rcmodel
Member in memoriam
Here are a Barong and a Parang or Golok? my Navy Seabee dad brought home from Samar or Leyte in 1945.
Unfortunately I suspect they both might be souvenirs made & sold to the GI “tourists” during the war.
The Barong has a 15” flat-ground blade, and is 24 ½” AOL when sheathed.
The sheath kinda appears to have been made from a GI white pine packing crate?
Serviceable perhaps, but not really authentic.
The Parang has a 9” blade and is 15 ¾” OAL in the sheath.
It is better made from some black tropical hardwood similar to ebony.
The blade is flat ground on the left side and convex ground on the right.
In all, it is a well-designed & balanced knife, and I would not feel too bad about carrying it if that’s all I had.
BTW: At the time my dad was there, the intense fighting was about over.
His old photos showed a mostly barren landscape with most of the palm trees shot off at the ground in the areas he was in.
Just stumps & shell holes from naval bombardment and infantry fighting.
But there were still pockets of Japanese who refused to surrender, sniping and otherwise raising havoc with the SeaBees building air strips.
So, the military begin offering a bounty on Japanese heads.
He had several photos of Philippine gorillas carrying knives like these.
And also carrying severed Japanese heads strung on vine “ropes”, waiting to get paid for them!
Yikes!!
rc
Unfortunately I suspect they both might be souvenirs made & sold to the GI “tourists” during the war.
The Barong has a 15” flat-ground blade, and is 24 ½” AOL when sheathed.
The sheath kinda appears to have been made from a GI white pine packing crate?
Serviceable perhaps, but not really authentic.
The Parang has a 9” blade and is 15 ¾” OAL in the sheath.
It is better made from some black tropical hardwood similar to ebony.
The blade is flat ground on the left side and convex ground on the right.
In all, it is a well-designed & balanced knife, and I would not feel too bad about carrying it if that’s all I had.
BTW: At the time my dad was there, the intense fighting was about over.
His old photos showed a mostly barren landscape with most of the palm trees shot off at the ground in the areas he was in.
Just stumps & shell holes from naval bombardment and infantry fighting.
But there were still pockets of Japanese who refused to surrender, sniping and otherwise raising havoc with the SeaBees building air strips.
So, the military begin offering a bounty on Japanese heads.
He had several photos of Philippine gorillas carrying knives like these.
And also carrying severed Japanese heads strung on vine “ropes”, waiting to get paid for them!
Yikes!!
rc