mr buckingham's flag

he doesn't remember where or when he got the flag, but kenneth buckingham speculates he must have taken it off a dead japanese soldier while fighting with the 41st army infantry in the south pacific. he explained enemy soldiers carried flags on them and that they contained names of loved ones and possibly religious text that helped them into eternity ... if it came to that. mr. buckingham had a saber once too, but said he'd given it to a friend in the service, "those navy boys bought everything," he said regarding the value of such items. one story he told gave me goose bumps. once in the mountains on a philippine island his patrol stumbled on a village. they searched for japanese soldiers, but found none, nor any villagers which made them nervous. mr. buckingham searched one of the huts and discovered a saber in the corner of the room with beautiful jewels on its handle. knowing it was rare and valuable he thought of taking it, but second guessed his instincts ... it might be booby trapped he said to himself ... so he passed it up. later, as the patrol retraced theirs steps back to the safety of their own camp they came upon the village, still empty. maybe i'll get that saber after all he thought and went into the same hut, but the saber was gone. he asked every man on the patrol and none had taken it, plus only he had searched that hut and anyone lying would have a hard time disguising what they had taken. mr. buckingham has thought about that day many times since. "i remember searching the room, but i never looked up." he concludes someone was in that room. "if i would have went over and picked that up ... my rear end would have had it,' he said.