ABPA - Australian Bush Poets Association

Poem removed by author

Very poignant poem, Dennis.
But makes me wish the sword would find its way back to the Japanese soldiers family.

Catchya
IRene

Thanks for the comment Irene.
I remember Japanese trying to buy back swords in the late fifties. My father's attitude was that they had acknowledged their defeat and their folly by surrendering their swords and that returning them would send the wrong message. After all the act of surrender by the Japanese involved handing over their swords. At that time we were still very wary of the Japanese and there was still a lot of anti Japanese feeling. They had been a militaristic nation with a medieval culture who had done their very best to take our country from us, and it was not totally apparent that they were to become the largely pacifist and enlightened nation they are now. In any case most swords were untraceable to their original owners. I don't know how many finished up in Australia but US troops took home about 300,000 although only a small percentage of those were officer's swords. To the victors go the spoils.