Donation of World War 2 Japanese Flag
Published - 9 February, 2026
A Japanese flag signed by members of 2/2 Commando Squadron at the end of World War II has found its way to the SAS Historical Collection courtesy of the man who claimed to have stolen it, Edmund Bourke.
The signaller served with the 2/2 in New Britain in 1945 and said he acquired the flag from an Imperial Japanese Navy ship after Japan’s surrender, according to his daughter Johanna Nesbitt.
“Dad told us that at the end of the war, when his unit were guarding the Japanese prisoners of war on their ships in Rabaul, he was dared by his mates to sneak onto their cruiser, the Kashima, and procure the ship’s flag from atop the flagpole,” Mrs Nesbitt told the 2/2 Commando Association memorial service in November.
“He took up
the challenge, which he claimed couldn’t be any harder than the coconut picking
he had been doing. When he had shimmied
to the top of the flagpole, in the process of releasing the flag, he was
spotted by a Japanese soldier, and the alarm was raised.
“To escape,
he dived from the pole into the waters below, with said flag tucked into his
shorts. It was reported that the ship’s
commander was irate and demanded a beheading over the incident. The Australian Army replied that they had
investigated, and no culprit could be found.
Lucky for me!”
Mr Bourke’s family and the 2/2 Commando Association presented the flag
to SAS Historical Foundation chair Greg Mawkes in January.
It will
hang in SAS Regimental HQ at Campbell Barracks, a symbol of the respect today’s
Special Forces owe the No. 2 Australian Independent Company (later 2/2 Commando
Squadron) and its exemplary record in Timor and New Guinea during WWII.
Mr Bourke
kept the flag in a Pond’s make-up jar for 40 years only to share it with his
family late in life, and some doubt persists over its provenance.
“For many
years we believed this to be the flag you now have in your charge, signed by
members of the unit, Mrs Nesbitt said.
“However, the silk flag you have was not typical
of the flags used on ships and there is another flag which probably fits this
story more.“This
raises the question, where did this signed flag come from? And how did it end up in Dad’s
possession. Sadly, the true story is
lost forever but we can only assume that he was given it for safe keeping by
the unit.”
Whatever
the historical circumstances, Mrs Nesbitt said the flag held lasting
significance for the story it told.
“So, whilst
there is some confusion about the origin of the flag that you now have in your
trust, it tells the story of the many men who courageously fought alongside
each other in true Aussie mateship,” she said.