WW2 Japanese Prisoner of War POW Tropical Shirt with Rank

Wow! This is the first time we have ever had Japanese uniform shirt marked for a prisoner of war (PW).

As you can see, the Japanese made shirt is in heavily worn condition, suggesting the soldier arguably wore it extensively prior his capture.

It has the words PW painted on the front of the shirt.

In addition, the original rank for a leading private, aka Private 1st Class, is still sewn to the front of the shirt above the pocket.

This is a 3/4 sleeve, lightweight, cotton shirt was made for wear in hot, humid, wet, tropical climates. This shirt has factory made air vents under each arm.

In studying photographs of Japanese soldiers who SURRENDER at the end of World War II, we have not located any photographs with PW written or painted on their uniforms. The Japanese soldiers and sailors who surrendered at the conclusion of the war seemingly retained their uniforms in an unaltered condition and were transported back home en masse in their uniforms.

Because of this, the shirt appears to be one actually worn by one of the very few Japanese soldiers to have been captured alive during the war in the Pacific, while fighting was underway.

Obviously, with the short sleeves, this would fit in to any pacific island battle as well as the Philippines.