Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is a lovely USGI Bring Back from WWII: an original Japanese WWII "Meatball" National flag, captured and personalized by the soldiers that captured it. They added their names and hometowns, with some having nicknames. There are 15 names total, and due to the difficulty of WWII research, we weren’t able to turn up records for most of these men. But we were able to track down one, that being Edmund Harrison, of Wasco, California. Thanks to a period newspaper article, we’re able to say that many of these men were part of the 164th Infantry Regiment, “Americal” Division. According to the article, Harrison’s outfit “recently had a two-day rest after 27 days of tough fighting in the steep hills and jungle terrain, including banzai bayonet charges which were stopped by well-placed American bullets.”

The flag measures 25 x 38”, and looks to be made from silk or rayon, and is in great shape with the leather tabs still intact with their ropes. The body of the flag is white, with a red "sun round" dyed into the middle. This flag definitely has seen some wear from service, but is still in very good condition. It has the expected age toning, and areas where the fabric has torn due to wear. This is a size that could have been used as a good luck flag, but may also have been flown as a national flag.

This is a fantastic flag that is worthy of further research. As noted, we were only able to link one soldier to the 164th, but with work, you could likely identify more! A great USGI bring back flag from the Pacific Theater of WWII, ready to research and display!

The 164th Infantry entered federal service 10 February 1941. Before deployment overseas, the 164th was relieved from assignment to the 34th Infantry Division on 8 December 1941.

Commanded by Colonel Earle Sarles, the 164th transited the South Pacific ferry route in March 1942 to New Caledonia. There they joined the 182nd Infantry Regiment and the 132nd Infantry Regiment, in addition to artillery, engineer and other support units to form a new division on 24 May 1942, designated the Americal Division. The name Americal was derived from a combination of the words America and New Caledonia. The regiment spent nearly five months in combat training. In September, Colonel Sarles, a National Guard officer, was replaced as commander of the regiment by Colonel Bryant E. Moore, a West Point graduate. Moore would subsequently be promoted to command an infantry division in Europe, and the regiment would serve under other commanders, almost all of whom advanced to general's stars.

Arriving at Guadalcanal on 13 October 1942 ahead of its brother regiments as emergency reinforcement for the 1st Marine Division, the Regiment was the first U.S. Army unit to engage in offensive action during World War II in the Battle of Guadalcanal. Between 24 and 27 October, elements of the regiment withstood repeated assaults from Japanese battalions and inflicted some two thousand enemy casualties. The 1st Marine Division commander, Major General Alexander Vandegrift, was so impressed by the soldiers' stand that he issued a unit commendation to the regiment for having demonstrated "an overwhelming superiority over the enemy." In addition, the Marines took the unusual step of awarding Lt. Colonel Robert Hall, commander of the 3rd Battalion, 164th, with the Navy Cross for his role in these battles.

Until the Americal Division commander, Major General Alexander M. Patch, and other units of the division arrived, the 164th fought alongside the Marines in a series of encounters with Japanese units in the Point Cruz area, where they successfully dislodged enemy troops from two hilltop strongpoints. The action earned them the nickname "The 164th Marines." Members of the 164th were also known as "jungle fighters" within the U.S. media because of the terrain on which they fought.

Later, the 164th participated in extensive jungle patrols as well as organized offensive sweeps of the island to eliminate remaining Japanese resistance. This experience gained the regiment valuable combat experience in jungle travel and navigation, ambush and counter-ambush, and small-unit tactics using small arms and light support weapons. After the Battle of Guadalcanal, the regiment returned to Fiji with the rest of the Americal Division to refit and replenish losses. At this point, many veteran officers and men of the 164th volunteered to join the 5307th Composite Unit, better known as Merrill's Marauders, for service in Burma. With the rest of the Americal, the Regiment later participated in the Bougainville campaign, then fought to secure the islands of Leyte, Cebu, Negros, and Bohol, in the Philippines. The regiment was slated to be part of the invasion of Japan when the war ended in August.