Original Imperial Japanese WWII Prisoner of War Grouping with Forage Cap & POW Ephemera

Original Items. One-of-a-Kind Grouping. During World War II, it was estimated that between 35,000 and 50,000 members of the Imperial Japanese Armed Forces surrendered to Allied service members prior to the end of World War II in Asia in August 1945. The number of Japanese soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen who surrendered was limited by the Japanese military indoctrinating its personnel to fight to the death, Allied combat personnel often being unwilling to take prisoners, and many Japanese soldiers believing that those who surrendered would be killed by their captors. This makes any material regarding Japanese Prisoners of War extraordinarily scarce.

This is a tremendous grouping made up of items belonging to a Japanese Prisoner of War, who was kept in an American POW Camp until the end of the war. The grouping includes his Forage Cap, which is very heavily worn, his Prisoner of War tag, his ID pin, with some other photos from other POWs ID pins, and more.

This fantastic grouping includes:
- Japanese WWII Imperial Japanese Army Enlisted Men's Wool Forage Cap in very worn condition, the cap has been bent heavily but the chinstrap is still retained, albeit crazing and dry rotted. The sweatband is intact but the interior lining is a bit torn up. Certainly a cap worn for a very long time in the field. The cap is roughly Size 7.
- 4 x 8” Prisoner of War tag with date of capture, place of capture, unit marking, not filled out. Form is dated 11 June 1943. The first of these we have ever seen!
- Booklet named on front to Keizo Aihara, likely the Prisoner of War. The book appears to be soldier propaganda, encouraging soldiers to fight on, telling anecdotes of previous wars.
- Ship transport Osaka Merchant ship tag.
- 4 Photographs of Japanese prisoners of war, one photo shows a soldier with ropes around his hands, another shows the camp with barbed wire fences around them, all photos are dated and some show location as Cebu, Philippine Islands.
- Two small metal tags with Kanji reading “Shell” with numbers 202 and 2811 under them, likely prisoner numbers. 
- Another tag with a soldiers photo inside with Kanji around it we could not identify. There are also three small photos similar to the one in the pin, likely taken from other POWs.

This is a tremendous POW grouping, the first of its kind we have offered. Japanese Prisoner of War material is almost non-existent, so don’t miss out on this group. Comes ready for further research and display.