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Dog tag translation please.


hirsca
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Recent estate sale find. I have translated everything but the Kanji at the top of the right column. I'd like to find out the formal name of the unit this soldier was in. In advance, thanks.

 

Al

 

Sorry about the multiple posts. I had trouble getting the picture loaded

post-185120-0-93845600-1568211147_thumb.jpg

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Hi Al,

 

Sadly you may only hear from me yet again on this one. We are working from incomplete lists, which is why it's difficult to answer your question as to the proper name of this unit. Following copied and pasted from my post on the W.R. Japanese forum:

 

北 is an abbreviation for 北部 "Hokubu", which is what the Northern Army District was called. It was the deployment area of, and administrative area for 5th Area Army.

北9540 may be read as "北95" "40" which could mean it's a training or replacement unit. That said, still no idea what this unit's formal name was.

 

"" (North) isn't a field army designation, it's for home defence units (who's members may still have day jobs), administrative offices and training barracks in the northern district. If I'm right about reading it this way "北95" "40" it looks like a training unit but if it's read "北9540" it looks like a home defence unit.

 

Wish I had more for you.

 

Cheers, Rod

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After digging some it seems 北部 "Hokubu" was sometimes used in place of the 5th Area Army's code name "Tatsu". As noted this unit seems to have disappeared but these two are in the records. Having seen these I'm sure now 北部 9540 is the correct way to read it:

北部 9545 = 7th Fortification Land Duty Company - 要塞陸上勤務第7中隊

北部 9547 = 9th Fortification Construction Duty Company - 要塞建築勤務第9中隊

 

For what it's worth related service units were often activated in batches with consecutive code numbers.

 

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Thank you Rod for the additional information. I posted here to hope that new eyes might add to the mystery. But, you once again came to the rescue. Thanks again for for your continued efforts.

 

Al

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Hi Al,

 

You're welcome.

 

Sometimes the answers to these questions are easy and sometimes they require work. Occasionally I screw up and get a little egg on my face but that's inevitable when you're still learning.

 

I really enjoy seeing tags like yours, and even better when their story can be told, which makes it all so worthwhile.

 

Cheers, Rod

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