Allied-Made "Banzai" Flags

[GHP]

I found another War-period cartoon showing the phenomenon of "fake banzai flags" was not unknown then! So, I thought I'd get all of them together in one post. I lead off with the most recent one I found, showing an Australian digger selling a flag to a US GI.

One shows the GI's desire for fresh souvenirs -- authentic, not faked (this time).

I did not include the photo of Seabees actually making the "Hari Kari" flags since it was not a cartoon.

If you have a different cartoon, please add to the collection.

--Guy

[oldflagswanted]

FS cover ...

... the phenomenon of "fake banzai flags" ...
-Guy

Hello Guy:
Interesting "Foreign Service" magazine cover.

[MikeB]

Allied-Made "Banzai" Flags

Hello Guy-
Thank you for re-posting the colored, 1949 Foreign Service image. Do you by any chance have publication names and dates for the other cartoons?

Best,

MikeB

[Ryukyutunnelrat]

Here is one I have.

[GHP]

Here is one I have.

GREAT !!!!!

Added to my files.

Many thanks,
--Guy

P.S. Fred Lasswell's name sounded familiar! Creator of "Snuffy Smith"

[DALE ELLIS]

Cool! My Father used to tell me stories about making “Jap flags” from bed sheets, mercurochrome and iodine from medical section. He also said that they used gallon size vegetable cans from the mess hall as a pattern for the meatball. The man on the right holding the sword and flag is my Father. He brought the sword home but said the flag was stolen out of his bags that were in storage along with other souvenirs when they were back out into the field.

[GHP]

Cool! My Father used to tell me stories about making “Jap flags” from bed sheets, mercurochrome and iodine from medical section. He also said that they used gallon size vegetable cans from the mess hall as a pattern for the meatball. The man on the right holding the sword and flag is my Father. He brought the sword home but said the flag was stolen out of his bags that were in storage along with other souvenirs when they were back out into the field.

Interesting. At least he wanted to keep the real flag instead of one of his creations. Though, it would be great for you to have one of his creations as part of your collection.

--Guy

[dragnet]

Fascinating thread guys, please keep them coming👍

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

this week i re-read the essential book of Richard B. Frank "Guadalcanal", and like i previously said on various other topics, i want to provide here scans of the few pages dedicated to the life of the American and Japanese soldiers.

The interesting part on early fake "Banzai" flags is in the middle of page 258 (check the notes too).

See You

Vince

[FrenchVolunteer]

1

[Dennis J]

Great cartoons when I was in RVN 67-68 I knew guys that made VC flags and sold them all the time.I had one once but I don't know what I did with it.

Dennis J

[Staldion]

This topic always fascinated me. I love the fact that collecting alway been around, even when the war was still going on. And it's fun to know the collection market was not so different back then, than the one we know today.

The cartoons are amaizing and the books looks very interesting.

Thanks to Dennis I also learn that the forging flag practice also happened un Vietnam, wow ! And I believe local people never stopped making them.

What's next ? Period fake Iraqi or Isis flags ?!

Thanks all for grouping all this material and story for future reference.

[Dennis J]

This topic always fascinated me. I love the fact that collecting alway been around, even when the war was still going on. And it's fun to know the collection market was not so different back then, than the one we know today.

The cartoons are amaizing and the books looks very interesting.

Thanks to Dennis I also learn that the forging flag practice also happened un Vietnam, wow ! And I believe local people never stopped making them.

What's next ? Period fake Iraqi or Isis flags ?!

Thanks all for grouping all this material and story for future reference.

Back then they got locals to make the flag.I was told by one brother that they were sometime made by the VC relatives themselves.

Dennis J

[Bill D.]

The American desire for souvenirs is really fascinating.


My late father served in the Army in the Pacific during World War II.
He told me of the warnings that the troops received to watch out for "souvenirs" that had been booby trapped.


As a result, he was very cautions when, walking down a path in the jungle one day, he found a Japanese Nambu pistol, still in its holster, just sitting in the middle of the path. The holster was open and the butt end of the pistol was partially out of the holster, as though someone had wanted to make sure that it wasn't missed for the desirable souvenir that it was! Dad tied some radio wire around the holster, backed up behind a tree, and gave the wire a tug. Both the holster and the pistol went flying, but nothing happened.



Apparently, someone really had simply dropped the pistol.


Dad said that, when he got back to the States and was on the train home from California, another G.I. in the compartment had several Japanese swords protruding from his duffel bag. That led to a conversation about souvenirs. Dad produced the Nambu and the other G.I. became quite excited. He said that the pistol was the one souvenir that he had wanted but that he had never found. He offered Dad $150 for it. According to an online inflation calculator, that $150 in 1945 was the equivalent of $2096.57 in 2018.



I don't think that Nambus sell for that today, even in the holster!

[FrenchVolunteer]

Hi,

the "missing link" between the fake japanese flags and the Vietnam war, the infamous "Guadalcanal" SS cuff title.

Courtesy of Gordon Williamson pages 312-313. The cuff title was made up in tailor shops on Tu Do Street in Saigon in 1966.

See You

Vince