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So I've had another wild ride down the rabbit hole these past weeks learning so much more about the Zodiac case on a whole as well as learning all about America's history. As always one find leads to another and I came across a few links that I think could lead a path to a solid line of enquiry regarding the question of Zodiac's Military Training and whether he had any or not.
I had been thinking about Zodiac's love of the Mikado and have always thought he may have acted in the play at some point or just loved listening to it. Zodiac appears to have a connection with Japan and the use of some Japanese style characters in his communications, especially the Shimadzu Kamon which I hadn't come across before, see pic below. The Shimadzu Kamon was used by Japanese Family's to represent the surname or title not unlike our Family Crests, these symbols would be put on clothing and palanquins of court nobles, used in the years 794 to 1185. You can read a little more on the following website Family Crests of the Shimadzu Clan | Sengan-en | Home of the Shimadzu Clan | Kagoshima, Japan
So on seeing this I was like wow ok, I have researched the above symbol before and found the sun cross, christianity, angels etc but never the Japanese connection and it turns out this symbols was also used in Korea when under Japanese rule which was from the years 1910 to 1945. It got me thinking about the possibility of Zodiac or someone close to him having ties to this time in Japan and started searching and what I found has been rather interesting.
Now I had already been looking at the Mikado and wondered when performances occurred and if any had occurred during this time. This is when I came across the Eighth Army Special Service. After World War III, The Mikado was staged in Japan in a number of private performances. The first public production, consisting of three performances, was in 1946 in the Ernie Pyle Theatre, Tokyo. The play was conducted by the pianist Jorge Bolet for the entertainment of American troops and Japanese audiences.
The set and costumes were opulent, the principal players, American, Canadian, and British, as were the women's chorus. The male chorus, the female dancing chorus and the orchestra were Japanese. General Douglas MacArthur banned a large-scale professional production in Tokyo 1947 by an all-Japanese cast, but other productions occurred in Japan. For example, the opera was performed at the Ernie Pyle Theatre in Tokyo in 1970, presented by the Eighth Army Special Service.
The Eighth Army is a field army, commanding all United States Armed Forces in South Korea. It commands U.S and South Korean Units from it's base at Camp Humphreys in the Anjeong-ri Pyeongaek in South Korea. The Eighth Army took part in many amphibious landings in the Southwest Pacific Theater of World War II. The first mission of the Eighth Army in September 1944, was to take over from the U.S Sixth Army in order to free up the Sixth Army to engage in the Philippines Campaign 1944-45.
A field army is a military formation in many armed forces, composed of two or more corps and may be subordinate to an army group. A field army is composed of 100,000 to 300,000 troops. As I read about the Eighth Army I could see a link to the XI Corps and clicked, on the page, an image jumped out at me, could this be a possible lead to who Zodiac was?
Pair 'o' Dice? Paradise? The above image is the shoulder sleeve insignia of the XI corps who were constituted in the Organized Reserves as XI Army Corps on 29 July 1921.The XI Army Corps was activated on 15 June 1942 at Chicago, Illinois, then redesignated XI Corps on 19 August 1942. On 20 October 1942 Major General (later Lieutenant General) Charles P Hall assumed command of the Corps. General Hall commanded the Corps until its disbandment
XI Corps embarked for the Pacific Theater in March 1944 and was assigned to the Alamo Force, after arriving at Finschhafen, New Guinea.
I tried to find out more about the XI Corps, when I came across an ad which had an old Military Book for sale, it's an interesting find and it made me wonder if Zodiac did have a connection to the XI Corps either through family or possibly he enlisted in this company.
This is what the ad says about the book, you can find the ad here - WWII XI CORPS PARADISE PARADE Unit History New Guinea Leyte Luzon Manila 1945 | #1695551336 (worthpoint.com)
"Here for your consideration this week is an original WW2 unit history: XI Corps Paradise Parade . As noted on the title page this is a review of XI Corps campaigns from Finschafen, New Guinea, April 22, 1944 to Yokohama, Japan, September 2, 1945. XI Corps was produced by the G-2 Section. This history is combination narrative and pictorial taking the reader from New Guinea, Leyte, Luzon, Manila, and finally, Japan. XI Corps is 39 pages in card covers. "
Looking over everything, the Mikado was also played in 1970 in Japan, so it leaves the door open for Zodiac to possibly enlisting around this time in the Eighth Special Army or possibly if he's older, in the 1945 - 46 Campaign or at least having some family connections.
The Alamo Force who the XI Corps were assigned to also peaked my interest due to Zodiac's love of the old western cowboys and thought there could be a possible connection so again went searching.
The Alamo Scouts (U.S. 6th Army Special Reconnaissance Unit) was a reconnaissance unit of the Sixth United States Army in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. The unit is best known for its role in liberating American prisoners of war (POWs) from the Japanese Cabanatuan POW camp near Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, Philippines in January 1945.
General MacArthur deliberately created Alamo Force to give himself direct control of US Army units, as a parallel structure to the official Allied Ground Forces command, under Australian General Sir Thomas Blamey. In addition, Krueger had personal links to San Antonio, Texas, location of the Alamo Mission and a personal interest in the Battle of the Alamo.
The Sixth United States Army was activated in January 1943, commanded by Lieutenant General Walter Kreuger. Under the code name Alamo Force, it assumed control of the majority of U.S Army units involved in Operation Cartwheel, the campaign to isolate and neutralize the Japanese base at Rabaul in New Britain. Similar in concept to the island hopping operations of the central Pacific, the object of the attacks was to land, establish a garrison and airfield which could support the next strike, and then move on.
The Sixth Army also has it's headquarters at the Presidio of San Francisco which appears to feature in Zodiac's life. Especially in the case of Paul Stine. The Sixth Army Mottos is "Born of War." The following description can be found at the Alamo Force link at the bottom of the page.
"GOODFELLOW AIR FORCE BASE, Texas -- Before the Green Beret, Special Forces, and Navy SEALs, there were the Alamo Scouts. Executors of "do or die missions", these men completed top secret reconnaissance missions in the Japanese controlled Philippines during World War II"
That the Alamo Force were also trained to be Scouts connects with Zodiac's Bleeding Knife Letter which I think refers to Bloody Knife, one of the most famous Native American Scouts during the Civil War. Could Zodiac be telling us he is a Scout? in the Alamo Force or possibly in the U.S Sixth/Eighth Army? Operation Cartwheel also also relates to Zodiac's wheel of death.
Now to return to the Mikado, I could not find any pictures relevant to the 1945/46 shows or the one in 1970 but it's took me on a wild ride, I happened to find an old vintage poster from the 1960's of the famous Carry On Films who decided to do a take on the Mikado with Frankie Howerd and Tommy Cooper. I thought it very similar to Zodiac's Halloween Card with the word cOOl and lOOk with the eyes.
Most of you will know I have been looking into another suspect in the Zodiac case as well as keeping an open mind on Joseph James DeAngelo but after reading about the Sixth/Eight Army and the Alamo Scouts it has given me pause for thought regarding another suspect who has been researched by many in the Zodiac community.
I have been reading many people's views and research regarding Darlene Ferrin's first husband James Douglas Phillips Crabtree and it makes for interesting reading. There are so many elements to the Zodiac crimes but I would be interested to know if Zodiac had a possible connection to Texas. I think the military connections may be the key to finding Zodiac's real identity, there may be a connection through James DP Crabtree. I will carry on with my research and see where it take me.
You can go to the sites below if you are interested in knowing any more about the above topic. I use many sites in my research which you can also find on my Bibliography page.