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WWII flags

Photo taken June 25, 2018 in Astoria, Oregon shows Obon Society founders Keiko Ziak (R) and her husband Rex examining a Yosegaki Hinomaru flag sent to the organization from an American family. The nonprofit venture, which returns these WWII-era souvenirs collected by Allied Forces from Japanese soldiers who died in battle to surviving relatives, receives around four to five flags per day. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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WWII flags

Photo taken June 25, 2018, shows a visitor to the Columbia River Maritime Museum in Astoria, Oregon, viewing Obon Society's exhibit of more than a dozen Yosegaki Hinomaru flags. Such "good luck flags" signed by friends and family that Japanese soldiers had brought to World War II battlefields were often collected by Allied Forces as keepsakes. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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WWII flags

Obon Society co-founder Rex Ziak explains during a luncheon in Santa Barbara, California, (on May 14, 2018) how the organization's scholars analyze Yosegaki Hinomaru -- WWII-era "good luck flags" collected by Allied Forces from Japanese soldiers who died in battle - to determine the flag's origins. The nonprofit organization is searching for surviving families of original owners of around 900 such flags and has returned more than 200 flags since its founding in 2009. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo