World War II veteran to return 'souvenir' Japanese sword

LANESBORO, Minn. – A 94-year-old veteran from southeastern Minnesota plans to return a sword he took from Nagasaki, Japan, as a token of his time during World War II.
“At first, I kept it as a souvenir,” said Orval Amdahl, of rural Lanesboro. “Then, all of a sudden, I began thinking — someone had to own this.”

Amdahl said he got the sword because he was a Marine captain in the war. Over the years he kept the sword in good condition. He tried contacting people about the sword but had no luck.
Then Caren Stelson asked to interview him for a book she's writing about the dropping of the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended the war in 1945. Amdahl mentioned the sword.
“I showed it to her, and it blossomed from there,” he told the Post-Bulletin of Rochester. "She has people in Nagasaki she can work with."

Stelson used those contacts to find Tadahiro Motomura, the grandson of the Japanese military officer who once owned the sword.

Amdahl will hand the sword to Motomura during a ceremony Sept. 21 at the Charlotte Partridge Ordway Japanese Garden at the Como Park Zoo and Conservatory in St. Paul, which is a sister city to Nagasaki.

Amdahl said he was on a ship during World War II, ready to take part in an invasion of Japan, when the two atomic bombs were dropped.

In Japan, he was stationed at Nagasaki after the radiation from the bomb had dissipated. Before he left, he was allowed to take home one souvenir. That's when he saw the sword with a wood-covered scabbard and a block of wood attached by a string. It looked like it might have belonged to a cavalry officer, and Amdahl liked horses. He took that one.

“I want to get it back to the rightful owner. ... I won't miss it,” Amdahl said. “I believe in peace.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/09/14/world-war-ii-veteran-from-minnesota-to-return-japanese-sword/#ixzz2f0UbqW3R

 

Awesome story here, a very sensitive soul. Not everyday you see relinquishment like this.
And, he's from my home state! Go MN!

 

Question - why is not the sword the property of the Japanese Army?

 

Many Japanese officers used family swords, especially if they were from the Saumari class. The army did mass produce the swords as well. If it has serial numbers it's an army sword, if it has a signature it's likely a faimilly sword. Being in a wooden case the latter is far more likely.

Many swords were burned, bull dozed, and then dumpted into the ocea soon after the war. Mac apparently thought of it as a way to demil the Japanese.

 

This is a great story. If I don't forget, I may try to wander over to the Japanese Garden on Saturday...

 

Well, I didn't make it for the ceremony, but I did find a news story with a video of Mr. Amdahl with the sword.

 

Thought this might add interest to this thread

http://ww2talk.com/forums/topic/22627-the-mystery-behind-daves-japanese-swords/

Ron

 

Well done, Ron. That thread ties in very well with this one.

Here is a local news report (with video) on the ceremony yesterday showing the official return of the sword.

 

I too did not know that there was a difference in Japanese swords origins, whether they were family heirlooms or army issue. I had always thought that they were passed down through the generations. When my dad was in Korea, he said that an officer in his company had married a Japanese girl, and before he reported for duty in Korea, her father gave the officer his sword that he carried in WW2. It was passed down from his father, grandfather and so on.

Good story about the returning of the war prize sword.