out.

A few weeks later, on March 27, 1944, the C-46 transport plane in which Hanlon was riding crashed into a mountainside in a steep Himalayan gorge. Hanlon and his crew were running supplies from India to China.

[Geoff Ward]

More

The Defense POW/Missing Personnel (DPMO) announced today that two members of a four-man Army Air Forces crew missing in action from World War II have been identified, and are being returned to their families for burial with full military honors.

The four are pilot Captain Douglas R. Wight of Westfield, New Jersey; co-pilot First Lieutenant Herbert W. Evans of Rapid City South Dakota; crew chief Corporal John W. Hanlon of Arnett, Oklahoma; and radio operator Private First Class Gerald L. Rugers, Jr., of Tacoma, Washington Evans and Rugers were individually identified, while group remains of all four will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, May 9.

On March 27, 1944, a C-46 crewed by these four airmen departed a base in Kunming, China, on route to Sookerating, India, as part of the massive allied resupply missions over the Himalayan Mountains, referred to as the "Hump." En route one of the crewmen called out for a bearing, suggesting the aircraft was lost. There was no further communication with the crew. The aircraft never reached its destination, and searches during and following World War II failed to locate the crash site.

Officials from the People's Republic of China notified the U.S. in early 2001 that the wreckage of an American WWII aircraft had been found on Meiduobai Mountain in a remote area of Tibet. The following year, a joint U.S.-P.R.C. team, led by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC), excavated the site where they found human remains, aircraft debris and personal items related to the crew.

JPAC scientists and Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory specialists used mitochondrial DNA as one of the forensic tools to help identify the remains. Laboratory analysis of dental remains also confirmed their identifications.

Herbert W. Evans
First Lieutenant, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # 0-740778
India-China Wing, Air Transport Command
Entered the Service from: South Dakota
Died: 27 March 1944
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery
Manila, Philippines
John W. Hanlon
Corporal, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # 38269554
India-China Wing, Air Transport Command
Entered the Service from: Oklahoma
Died: 27 March 1944
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery
Manila, Philippines

7 May 2006
AMARILLO, Texas -- Army Air Corps Cpl. John Hanlon will be buried with full military honors this week, ending six decades of uncertainty for relatives who last saw the young man with the gold-toothed smile in the winter of 1944, as he headed back to fight in World War II.

Two of his brothers returned from World War II, and a nephew fought in Vietnam, but there was no word about Hanlon's fate.

The first break in the silence for his family came in 2002, when the Chinese government notified American military officials that the wreckage of a World War II-era plane had been found on a mountainside in the Himalayas of southeastern Tibet.

Investigators went to Tibet and found the remains of four crew members, said James Pokines, a forensic anthropologist for the U.S. military's Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, which is in charge of recovering missing American soldiers. They returned in 2004 to recover the remains.

DNA samples were taken from members of Hanlon's family, and Pentagon officials notified the family last fall that a match was found.

The news confirmed what relatives suspected all along, although they had held out hope that Hanlon somehow had survived all these years.

"I just kept praying that he would show up, that maybe he had been picked up as a prisoner," said 89-year-old Cathryn Hanlon Brown.

Brown, her sister, three brothers and other family members were leaving this weekend for Washington, D.C. Hanlon will be buried Tuesday at Arlington National Cemetery, across the Potomac River from the capital.

Brown's son, James, said family members are relieved they can lay him to rest.

"My mom and everybody has been elated," he said. "It has brought up a lot of memories, and there have been a lot of tears shed."

Brown, who now lives in Panhandle, recalled the last time she saw her brother in 1944.

The family threw a party for Hanlon, who was returning to the war after a short leave. The happy-go-lucky young man boarded a train in Shattuck, Okla. He flashed a big grin and tossed his sister a silver dollar as the train pulled out.

A few weeks later, on March 27, 1944, the C-46 transport plane in which Hanlon was riding crashed into a mountainside in a steep Himalayan gorge. Hanlon and his crew were running supplies from India to China.


Gerard L. Rugers, Jr.
Private First Class, U.S. Army Air Forces
Service # 39180415
India-China Wing, Air Transport Command
Entered the Service from: Washington
Died: 27-Mar-44
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery
Manila, Philippines
Awards: Air Medal


Douglas R. Wight
Captain, U.S. Army Air Force
Service # 0-793471
India-China Wing, Air Transport Command
Entered the Service from: New Jersey
Died: 27 March 1944
Missing in Action or Buried at Sea
Tablets of the Missing at Manila American Cemetery
Manila, Philippines
Awards: Air Medal
Family and nation can finally give pilot a farewell salute
Friday, May 5, 2006
BY RUDY LARINI
Courtesy of the Newark, New Jersey, Star-Ledger Staff
It was 1935. She was two years behind him at Westfield High School -- she a sophomore, he a senior -- and she barely knew him.

"I just sort of remember passing him in the halls," she said. "The yearbook said something about him being very quiet and he should find some quiet girl."

Decades later, long after his disappearance, she would marry his brother. And now Lois Wight will be traveling with other relatives to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia to bury his remains.

First Lieutenant Douglas R. Wight was flying a C-46 transport on a supply mission during World War II when it crashed over a treacherous stretch of the Himalayas, known as "the hump," in Tibet.

It wasn't until six years ago that the wreckage was found by herdsmen and reported to the Chinese government. It then took two years to plan and carry out the rugged 16,000-foot climb into the Hima layan wilderness, where a joint U.S.-Chinese expedition recovered the remains and personal belong ings of the four-man crew. The plane was identified through tail markings, but it took several more years to identify the remains of Wight, co-pilot Herbert Evans, crew chief John Hanlon and radio operator Gerald Rugers.

The families of all four have been invited to a service at Arlington National Cemetery Tuesday to honor the lost airmen and to inter their remains and the be longings recovered with them.

[GHP]

伯耆住勝正作之
Houki-ju Katsumasa Saku Kore

Katsumasa resident of ..... made this.

Here's another of his swords ... and another



--Guy

[Geoff Ward]

Cornstarch

Just a thought for people who wish to post serial numbers on guns or kanji stampings or signatures on swords use a littile bit of cornstarch on your finger tip and wipe it into the impression It will make the marking more legible and is non perminant just blow it out or use a soft paint or tooth brush.

[Geoff Ward]

Cornstarch

No cornstarch

[Geoff Ward]

Cornstarch removed

After the cornstarch was removed

[Geoff Ward]

Houki-ju Katsumasa Saku Kore

Can anyone provide any information about this Smith and the quality of his work?