I've been trying to identify the origin of some Japanese medals stitched to my great grandfather's army uniform (WWII Winter Service uniform, American, with patches for the 24th Infantry).
Reddit has helped me translate them enough to know one is some kind of award to the aforementioned unit, and the other is a name tag for a Lieutenant Suda Tamotsu.
Any info on that unit OR ideas how he might have gotten them are greatly appreciated.
I suspect these badges have different origins. The Japanese referred to their Manchurian based units as being under the Kwantung Army. There wasn't a 686th anything as far as I am aware under the Manchukuo puppet government. In fact, the only 686th... anything that I am aware of is a regiment in the Chinese Communist 8th Route Army, which fought in the Sino-Japanese War, the Chinese Civil War, and the Korean War. The 24th Infantry Division was the first US division to be involved in the Korean War and as such came into contact with Chinese troops during the intervention period. Did your great grandfather fight in the Korean War?