1918 Banzai Weapon In Saipan? How?

I found this today at the site of the largest Banzai charge ever near Tanapag. A few weeks ago the Japanese bone collectors were excavating part of the trench where the Americans buried well over 2,000 Japanese from that attack to collect some of the bones. They collected the bones and artifacts and then filled the trench back in. We located the secret locations and simply walked around the area. We had heavy rains since they filled in the trenches so many of the bones and artifacts that were missed were uncovered by rain and were laying on the surface.

At first we were excited thinking that this was the handle of a Japanese sword since it was buried in the trench with Japanese soldiers and their weapons. I was completely dumbfounded when we took a wire brush to it and "U.S. 1918 L. F. & C.-1918" quickly appeared. How did a 1918 American WWI weapon used in the trenches of Europe end up in the hands of the Japanese in Saipan, the other side of the world, nearly 30 years later?

In short, this was made in America for the trench warfare of WW1 Europe. By the time these were produced, WWI ended so the U.S. put these in storage. In 1942 and 1943 these were issued to the recently formed "Marine Raiders" to do small scale island operations behind Japanese lines. By 1944, before the battle of Saipan, they needed large scale attacks so the Marine Raiders were incorporated into the 4th Marines who later invaded Saipan. The Marines complained about this knife because the blade would brake off at the handle. The Marine who used this knife would also complain but since it was found right at the front line where over 2,000 Japanese died and more broke through the line, the Marine who used this knife most likely did not survive.
http://saipanpictures.blogspot.com/

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[GunOwnerDan]

Please be sure to document exactly where you found the handle and keep the information with it, it's worth more to collectors with good provenance. I'd guess you could easily get more than $100 USD for it. The guard on the handle has been reshaped to make it thinner and easier to carry, this was a common thing to do especially for paratroopers. What a great find!

[SaipanPictures]

@GunOwnerDan Thanks GunOwnerDan.

[inoxesox]

Very beautiful find Eric! I love this Trench Knife handle!

[SaipanPictures]

@inoxesox Thanks Inoxesox.

[geckonz1]

that is a nice find, i wouldn't have left it behind because it was on the surface and was US in origin, it was most likely lost or discarded like any other relic and ended up in the fill that was used to bury toughs poor soldiers if it had been a Japanese item in that same spot that would be a different story. you do a great job.

[SaipanPictures]

@geckonz1 Thanks Geckonz. I guess that this was used and broke during the Banzai charge. I can't wait to see what other artifacts are at the bottom of the rest of that trench.

[LineDoggie]

27th NY Division on Saipan was issued much in the way of WWI dated equipment. And the Banzai attack hit between the 105th and 106th Inf Regiments tactical boundaries.

[GunOwnerDan]

@SaipanPictures

It's probably worth quite a bit more than what I told you(I left out a 0).

No doubt a WWII or military museum would love to display it - I know I would.

If you want to see some original photos of this knife being used and carried during WWI and WWII check out my "Brass Knuckles Collector Club" in yahoo groups.

groups.yahoo.com/group/brasskn­ucklescollectorclub

You will need to join first(it's free) then go to the "Files" section and click on "Historic Knuckles".

[PAINTANK]

Very old US Trench knife.

[FUSA4LIFE]

@SaipanPictures yea it would proboly end up in an ship so china with old iron xD