My Grandfather recently passed and we found this among his medals from his career in the army. He fought in WW2 in the Burma Campaign and was stationed in New Guinea. Can anyone tell me why he would have this? What it might say? Thank you!
The red characters on the right say "courage," the ones on the left say "unity." The black characters say "Infantry 80th Regiment."
I'm not sure what the red characters on the bottom mean. Translated into Chinese, it means "to proceed/carry out." I don't know what it might mean in context.
Since it is apparently Chinese and not Japanese, this may be an artifact of the Chinese Expeditionary Force, 1st Route Expeditionary Forces in Burma. US Army Lt Gen Joseph "Don't let the bastards grind you down" Stilwell was military attache to China in 1935-39 and commander of United States forces and allied chief of staff to Chiang Kai-shek in 1942-44. Stilwell was given a Chinese force in the hope they could prevent the Japanese from closing the supply lines up through Burma to the Chinese Nationalists. This souvenir may come from that allied theater of operations.
As some one who is fluent in both Chinese and Japanese, I can confirm this is Japanese Army flag. Explanations for the confusion with a possible Chinese origin has been already covered, so I'll answer your question directly.
The flag is of the 歩兵第80連隊, roughly "80th Infantry Regiment'. They were a part of the 歩兵第40旅団 "40th Infantry Brigade" which was a part of the 第20師団, 20th Division of the the Imperial Japanese Army. They were originally raised to garrison Korea after the Japanese victory in the Russo-Japanese War and the subsequent Annexation of Korea. During World War 2, the entire 20th Division was transferred to the Southern Expeditionary Army Group, specifically the Japanese Eighth Area Army, which was tasked with holding onto New Guinea and the Solomon Islands, which the Japanese had invaded and overrun. Within the Eighth Area Army, the 20th Division was under the 18th Army which was tasked with holding onto New Guinea, where your Grandfather was stationed.
The 80th Infantry Regiment was involved in the Salamaua–Lae campaign and the Battle of Sattelberg. If your grandfather was involved in either of those, he could have picked it up as a trophy or spoil of war.
If you want to talk to the Japanese soldiers who might have been in the division, you could try contacting the 大邱歩兵第80連隊第２中隊会, 歩兵第80連隊第50隊戦友会, 旧北支派遣歩兵第80連隊第５中隊(岩切隊), or 猛朝２０５５部隊戦友会. They're all veterans associations of the 80th Infantry Regiment.
I won't quote any academic sources, because I didn't use any. Most of the information I got from the Japanese Wikipedia, the names of the veterans associations I got from www.senyuken.jp
might be a banner to rally japanese troops during WW2 or just to signify a certain regiment.
what was your grandfather's post?