WW2 Japanese Guadalcanal Captured 25th Regiment Photograph

 This is a very rare Japanese item, undoubtedly captured on Guadalcanal amongst the soldiers personal effects.

This is a studio photograph of a Japanese army sergeant major with his wife.

On his collars,  you can clearly see the 25th Infantry Regiment numbers. The regiment fought in China in 1938 where it suffered a 91% casualty rate. The survivors, including this man, returned to their home base in Hokkaido, Japan  It took them three years to refit and rebuild the regiment. The regiment was then shipped out to Guadalcanal and again was nearly completely annihilated.

You will see,  on the left lower breast of this man’s tunic,  is the NCO Merit Badge. This badge was awarded to NCOs who had served 6 or more years without a major blemish on their records. We have located a photo of the badge, not included, for comparison.

elieving the inexperienced 23rd Infantry Division from the