Japanese Flag used in Tawau during WWII Found in Australia!

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Exclusive: Japanese Flag used in Tawau during WWII Found in Australia!

31 October 2010 3,587 views 14 Comments

When we published the post on Liberation of Tawau from the Japanese a few months ago, it had attracted a lot of attention worldwide. Interestingly, a gentleman from Australia named Peter O’Brien contacted us and told us that he has a Japanese flag which he acquired from a collector.

Are these the names of Japanese soldiers?

Mr. O’Brien bought the flag from a collector named John Summerville. The collector had it for about twenty years, having got it directly from Lieutenant Les T. Padman as shown in the picture below. He was the officer commanding B troop, during the liberation of Tawau from the Japanese.

Lieutenant Padman in Tawau (courtesy of Australian War Memorial)

So far, Mr. O’Brien have no idea where this flag would have been, who would have owned it, what it says, what its significance is, if any?

By looking at this flag, we can quickly tell that these Japanese characters are typical names of Japanese people; which are usually made up of 4 characters. If you can read Japanese, maybe you can help us interpret by leaving some comments below this post.

Mr. O’Brien and we at DiscoverTawau.com would like to clear the issue up if possible before everyone involved is gone and there will be no solving the mystery. Another person who might be able to provide us with some useful information would be the son of Lieutenant Colonel J. A. England, who has been in touched with us recently. Meanwhile, Mr. O’Brien will contact the Australian War Memorial for more information.

This is indeed a priceless artifact and part of Tawau’s history which was never been shared with anyone before. As always, DiscoverTawau.com will always bring you exclusive stories about Tawau. We would appreciate if you leave your comments or write your thoughts below.

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14 Comments »

SHARI B. BUJANG said:

i love it…Tawau being my birth place.more historical pictures pls..

# 31 October 2010 at 4:53 pm

richardker (author) said:

@Shari: Thank you! All we need is more support from people like you We will definitely try to find more pictures

# 31 October 2010 at 5:13 pm

Maya said:

Usefull info, very rare picture from you TDC… keep it up, im always supporting u all.

# 31 October 2010 at 5:47 pm

richardker (author) said:

@Maya: Thanks so much! We know that you are one of Tawau’s most popular bloggers

# 31 October 2010 at 11:13 pm

joseph escobia said:

Reminiscing the history of Tawau through artifacts indeed bring back so many memories. It’s great of you starting it. I went to tawau recently after being away for almost twenty years only to find out that it has transform tremendously. I visited my Alma Mater, Holy Trinity, went into one of my previous classrooms, and sense a feeling of belonging. I was last in this room in 1968! Keep up, you light our days!We owe it to you.

# 1 November 2010 at 9:32 am

richardker (author) said:

@Bro Joseph: Thank you, we feel the same every time we go back to Tawau

# 1 November 2010 at 10:14 am

ZAR said:

This information is really useful.For me I hope..this can be much more help to our next generation to know more about their homeland.

# 2 November 2010 at 6:07 pm

BlueGene said:

Ahoi!

Bendera Hinomaru! Kalau di zaman Tomoyuki Yamashita (zaman Malaya dan Borneo diperintah Jepun) sudah tentu di sekolah berkumandang Kimigayo dan Umiyukaba!

Ya, itu adalah nama-nama tentera Jepun. Jika kita melawat kuil Yasukuni di Jepun, kita akan dapat melihat bendera Hinomaru yang tertulis nama-nama para parajurit Jepun.

Aruke, aruke, aaruke aruke! 2x
Minami mi….kiteria (lebih kurang) begini lagunya penaik semangat tentera Jepun apabila mereka ke medan tempur zaman perang dunia kedua.

Blog Tuan, sememangnya hebat. Invicta!

Adieu…

# 22 December 2010 at 8:50 pm

halimah Jonggang said:

I’m not originaly from tawau but i really like to explore & read more about discover tawau. this site relly informative..keep up the good job…

# 21 May 2011 at 7:36 am

richardker (author) said:

Thank you Halimah!

# 22 May 2011 at 1:31 pm

George Spiteri said:

This is an amazing find that has so much historical significance. It respresents an era where a global military conflict resulted in over 50 millioni fatalities forever changing the course of history for the world at large. It is indeed, priceless.

# 30 May 2011 at 10:58 pm