Would you wear it?

[tonypaj]

What's so wrong with this jacket?

I'll just start with a couple of points.

1) A-2 was a US military issue. The Japanese had their own.
2) Mixture of languages, I don't get it. My own military stuff in my home country certainly had no English there. I got out as a staff sergeant. I have my insignia left, but would never put them on a US flying jacket (or anything else) Especially as I was infantry, cannon fodder
3) My two grandfathers fought in that war, they wore their own stuff, which was not much, btw. They would have laughed at this.
4) My uncle served in the military, a major, but would never think he'd wear anything but a plain military jacket from another Army. His own stuff, different.

And now I went there And I may be totally incorrect, maybe the Japanese had jackets like these during WWII. If so, I'll reconsider, if not, just wrong all the way through.

 

[Worf]

I don't know about this one. I admit I'm pretty mixed on all of this. Four of my mother's brothers fought the Germans and Italians and I've personally never bought any Iron from either country. I always found the Mercedes Benz commercial, the one where they're showing off their automotive history, galling for that big gap between '32 and '45.... own it and then we'll talk about it. I never had the same amount of enmity towards the Japanese even though their record of atrocities is VERY grim. I owned a couple of Mitsubishi rides when I was younger. My response was "hell if they could build the Zero I'm sure they can build a decent car!" But I was younger then. I COULD wear jacket (if they had one my size) and probably, with my size and demeanor... get away with it. But I don't think I would or will. Nor would I wear an A2 emblazoned with the insignia from the B-17 "Murder Inc.". When a person puts on Nazi gear or Confederate Flags they're making a statement and that would apply to this jacket as well. As Chris Rock once said...

"Just cause you can do a thing, don't mean it should be done!"

Worf

 

[Stand By]

I couldn't be paid enough to wear that flag on my arm for the same reasons you stated, Worf. Too many innocent millions were murdered beneath that flag …
The art is very nicely done - but thanks to Big J's translation as to the meaning of the patches, I feel that the content and intention behind it is quite wrong. They were the losing side and they shouldn't seek to be defiant or glamourize that evil chapter of their past with jackets like this.

 

[Otter]

On top of which, it is an Army jacket, with Navy emblems on it. Should at the very least be an Oscar on the back, not a Zeke.

 

[Stand By]

Good point! It's all wrong.

 

[2jakes]

Takes some cajones walking around with it on, but disregarding the possible accusation of being unpatriotic, I like it. Still a cool nod to an important element of history. I see the Luftwaffe repros the same way. Though the "Imperial Japanese Navy" is a bit much.

*Oh, I just caught the identity crisis. Idk. Seems people put all kinds of things on A-2s.

Hmm...actually, no, I wouldn't wear it. :/

I agree with nick123. For my part, it was youth/ignorance & simply the fact that I liked the colors or patterns.
Here’s some of the things I have worn in the past. Would I wear them now ? Probably in my backyard on a cold day.

Last Fall I bought this scarf & wore it once, but lately, I wonder if I might offend someone
who might feel it’s being disrespectful !

 

[Stand By]

Well, I am pretty certain you do not want to pin this onto your back while you are travelling in China.

View attachment 32197

But didn't a blood chit say to the Chinese that the wearer was a US pilot and to be considered a friend and all help should be afforded to him with a reward provided?
I always thought it'd be fine to wear a blood chit on the back panel of an A2 if it was the PTO-themed ...

 

[Dumb&dumber]

My next honeymoon with my not sure fiancée yet would be in Hawaii..
Flying to Kailu-Kona...
Maybe not taking these kind of outfit for the 5 OC Tea...
Thx to all for this very entertaining site

 

[2jakes]

But didn't a blood chit say to the Chinese that the wearer was a US pilot and to be considered a friend and all help should be afforded to him with a reward provided?

Not sure of the exact wording, but I also thought that it was a positive sign/message in case the American pilot was shot down
& didn’t speak Chinese.

 

[Dumb&dumber]

Today, 90% of rural & labor (PRC )China is illiterate...just think about it ...80 years ago, with only propaganda...mostly against the " big round eyed perspirant white intruder" ... imagine...
Any other question?

 

[Dumb&dumber]

Hey, Mercedes, BMW, Audi ( Autounion prior 1945) Porsche , VW, are ruling the ( car loving) world...in China and elswhere...so what about a little flag..?
Besides, PRC people have another understanding of who ruled and who was...
" beeing weak =loosing face... beeing strong= winner=king"
I was a teacher in Shanghai from 1981 to 1993.

 

[thor]

The Flying Tigers blood chit flag is now the flag of Taiwan; the People's Republic of China have a new flag.
You never know if someone might mistake a historic blood chit as some kind of political statement and act confrontational towards the wearer.

 

[Big J]

I think you're pretty safe with a blood chit;
It's basically a big IOU. It says that the 'holder' is a US ally in the fight against the Japanese, and you will be financially compensated for aiding and assisting him.
The pilot was supposed to detach it from the jacket and hand it over to locals that saved his bacon.

 

[Big J]

I had the leather version of that on a jacket and was followed down a busy Glasgow street by a Chinese lassie reading what was written on my back. I remember one of the other members here had a similar reaction to yours when he wore his jacket in China.

Was she cute?

 

[bentusian]

I've just noticed that the 4 color triangle patch on the left sleeve is the 'Z Flag', which the IJN used as a pre-arranged signal to launch the attacks on Pearl Harbor and Midway without breaking radio silence.

Exactly - and according to the explanation on the same web page, the Z signal has the meaning of 'no turning back without a victory' (or seppuku?), it being the last letter of alphabet. It also reads that this jacket is intended as a gesture of reconciliation between two old enemies..

 

[Sloan1874]

Was she cute?

I am guessing that the street was Sauchiehall Street, and that on the basis of that, no, she wasn't.

 

[Big J]

Exactly - and according to the explanation on the same web page, the Z signal has the meaning of 'no turning back without a victory' (or seppuku?), it being the last letter of alphabet. It also reads that this jacket is intended as a gesture of reconciliation between two old enemies..

Yeah, I think this is Japanese misquoting Nelson on the eve of Trafalger, a 'tradition' started when Togo did it at the start of the battle of Tsushima in 1905.

 

[green papaya]

This one looks better or more correct

 

[Monitor]

Where's the y in Standley?

Interesting stuff about that stuff written on the back of these jackets. Didn't know that. Still, ridiculous to wear it in this day and age...

 

[Stearmen]

Not sure of the exact wording, but I also thought that it was a positive sign/message in case the American pilot was shot down
& didn’t speak Chinese.

As time went by, the pilots and crew stopped wearing the Blood Chit on the outside, because, you did not want to be rescued by communist gorillas wearing the Nationalist flag!