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U.S. museum returns WWII Japanese soldier’s good luck flag

The flag, known as “Yosegaki Hinomaru,” or Good Luck Flag, carries the soldier’s name, Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, and the signatures of his relatives, friends and neighbors wishing him luck.

By Associated Press

July 29, 2023

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Toshihiro Mutsuda, second left, the elderly son of Japanese soldier Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, greets USS Lexington Museum executive director Steve Banta, right, before the handover ceremony of his father's good luck flag, at Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, July 29. Mutsuda was only 5 years old when he last saw his father, who was drafted by Japan's Imperial Army in 1943 and killed in action. For him, his father was a bespectacled man in an old family photo standing by a signed good-luck flag that he carried to war.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Toshihiro Mutsuda, center, the elderly son of Japanese soldier Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, USS Lexington Museum executive director Steve Banta, left, and Rex Ziak, co-founder and president of Obon Society, head to the handover ceremony after their payer at Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, July 29.
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USS Lexington Museum executive director Steve Banta, left, hands over the good luck flag of Japanese solider Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, to his elderly son Toshihiro Mutsuda during its handover ceremony at Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, July 29. On Saturday, when the flag was returned to him from a U.S. war museum where it had been on display for 29 years, Mutsuda, now 83, said: “It's a miracle."
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

USS Lexington Museum executive director Steve Banta, left, and Toshihiro Mutsuda, the elderly son of Japanese soldier Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, hold together Mutsuda's good luck flag during the handover ceremony of his good luck flag at Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, July 29.
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USS Lexington Museum executive director Steve Banta, center, three children of Japanese soldier Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, Toshiyuki Mutsuda, right, Misako Matsukuchi, bottom right, Yasunori Matsuda, third left, pose with Mutsuda's good luck flag during the handover ceremony at Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, July 29.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Toshihiro Mutsuda, the elderly son of Japanese soldier Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, second left, adjusts his father's good luck flag to their family photo during a press conference after the handover ceremony at Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, July 29. USS Lexington Museum executive director Steve Banta, third left, handed over the flag to Mutsuda's family members in the ceremony.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

Toshihiro Mutsuda, the elderly son of Japanese soldier Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, second left, with Rex Ziak, co-founder and president Obon Society, adjusts his father's good luck flag to their family photo during a press conference after the handover ceremony at Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, July 29. USS Lexington Museum executive director Steve Banta handed over the flag to Mutsuda's family members in the ceremony.
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

USS Lexington Museum executive director Steve Banta, center right, and Toshihiro Mutsuda, center left, the elderly son of Japanese soldier Shigeyoshi Mutsuda, hold Mutsuda's good luck flag after the handover ceremony at Yasukuni shrine in Tokyo, Japan, Saturday, July 29.

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