The Russel and the Japanese Flag Story

2000

A True Story

Written in 2013, and rewritten 2/2019* 1,000 Words*

Howard Yasgar

It was 1995 when I first met Russel.

Russel came to our company looking for some parts for a military generator set.

He said that his business was driving around the country buying surplus parts, and then selling them at flea markets.

When Russel first walked into our business in Miami, besides from the fact that his

clothing looked a little scruffy, we thought he was a pleasant enough fellow.

He was about five foot six inches tall, slightly overweight, with wavy brown hair.

Russel told me that he was thirty five years old and a confirmed bachelor.

He said that he lived in a small house trailer on property he owned near Naples Florida.

Being a bachelor, Russel said he never did any laundry.

He said that every two weeks he went into a Goodwill store, and he bought an entire new set of used clothing, and he threw his old clothing into the trash.

One day, Russel came to see us, and he had a surprise.

It was a beautiful white silk Japanese flag, with a big red sun right in the middle of it.

The flag was two feet wide and eighteen inches tall, and it had all kinds of Japanese writing on it.

I asked Russel where he ever found such a beautiful and interesting flag.

Russel had quite a story to tell us.

He said he had a booth at a flea market and right next to him was a WWII veteran. who said he was moving and he was selling all his belongings.

Russel saw the flag and asked him where he got it.

The veteran said that on Sept 2, 1945 he was a guard aboard a Japanese ship moored right next to the USS Missouri. It was on the very day that the japs were signing the surrender.

He said he saw the flag on the ship he was guarding and he took it.

He said he knew it was a valuable artifact and he could have gotten into a lot of trouble if anyone knew he took it.

The veteran said he had kept the flag hidden for 50 years, never showing it to anyone.

Russel could see that the guy had kept it in perfect condition, it was neatly folded up in a plastic bag.

Russel asked the fellow what all the Japanese writing on the flag was all about, but the fellow had no idea.

Russel knew we were in the military parts business and we had quite a collection of militaria decorating our offices.

He felt that the story of where the guy said the flag came from was really interesting, and according to the veteran it was an irreplaceable piece of WWII history, so he negotiated with the fellow and he bought it for us.

The next time Russel came to Miami, he presented us with the flag, he said it was a gift from him, and he told us the entire story.

I spread the flag out on a desk, for everyone to see, it was certainly an interesting artifact especially with all the Japanese writing on it.

Unfortunately no one at our company spoke Japanese so we had no idea of what the writing said, and that led to a lot of joking around.

Someone said it probably was a menu for Japanese food, and the flag might have been hanging in a mess hall in the ship.

As all sorts of people came by our office I always asked if anyone spoke Japanese, we were hoping that someone could translate the writing.

Finally we decided to have the flag framed so we could hang it up, and display it.

However, at the frame shop no one could tell which was the top side of the flag and which was the bottom.

But we all knew that our friend Russel had gotten us a wonderful historical artifact from WWII and we should treat it as such.

So when the frame shop told us the flag should be mounted in a museum quality picture frame, we agreed.

$300.00 later, we had a beautiful Japanese flag mounted in a museum quality gold metal frame, and we hung it up in our office, but still not knowing if it was right side up.

One day, I was on the phone discussing our Japanese flag with a friend who lived in Minnesota.

He suggested that I look on Ebay, and then search on Google to see if there was any historical information on our flag.

It was an excellent idea, and I wondered why we hadn’t thought of doing it before.

Well, I did it, I looked, on bay, and I’m sorry I did.

There were so many similar Japanese flags for sale.

It appears that every single Japanese soldier that went to fight in the army had one of these flags with him.

And the Japanese writing, well it wasn’t a food menu, it was written by family members all wishing the soldier the best of luck.

We learned that our flag was not really a historical item, and it was not quite as exotic

and valuable as the veteran had led Russel to believe.

Because there were so many Japanese flags for sale on Ebay, it appears that our cost of framing the flag was more than the value of the flag itself.

Russel really felt bad that it wasn’t the historical artifact he was led to believe, I think Russel felt the guy that sold it to him had really snookered him.

I told Russel it was the thought that counted, it was still a beautiful flag and we loved it.