While on Peleliu in 2002 I obtained two WWII Marine Corps Canteen cups. In 2006 I obtained a third canteen cup. One of them I found, and the other two were given to me by Mr. Sachio Kageyama, the son of a Japanese Officer killed during the battle. Mr. Kageyama is also the president of the "2nd Infantry Regiment's Comrade Assoc." He and other volunteers visit Peleliu regulalry to search for and collect the bones of their war dead for proper Buddhist burial. I was able to facilitate the return of all three canteen cups.

This is the story of the most recently returned canteen cup :

Dan is happy to announce that a third US WWII canteen cup has been returned to the original owner from the island of Peleliu. The named canteen cup was found, cleaned up and taken back to Japan by Mr. Sachio Kageyama of Mito-city, Japan.

Dan visited Mr. Kageyama in Nov.'06 on a trip to Japan to interview WWII Japanese war veterans for an upcoming book called "Eyewitness WWII: Japan" to be published by Firstperson Accounts. Mr. Kageyama showed Dan the canteen cup asking if the owner's next-of-kin could be located. Mr. Kageyama said that if no one could be found within 6 months he would donate it to a local museum in Japan, but if Dan was successful he would mail the cup to Dan in California to be returned to the rightful owner.

The bullet and shrapnel ridden canteen cup had the name "Lee R. Lumpkin" on it. It took 4 months to finally locate Mr. Lumpkin who was alive and well in Virginia. Mr. Lumpkin turned out to be Ssgt Lumpkin, a squad leader in "C" Company, 323rd Combat Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, 81st Army Division. Ssgt Lumpkin was wearing the canteen cup when he was grenaded in the arm & hip up on Bloody Nose Ridge. He was hit through the cup and into his hip causing his evacuation to Guadalcanal for surgery. Ssgt Lumpkin returned to his unit for the occupation of Japan and still carries the shrapnel in his hip.

Special thanks to the following for assisting in the hunt for Mr. Lumpkin: Quay Terry, John Edward, Doug Meny, Diane Kuebler, Jim Pilkington

Note: Please check "WWII Battlesites" for more details on trips to Peleliu and the Japanese search for their war dead. If you have anyone who would like to return a WWII Japanese war trophy taken from Peleliu- such as a flag or named item- please contact me.

This is the story of the cup that I found near a wrecked airplane:

While exploring the jungles of Peleliu with "Military Historical Tours" in March '02 Dan King found a Marine canteen cup named to Joseph A. Odorowski F-2-7 ("F Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division). At that moment King decided to find the original owner or next-of-kin and return the cup. After returning to California, King miraculously located the former Marine living in Michigan! He flew to Michigan to return the cup and meet this former Marine. King learned that Pfc Odorowski fought with the 1st MarDiv at Cape Gloucester, Peleliu and finally Okinawa where he was shot in the shoulder. Other people who were there when the cup was found on Peleliu were Diane Kuebler, Jim Pilkington, Doug Meny, John Edwards, and Kevin Windsberger.

This is the story of the first cup:

In March 2002 I went to Peleliu with "Military Historical Tours" and met, by chance, a group of Japanese who had found an old WWII US Marine rusty canteen cup in the jungle.  Mr. Kageyama (whose father was killed on Peleliu) gave me the cup asking me to find the original owner's next of kin and return it.  The cup had a name and unit designation scratched into it, " "Moore, W.T." and "E-2-7" .  Mr. Kageyama has no such mementos of his father whose body has never been recovered from the battle.  He stated that if he were to receive such a memento how happy he would be, and can easily understand the joy that this cup would bring to the American next of kin.

A team effort to research the national archives and Marine Corps records showed that Pfc. William T. Moore served with 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines and was killed in action on Peleliu Sept. 27, 1944.

One of the members of the group from Peleliu, retired Master Gunnery Sgt. John Edward, and I presented the canteen cup to the Marine's two sisters at an emotional reunion in the lobby of the Airtel motel in Sunland on Jan. 9, 2004.             

The emotional presentation was a simple gathering in the lobby of a hotel where we presented Dorothy Saraga and Betty Birch with their brother's canteen cup along with some tokens of appreciation that included a Marine Corps flag for each of them and a small bag of sand from the place where their brother made the ultimate sacrifice.           

The photos held by the sisters are of their brother Bill Moore, and of his temporary grave on Peleliu. The sisters now had evidence of their brother after 60 years and were very emotional as they held it close.

"We're a total Marine Corps family," said Dorothy Saraga. Their father was a Devil Dog veteran of Belleau Wood in WWI, and Betty Birch herself is a WWII Marine Corps veteran. Their nephew, Bill Moore, the namesake of the Peleliu veteran was a crew chief in Vietnam.