Post #757990 by kenbo-jitsu on Wed, Jan 27, 2016 5:58 PM

So much to love about this thread! I especially think this is cool...

On 2009-04-22 19:09, Dustycajun wrote:
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On 2009-04-22 21:47, Bora Boris wrote:
Opening in 1943? :o Unless that token is some sort of morale building promotion, I would think that the Japanese occupation of both the Philippines and Singapore during that time put a damper on those expansion plans. :wink:

On 2009-04-24 07:24, Limbo Lizard wrote:
I think you're right about them being a morale-booster, BB. The Brits and Yanks were rather ignominiously defeated in Singapore and the PI, early on. I know that in the case of the Philippines, retaking them was more important symbolically than tactically. IIRC, some considered it a better, quicker plan to bypass them, as we battled toward Japan, but McArthur would have none of that - said he'd return, and that's that, dammit! I'll bet those tokens were one of Donn's contributions to the war effort - given to servicemen, implying that by that date, those locations would not only have been liberated from the "Japs", but a soldier could imagine himself, cleaned-up and comfortable, relaxing in a newly built DTB,... and with claim to a whole barrel of rum!
Great find - combo WWII/Tiki memorabilia.

Not mentioned yet is the significance of the date November 11th -- known to us Americans now as Veterans Day but known at the time as Armistice Day -- the day the Great War, the War to End All Wars (World War 1) ended. People at the time would have understood the implication. Too bad, for everyone, the war in the Pacific didn't end in the fall of 1943.