Flag
Production date
Early 1940s
Description
A Japanese Imperial Navy flag which features the red rising sun design on a white background. The rising sun has 16 rays and is slightly off-set towards the left facing side where the lanyard would have been attached.
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Object detail
Production date
Early 1940s
Classification
Credit line
This
flag
was
one
of
several
items
collected
by
Bob
Dunlop
during
the
initial
stages
of
the
attack
on
Mono
Island,
in
the
Solomon
Islands,
on
27
October
1943.
Bob,
a
young
stock
agent
from
Hawera,
who
served
in
the
Pacific
with
the
Thirty
Six
Battalion
of
the
Third
New
Zealand
Division,
related
his
story
in
the
book
New
Zealand
in
the
Pacific
War:
Personal
Accounts
of
World
War
II
by
Bruce
M
Petty.
"We
had
to
dig
a
perimeter
around
what
was
the
Japanese
headquarters,
which
was
pretty
empty
by
that
time
except
for
the
ones
that
had
been
killed.
There
was
a
big
marquee-
a
big
tent.
After
I
dug
my
foxhole,
I
thought
I
would
have
a
look
around
inside
the
marquee
for
a
few
souvenirs,
because
the
Americans
were
good
at
buying
souvenirs,
and
they
always
had
more
money
than
we
did.
I
ended
up
with
a
big
clock,
a
Japanese
flag,
a
Japanese
rifle,
a
bottle
of
sake,
and
a
Japanese
water
bottle
with
Japanese
writing
on
it.
When
I
came
out
through
the
tent
flap,
a
Japanese
ran
out
beside
me.
He
fired
a
shot
into
the
air,
all
our
fellows
dropped
to
the
ground
and
the
Jap
ran
straight
through
them
and
into
the
jungle.
I
would
like
to
think
he
is
alive
today.
I
was
grateful
to
him,
really.
He
must
have
had
a
bead
on
me
[in
the
tent]
,
and
he
could
have
shot
me
so
easily,
but
if
he
had
he
would
have
alerted
all
the
rest
of
the
men-the
rest
of
our
company-
and
he
wouldn't
have
got
away."
Discussing the same incident in a Taranaki Daily News article in 2007, Mr Dunlop remembered the Japanese solider took off "like an All Black winger".
Discussing the same incident in a Taranaki Daily News article in 2007, Mr Dunlop remembered the Japanese solider took off "like an All Black winger".
Accession number
PA2010.003
Collection type
Material
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