Their Flag and Skulls Are Ours”
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“THEIR FLAG AND SKULLS ARE OURS”: CORPOREAL TROPHY TAKING IN THE PACIFIC WAR by LUCAS E. ERICKSON A THESIS Presented to the Department of History and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts September 2012 THESIS APPROVAL PAGE Student: Lucas E. Erickson Title: “Their Flag and Skulls Are Ours”: Corporeal Trophy Taking in the Pacific War This thesis has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Arts degree in the Department of History by: Jeffrey Hanes Chairperson Glenn May Member Alexander Dracobly Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded September 2012 ii © 2012 Lucas E. Erickson iii THESIS ABSTRACT Lucas E. Erickson Master of Arts Department of History September 2012 Title: “Their Flag and Skulls Are Ours”: Corporeal Trophy Taking in the Pacific War This thesis explores the taking of Japanese remains as trophies by American servicemen during the Second World War in the Pacific. It examines the historical and contemporary motives for American trophy taking in modern warfare and shows that corporeal trophy taking was both prevalent and multifaceted and how Japanese war materials and bodies were repurposed into trophied objects that were recorded, kept, displayed, exchanged, and even celebrated both in the battlefield and on the home front. This study also recognizes and analyzes relatively new and useful sources of evidence, such as recently published memoirs, artifacts, and digital social media, to expand our understanding of corporeal trophy taking as it occurred during the Pacific War. iv CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Lucas E. Erickson GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene North Seattle Community College, Seattle, Washington Western Washington University, Bellingham DEGREES AWARDED: Master of Arts, History, 2012, University of Oregon Bachelor of Arts, History, 2009, University of Oregon AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: American West Pacific Studies Military History PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon Department of History, 2010- 2012. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS While many people lent their support to the completion of this thesis, I would like to express my gratitude to the following in particular: foremost, thanks to Professor Jeff Hanes, for his years of mentorship, guidance and encouragement throughout this project. I owe special thanks to my thesis committee members, Alex Dracobly and Glenn May, who have contributed their knowledge and support since this path of study began. Also, thanks to the other faculty members who generously offered their time and insight, most notably, Professors Aletta Biersack, Lindsay Braun, Julie Hessler, David Luebke, Jeff Ostler, Marsha Weisiger, and John Russell. I also benefited greatly from the intellectual environment provided by my cohort and other friends who offered encouragement and critical feedback. I am grateful to my wife, Mary Erickson, and our young children Dane and Katrine, who continue to teach me the meaning of love, commitment and sacrifice. Finally, I would like to acknowledge my grandfathers, Richard Logan and Harold Erickson, whose survival and souvenirs, both in substance and memory, are the basis for this study. vi For my family vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 Defining Corporeal Trophies .................................................................................... 4 Sayeki’s Inquiry ....................................................................................................... 7 Historiography .......................................................................................................... 11 First Thread: Historical Fiction ......................................................................... 13 Second Thread: Academic Scholarship ............................................................ 17 Third Thread: Personal Histories ...................................................................... 33 Private Memories ............................................................................................... 37 Private Record: Trophy Photos and Objects .................................................... 43 II. ANCESTORS AND ENEMIES ................................................................................ 54 American Continental Violence: Trophy Taking and the Frontier ........................ 59 Amerindian Trophies .......................................................................................... 61 Animal Magic ...................................................................................................... 65 Corporeal Trophy Taking and American Continental Violence ............................ 67 Scalp Bounties and the Indian Wars .................................................................. 71 Skull Science ....................................................................................................... 75 The Civil War ...................................................................................................... 78 Post-Civil War Lynching and Corporeal Trophies ........................................... 82 Pacific Expansion ...................................................................................................... 85 Pacific Propriety: Filipino Flags and Skulls ..................................................... 88 viii Chapter Page A Matter of Life and Death ..................................................................................... 92 “A Clash between Yanks and Japs” ........................................................................ 94 III. CORPOREAL TROPHY TAKING IN THE PACIFIC WAR .............................. 98 Remembering Pearl Harbor ...................................................................................... 102 Casting for the Pacific Theater ................................................................................. 107 Home Front Displays .......................................................................................... 112 “Indian Country” in the Pacific ................................................................................ 117 Sailing for Guadalcanal ...................................................................................... 122 Environment: Living with the Dead........................................................................ 125 Geographies of the Mind .......................................................................................... 130 Acclimation………………… ............................................................................ 131 Revenge ..................................................................................................................... 135 Trophy Exchange ...................................................................................................... 142 Projecting Home ................................................................................................. 145 “Holy Jitters about the Skull Question” ................................................................... 152 The Twentieth Century Savage .......................................................................... 158 IV. CONCLUSION ......................................................................................................... 162 Consequences ........................................................................................................... 162 Significant Findings .................................................................................................. 164 ix Chapter Page REFERENCES CITED ................................................................................................... 174 x LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Natalie Nickerson and a trophy skull featured in Life Magazine’s “Picture of the Week,” May 22, 1944 ................................................................................... 9 2. American servicemen boiling the flesh off a Japanese skull at Guadalcanal, circa 1942-43 ............................................................................................................ 46 3. Two soldiers staging a trophy skull at Guadalcanal, circa 1942-43 ...................... 49 4. KA-BAR Knife with Human Arm Bone Handle, made during the battle for Piva Trail at Bougainville, circa 1943-44 ................................................................ 52 5. “Jap Hunting License and Foot Powder Ad,” circa 1942-45 ................................. 114 6. Postcard, “Made in Japan, Caught in the Pacific, Tanned in the U.S.A.” ............. 115 7. “Okinawa 1945 Burial Tomb.” ................................................................................ 145 8. Editorial cartoon from the Yank Army Weekly American family receiving a pair of “Jap” ears mailed to them by their loving “junior,” then fighting in the Pacific ........................................................................................................................ 148 9. “Getting all the gold out,” American servicemen extracting gold teeth from a Japanese skull. ........................................................................................................... 150 10. Skulls staged to encourage