PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE

Dear fellow OMSA members:

The big news is that we are re-designing and re-building our OMSA website. This ef- fort is being spearheaded by a small number of OMSA members, working with a professional design team, and their plan is to have the new website up and running by the time we meet in Jacksonville in August. The new website will have all the previous features (Forum, medal database, etc.) but will have many new elements. For example, you will be able to buy OMSA monographs, back is- sues of the Journal and renew your OMSA member- ship using a credit card or PayPal. Our future is our website -- we are getting most of our new members through www.omsa.org, so that’s why it is important to have a first-class website.

You also should have noticed the changes to the Journal over the past year. Editor Dick Flory’s "Meet the Authors" section continues as does a new "Letters to the Editor" section that started with the March-April 2011 issue. The annual index has been moved from the November- December issue to the January-February issue. Finally, a special thanks to our proof-readers, longtime OMSA members Jeff Floyd, Murray Louis, Nick McDowell and Irv Mortenson. They assist Dick in his editing work and help to insure a high quality product. Remember that the Journal depends on you to submit articles and Dick Flory especially needs mid-length articles of four to ten pages.

As we get closer to Jacksonville 2011 - please plan on attending - the hotel is on the water and in a wonder- ful downtown location where there is much to see and do. Looking forward to seeing all of you there.

PLAN NOW TO ATTEND OMSA

2011 IN JACKSONVILLE

MEET THE AUTHORS

Ed Emering is an award-winning Chicago-based author of historical books and articles and a photographer. He has contributed more than 50 articles to JOMSA and has also authored numerous books including three OMSA Monographs. He is currently working on his fourth OMSA Monograph due in 2012. Ed also maintains "The Medal Hound" (www.themedalhound.com), an ever- expanding free research service for medal collectors with interests in those areas covered by the site.

Russell Furtado was born in 1949 in Fall River, Massachusetts and by age nine had moved to Kindley Air Force Base, Bermuda where he lived until returning to the United States for college. He attended college at North Adams State in Massachusetts and graduated with a BA degree in History, Geography and Education in 1972. He taught high school history, geography and student government classes for 19 years. In 1987, he was selected as one of seven national "Teachers of the Year in Geography" by the National Council for Geographic Education. In 1981, he earned a Masters degree in History and School Administration and became a high school principal before taking early retirement in 2004. Moving to Florida, he resumed teaching seventh grade reading in Immokalee, Florida, thus extending his career in education to 29 years. Russ enlisted in the Massachusetts Army National Guard in 1970 and served until retirement in 2005 for a total of 34 years of service, almost half of which was in the rank of Command Sergeant Major. He was the only Command Sergeant Major of the Massachusetts Military Academy to serve twice in that capacity in its 100 plus year history and in 1997 was inducted into its Hall of Fame. He also co-founded the Minuteman Chapter of the Quartermaster Association and was recognized for his efforts by being awarded the Distinguished Order of St. Martin. His awards are the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal (2), Army Commendation Medal (3),ArmyAchievement Medal. In 2010 he was made a Knight of the Order of St. Michael of the Wing by Duke of Braganca of Portugal. Russ has submitted a number of articles to JOMSA in the past three years as well as contributing to the OMSA Portugal web database.

Nyle Monday has been a member of OMSA for 35 years, and has a particular interest in the orders, medals and decorations of Japan and associated states. A foxa~aer United States Army sergeant, he has worked as an archaeologist in Hawaii and California and as a museum curator and director. He holds a BA in Anthropology

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MEET THE AUTHORS (CONTINUED

as well as Masters Degrees in Library and Information Science and in History (Asian). Nyle has lived in Japan and has been a practitioner and instructor of traditional Japanese martial arts for many years. Along with his land- based interests, he also serves on the Board of Directors of the Historical Diving Socie.ty, a group dedicated to preserving the history of underwater technology. He is the Senior Editor of that Society’s quarterly, the Journal of Diving History. Nyle currently works as a Reference and Instruction Librarian and faculty member at San Jose State University.

Guy Power retired from the United States Army in 1994 and entered federal civil service six months later; currently he is a GS-13 at NASA-Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, (Mountain View) California. Guy shares similar interests with co-author Nyle Monday: a fondness for medals and Orders; the American West; firearms; archery; and Japanese martial arts. Guy and Nyle discovered they both had the same drill sergeant - 10 years apart -- for army basic training: First Sergeant Pifia-Ojeda. After seven years in the enlisted ranks Guy graduated Officer Candidate School, US Army Ranger School, Airborne School, Air Assault School, Infantry Officers Advanced Course, and the Monterey Institute of International Studies where he obtained a BA in political science and minor in Japanese language. Post- retirement, he graduated from San Jose State University with a Master of Public Administration degree. Guy is a member of The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem and possesses a Japanese teaching license for traditional swordsmanship.

Steven Watts has had a general dental practice since 1978 in Warren, Ohio. He was in charge of small boats (six and eight) carrying supplies and troops on the Cua Viet River in Vietnam and then as a salvage diver in the Navy aboard the USS Current. He went to dental school at the Ohio State University, graduated in 1975, and served two more years in the Navy Dental Corps at Camp Lejune, North Carolina. He is active in the local dental society and served as their president in 2003. He is an Eagle Scout and has been active in scouting over 50 years. He teaches dental assisting one day a week in Youngstown. He has been collecting since the age of 11, when his uncle gave him his patches. His interests are United States medals and dental corps insignia. He also sells OMSA publications.

Graham Wilson spent 26 years in the Australian Regular

Army, infantry and intelligence, retiring as a warrant

officer intelligence analyst in 1996. Following retirement Graham worked for the Department of Defence as a civilian officer, first in intelligence but, since 2001, in the Department’s Directorate of Honours and Awards. While working in the Directorate of Honours and Awards, Graham was responsible for the design of the Afghanistan Medal, Iraq Medal and Australian General Service Medal Korea. Graham retired from public service at the end of February 2011, after 40 years of service to Her Majesty, in and out of uniform. Graham lives in Canberra with his second wife, Sharon, a retired Chief Petty Officer of the Royal Australian Navy, who now works for the Department of Defense, and their Bichoodle pup "Ralph." Graham has a life-long interest in all aspects of militaria and military history and is widely published in both subjects, both in Australia and elsewhere. He intends to devote his retirement to researching, writing and presenting in and on the subjects of military history and militaria (with time off to spoil his grandchildren).

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ARTICLE TO THE

JOMSA EDITOR.

Vol. 62, No. 3 (May-June 2011) 3

AWARDS TO A JAPANESE ADMIRAL: THE ORDERS AND MEDALS OF REAR ADMIRAL SHIN ARAKAWA

GUY POWER AND NYLE MONDAY

Introduction

One of the great attractions of collecting British and early numbered or named United States medals is that it offers the opportunity to do research on the recipient and learn more about the ’"man behind the medal." For collectors of the awards of most other nations, this is generally not possible, unless one is lucky enough to obtain them directly from the recipient and thereby also establish provenance.

It was as a result of just such a piece of luck that the authors of this article came across a unique grouping of awards belonging to an Imperial Japanese Navy admiral whose service stretched from the first decade of the twentieth century through the end of the World War II. While much has been written about the German armed forces, both officers and rank-and-file, the men who fought for Japan still remain relatively anonymous. By examining the life of this one naval officer through official records, as well as through the reminiscences of his granddaughter and the artifacts in her possession, it was possible to piece together the rather interesting career of one of Japan’s senior naval officers, and to put a face on a former enemy who, to this day, still remains relatively unknown.

that grandmother wouldn’t allow men to come into the kitchen; she was that type of old-fashioned woman.’’2

Shin Arakawa’s career progressed steadily from midshipman through to his selection as a vice admiral in 1943; however, he retired as a rear admiral. Upon retirement from active duty in September 1943 he had accumulated the following orders and medals: Order of the Rising Sun 3rd Class; Order of the Sacred Treasure 2nd Class; Taisho Enthronement Medal; World War 1 Campaign Medal (1914-1920); World War I Victory Medal; Showa Enthronement Medal; 1931 China Incident Medal; Manchukuo National Foundation Merit Medal; 1937 China Incident Medal; 2600 National Anniversary Commemorative Medal; and the Red Cross Medal. Although none of the award certificates have survived, Noriko has preserved her grandfather’s medals, ribbon bars, admiral’s bullion cap insignia, and photographs; all of which she will pass along to her son.

The Teens Military Service

Japanese naval records available online show that Midshipman Arakawa (Figure 1) graduated the Naval Paymaster Academy (B-Course) on July 17, 1912.

Family Background

Rear Admiral Arakawa Shin (~Jll g~) was born to Arakawa Jun and his wife Ito Kie on February 12, 1890 in Aizu Wakamatsu City, Fukushima Prefecture; he died on April 11, 1977 in Tokyo, aged 87. This line of the Arakawa family was originally surnamed Shiba and is a branch family of Shiba; but they have been Arakawa since before 1890. According to Admiral Arakawa’s granddaughter, Noriko Arakawa,1 he was directly related to General Shiba Goro. The wife of General Count Nogi Maresuki, GCB, was related to Rear Admiral Arakawa’s aunt as both women were from the same Ito family. Although these Arakawas originally hailed from Fukushima, Shin’s wife, children, and grandchildren were all born in Tokyo. According to Noriko, Shin fell in love with Minezaki Miki at first sight. Miki never wore western-style clothing during her entire life, only kimono, and she kept her hair very long till the day she died. "My grandmother was a beautiful woman, but quite tough!" explained Noriko, "I heard from my mother that Figure 1: Midshipman Arakawa, 1912.

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