Post by Dave Homewood on Sept 16, 2022 20:15:57 GMT 12
Pacific war souvenir returned to Japan
(By D. W. DODGE)
TIMARU.
A Japanese identity card found in the jungle near Camp Kiwi, Guadalcanal, by Mr R. R. Scott, of 266 Wai-iti Road, Timaru, in March, 1943, has been returned to the soldier’s family in Japan.
Mr Scott, who was an A.C.2 with No. 52 Radar Unit, Royal New Zealand Air Force, in World War II, said that he found the “dog-tag” while he was walking along the beach on Guadalcanal. He had retained it as a souvenir of the campaign.
A representative of the Buhler-Miag K.K. Company, Tokyo, (Mr Akira lida) who was in New Zealand more than two years ago, was shown the identity card by Mr Scott, then employed by the Timaru Milling Company, Ltd, which has dispatched the identity disc to reach Japan by January 22.
“It was on this day in 1943, when the bereaved family received the death information from the Government, thus they will then just mourn the thirty-third anniversary,” said a letter from the Japanese firm to the Milling Company.
Mr Scott had asked the Japanese company’s representative to find the soldier’s bereaved family in Japan, to whom he could return the card. On his return to Japan, Mr lida asked the “Sankei Shimbun,” one of Japan’s leading newspapers, to help look for the bereaved family of this soldier.
“Thanks to greatest efforts by the Japanese Government and the group of Japanese soldiers who took part in the New Zealand expedition during World War II, the ‘Sankei Shimbun’ could finally locate the family, now living in the northern part of Japan,” the letter continued. On receipt of the identity card, the “Sankei Shimbun” planned to publish the story — “praising it as a heartening proof of the renewed friendship between the peoples of New Zealand and Japan,” said the letter, in which thanks were expressed for Mr Scott’s and the milling company’s help and co-operation.
The unit to which Mr Scott was attached on Guadalcanal was commended for its success in directing allied fighters on to enemy raiders in its first major action on April 7, 1943, in which 33 enemy aircraft were reported as shot down for an American loss of seven. The New Zealand corvette Moa, was lost through bombing in this action, the efficiency of the allied fighter control was based throughout the campaign on radar plots provided mainly by No. 52 Radar Unit, which filled an important gap in Guadalcanal’s defences.
In the last big daylight raid on Guadalcanal in June, the unit was equally successful, nearly all the Japanese aircraft which took part being claimed as having been shot down. The unit had no further opportunities to gain spectacular victories, but it had achieved its object, as its presence was one of the contributory factors in keeping the Japanese away from Guadalcanal.
PRESS, 14 JANUARY 1976
(By D. W. DODGE)
TIMARU.
A Japanese identity card found in the jungle near Camp Kiwi, Guadalcanal, by Mr R. R. Scott, of 266 Wai-iti Road, Timaru, in March, 1943, has been returned to the soldier’s family in Japan.
Mr Scott, who was an A.C.2 with No. 52 Radar Unit, Royal New Zealand Air Force, in World War II, said that he found the “dog-tag” while he was walking along the beach on Guadalcanal. He had retained it as a souvenir of the campaign.
A representative of the Buhler-Miag K.K. Company, Tokyo, (Mr Akira lida) who was in New Zealand more than two years ago, was shown the identity card by Mr Scott, then employed by the Timaru Milling Company, Ltd, which has dispatched the identity disc to reach Japan by January 22.
“It was on this day in 1943, when the bereaved family received the death information from the Government, thus they will then just mourn the thirty-third anniversary,” said a letter from the Japanese firm to the Milling Company.
Mr Scott had asked the Japanese company’s representative to find the soldier’s bereaved family in Japan, to whom he could return the card. On his return to Japan, Mr lida asked the “Sankei Shimbun,” one of Japan’s leading newspapers, to help look for the bereaved family of this soldier.
“Thanks to greatest efforts by the Japanese Government and the group of Japanese soldiers who took part in the New Zealand expedition during World War II, the ‘Sankei Shimbun’ could finally locate the family, now living in the northern part of Japan,” the letter continued. On receipt of the identity card, the “Sankei Shimbun” planned to publish the story — “praising it as a heartening proof of the renewed friendship between the peoples of New Zealand and Japan,” said the letter, in which thanks were expressed for Mr Scott’s and the milling company’s help and co-operation.
The unit to which Mr Scott was attached on Guadalcanal was commended for its success in directing allied fighters on to enemy raiders in its first major action on April 7, 1943, in which 33 enemy aircraft were reported as shot down for an American loss of seven. The New Zealand corvette Moa, was lost through bombing in this action, the efficiency of the allied fighter control was based throughout the campaign on radar plots provided mainly by No. 52 Radar Unit, which filled an important gap in Guadalcanal’s defences.
In the last big daylight raid on Guadalcanal in June, the unit was equally successful, nearly all the Japanese aircraft which took part being claimed as having been shot down. The unit had no further opportunities to gain spectacular victories, but it had achieved its object, as its presence was one of the contributory factors in keeping the Japanese away from Guadalcanal.
PRESS, 14 JANUARY 1976
