My dad was in the navy and served in the south pacific. He was in the battle of Leyte Gulf and several others. He survived a ship being sunk by Japanese dive bombers. He was awarded two purple hearts and some other medals. When the war was over and they were being mustered out in San Francisco, he had a captured sword and a rifle, probably an Arisaka. While standing in a long line on the gangplank, he observed officers confiscating the souvenirs of the seamen as they reached the end of the gangplank. Rather than turning his booty over to those bastards, he tossed them into San Francisco Bay. He did manage to get a Japanese flag and a bosun's whistle home though.
