?1943 Japanese Imperial Navy Aviation Graduation Fob/Badge WWII?

[stoltz]

Happy Thanksgiving from Quantico, Virginia. I am new to this site and only been out with my brother while he detects in the past. My brother has been metal detecting for many, many years, upgraded his detector, and gave me his older White Spectrum. He is visiting for Thanksgiving and we took the two detectors out with only an hour until dark. This is my first day metal detecting with the detector, the first day metal detecting in the yard of my new house in Quantico, and my last target of the day. It was almost on the surface of the ground near my house. We have been looking at websites online and believe it may be a Japanese Imperial Navy Aviation Graduation watch fob/graduation badge. It has 2603 on the back, which I believe is the Japanese equivalent year of 1943. It has a bunch of Japanese writing on the back that would be cool to know what it says; interpretations of the writing from other fobs posted online seem to be very specific details to Japanese navy training graduating classes. My brother was pretty impressed with the find. Any information would be appreciated.

 

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[PACO]

That is a great Relic........ I would love to see if that number or Writing goes along with who owned it..... Excellent Find

 

[against the wind]

Excellent find,, might have been brought home from the Pacific during WWII as a souvenir.
Good luck with the translation. I would enjoy finding out what it says.
WELCOME TO TNET

 

[uglymailman]

That is a great find. You might even be able to trace it to the graduate. Good luck.

 

[Michiganne]

Nice save on that relic. Good luck on the translation. And welcome to TNet.

HH

 

[Trezurehunter]

Very nice. We dont see fobs from other countries posted very often, and to be from WWII era is great.

 

[diggummup]

That's a great find! I've posted this in another forum for translation. Hopefully someone will answer today. These "fobs" sell for hundreds. They make replicas, not that yours is one, just saying in general.

 

[Carolina Tom]

I can not find a match on the net, but that is bound to be a war medal, not a watch fob. I am (almost) certain that a ribbon when through the bail (that's the name of the slotted part of the fob).

Update: I don't know what I am talking about, it is a fob. I found them on the net. That thing is going to stick you in the hand something fierce when you use it!

Oh yeah, I think that your find is absolutely killer! I really like Imperial Japanese stuff. Congrats on an awesome score!

Here is a pic of the Japanese war medal that I found in a WW2 veterans yard.

 

[diggummup]

No matches but many similar ones- Dai Nippon Military Antiques Japanese Military Watch Fobs Army Navy

 

[diggummup]

A little more info. and a photo of your fob, showing it as an "advanced aviation torpedo school"- https://books.google.com/books?id=w...ISDAL#v=onepage&q=japanese watch fobs&f=false
page 29

 

[patiodadio]

There is a great book that would be good to read after finding this medal. It's "The Miraculous Torpedo Squadron" and it tells the story of a young Japanese pilot from his training all the way to the end of the war. Really a good read and great incite into the Japanese view of the war.
The Miraculous Torpedo Squadron by J?zõ Mori by J?zõ Mori ? Reviews, Discussion, Bookclubs, Lists

 

[diggummup]

In response to my last reply, I don't see anything there that resembles the character for torpedo (Gyorai 魚雷). I'm thinking (maybe?) that the fob itself is the same design, only with a different inscription, since they were normally a private purchase item by a friend or family member after graduation. The best I can make out with a little help is that translates to...

Imperial Year 2603 [1943]
Ninety Sixth Iteration General Aircraft
Maintenance Skills Trainee Graduation Memento

 

[cambria09]

Hello stoltz...and now for a "something completely different" kind of find...nice, thanks for the post...Good Luck...c9

 

[diggummup]

A little more info. and a photo of your fob, showing it as an "advanced aviation torpedo school"- https://books.google.com/books?id=w...ISDAL#v=onepage&q=japanese watch fobs&f=false
page 29

In response to my last reply, I don't see anything there that resembles the character for torpedo (Gyorai 魚雷). I'm thinking (maybe?) that the fob itself is the same design, only with a different inscription, since they were normally a private purchase item by a friend or family member after graduation. The best I can make out with a little help is that translates to...

Imperial Year 2603 [1943]
Ninety Sixth Iteration General Aircraft
Maintenance Skills Trainee Graduation Memento

I did some more digging. Seems the author of the book has his right and his left mixed up. If you enlarge the photo you can see the characters for Torpedo 魚雷 on the fob pictured on the right, not the left.
So "Advanced Aviation Mechanic School" it is.

 

[stoltz]

Thanks for all of the information on this and the work on deciphering. I looked online and saw that these fobs are highly personalized and collectable. I live in Quantico and the house was previously owned by a Marine that lived here for a long time, into retirement, and his wife past his death (she was Navy). He would likely have been of the age to serve in WWII. My brother thought it was one of the coolest finds he had seen taken out of the ground.

 

[stoltz]

I ran into a colleague at a job site last week that works out of Tokyo that is going to provide a complete interpretation of the inscription on the back; she is native Japanese and said it will take her a little bit as some the characters are “interesting for Japanaese” and she wanted to get it correct. She did confirm it was for a Japanese Navy training graduation ceremony in 1943.
A coworker who is very rusty in Japanese character recognition said he saw references to aircraft and artisan and machine, so Navy aircraft mechanic training may be where this falls? You would think most of these fobs were lost with the carriers at sea, so maybe this would be a mechanic at one of their Naval Air Stations. He said he saw some of the character matches (not all) that made him connect this to the Yokosuka Naval District.
Does anyone have an idea of worth? My brother found only one similar such item that sold for over $1000.

 

[The Rebel]

Wild Find! I'm nominating this for banner as it's so unique!

 

[EasternShoreMetal]

I love stuff like that. That is a VERY cool find. Nice. great to see it posted. HH!

 

[stoltz]

Some final information which includes details from my friend in Tokyo and other sources concerning the inscription on the watch fob...

It appears to be for a 1943 graduate class, 96th iteration, for the maintenance of naval aircraft in the Yokosuka Air Group. Japanese air groups were either identified by names or numbers and this one is the Yokosuka Air Group. This would be a relatively short job training course. Young students joining the course would be maybe 15 to 20 years old. The graduates would then be in the naval air arm. The course was set in the Yokosuka Air Group, which was in charge of education of the air arm of the navy, and responsible for the practical trial of new aircraft and combat study of each aircraft. The Yokosuka Air Group was however deployed to the battlefield at the later stages of the war. It was her guess that the Japanese Navy addressed the staffing shortages by setting these shorter training course at the later stages of the war. I also found that the Yokosuka Air Group was the first naval air group in Japan, founded April 1930. They fought over Iwo Jima and participated in the 'home defence' of Japan. Yokosuka is in Kanagawa prefecture and close to Tokyo, which takes just 1.5 hour by train.

It is more known today due to the US military base there. The Japanese Yokosuka Naval Base was surrendered to US forces on August 30, 1945, and was occupied by U.S. Marines of the 6th Marine Division, British Royal Marines and U.S. Naval personnel. The previous owner of my house (where this watch fob was found) was a retired Marine of the age that he probably saw action in the Pacific Theater in WWII; I will need to figure out if he was in the 6th Marine Division. Currently Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka is the largest strategically important U.S. naval installation in the western Pacific and where the Commander, US 7th Fleet (C7F) is forward deployed.

 

[Sandskimmer]

Fascinating description. Well done on the find, and excellent work on the follow up!