Newly opened Japanese pack

[SameNameHere]

Thought yal might enjoy this:
http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/156..._69_Years.html

[dewoitine]

Lol beat me to it!

Regards

[Walter Schmidt]

Why is there Navy stuff inside an Army pack?

[Papa Nambu]

As I said before on GB; I find it unlikely that anyone who would look for gold teeth in a dead man's mouth wouldn't check in his backpack. Maybe it hasn't been gone through since then, but I'm sure the guy who picked it up did.

Why is there Navy stuff inside an Army pack?

Probably because the Marine just grabbed the pack to put all his souvenirs in and the story is just a story.

[Stu W]

Nothing more than a BS story.

[GHP]

After reading the comments ... appently their favorite word is one we do not encounter here (thank goodness). I spent 20 years in the military ... and that was the most common word used interjected into almost every "doggone" sentence~ but at least (then!) we knew when not to use it.

I'm so grateful the participants here are better spoken.

[/soapbox]
[/みかん箱]

--Guy

[CWP]

GHP I had the same thought. I'm certainly not offended by profanity in any situation really but if the objective is to have a polite and civil conversation about collectible items, what is the point?

[Papa Nambu]

Not only was it opened, it was inspected by the intelligence officer and has his round red "inspected" stamp.

[Jareth]

Once again, always buy the item( s) not the story.

[SameNameHere]

I didn't read that thread I just looked at the pictures:-)

[dewoitine]

It's a pity that there isn't 87 of them.

[Staldion]

Hello everybody,
First, I have to say that I shared your feelings about the rude comments when I saw the topic, there is a BIG difference between here and there. I know now why this rule is so important.

Intersting items anyway, maybe collected by the same marine but from several japanese soldiers. Maybe he did not opened this stuff after he get back to the States, and his son was more interested in guns than clothes, we will never know, but that point is not a big deal as the items are interesting for themselves here.

I have just checked the market/internet price on a well known dealer website for that kind of headgear... Still a lot of money for everything in this bag.

Army helmet + cover and net ... Isn'it nice? Did you notice the curious white stiching all around it by the way? First time I see it, but you guys are more aware than me in this field. At least $2-3K depending on the liner condition (no picture of it so I have to guess).

NLF cover without helmet, quite salty on the outside but inside looks fine, even more difficult to find than the army cover, we are in the $2K range here am I wrong?

A navy cap is not the cheapest item in the world of Imperial japanese militaria, as I am not aware of all the variations for it I would not try to put a price on it, still in nice shape.

What do you think about the case? Is it a box for an army radio?

Anyway I am glad I didn't saw the teeth, if something have to be returned to Japan, would be that, but it would be hard to id their original owner.

[Jareth]

The white large stitches on army cover are for camo insertion. The GI had to have added souvenirs to the pack as he traveled. Some items appear unissued like navy tunic which was likely picked up in a depot perhaps in Japan. Be interesting to have checked if army helmet had name that might of matched back pack. Either way, no doubts all items are valuable but as to when, where & by whom they were added into back back is the question.

[Papa Nambu]

What do you think about the case? Is it a box for an army radio?

Anyway I am glad I didn't saw the teeth, if something have to be returned to Japan, would be that, but it would be hard to id their original owner.

It's an older style army backpack, you can see the Showa 9 date (1934), these were replaced with the more practical and cheaper to manufacture "octopus" packs with the excessive straps.

Teeth and body parts are not military collectable. If someone mentioned a German or Japanese soldier taking teeth from and Allied soldier's body, people would be outraged. Sure, such things happened, but no one today should be proud of showing off what a brute the family war hero was.

[Staldion]

Thank you Jareth, good to know this stitching are period done, I agree with you about the navy tunic and I understand your first comment now, we will never know the story behind this grouping.

Thank you Papa Nambu, I didn't knew that kind of older backpack! The radio bag is way more bigger anyway. The last part of you answer is very interesting too, as I am not familiar with that practice (okay my family members involved in war took some souvenirs too, but not human parts). The first time I saw that kind of war souvenir (I mean not in a fiction) it was here on WAF with a piece of human skull, but didn't belong to the family of the fellow member.

Really made me think a lot about insanity of war, human being... But not the way you suggested, coming from your own family, meaning a lot of things about who your ancestor was. It must be a chock.