August 6, 1945 was no ordinary day.  Although the Allied Forces had achieved victory in Europe, World War II still raged on in the Pacific Theater.  The Japanese were, and remain to this day, an extremely proud race.  Demonstrating their resolve at Iwo Jima and Okinawa, they preferred to fight to the death rather than face dishonor by surrendering.  Many Japanese pilots became kamikazes: the equivalent of human bombs.  The devastation they left behind made the war more costly to the Allies, and the Japanese had hoped that we would cave in by suing for peace.   Even Japanese civilians were trained to counterattack their enemies with anything that could kill or main.  This included hastily fashioned weapons such as sharpened bamboo stalks.

The war had begun during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration.  FDR had vowed that we would achieve unconditional surrender from our enemies.  When Harry S. Truman assumed the Presidency after FDR’s death, he was honor-bound to fulfill the wishes of his former Commander-in-Chief. And fulfill them, he did.

The atom bomb, or A-bomb, was classified as Top Secret.  Testing at Alamogordo, New Mexico revealed that this weapon represented an incredible, unprecedented level of destruction.   So secret was it that those on the “Need to Know” list were a relative handful.

With the A-bomb, the planned invasion of Japan was on the drawing board, along with the date, the time, and calculated cost of life.  President Truman agonized over whether to drop the bomb on a city, rather than a military target, or follow the original invasion plan and pay the price in American casualties.  In the end, he ordered that the city of Hiroshima be bombed on August 6, 1945.  On that day, accompanied by two other B-29 bombers, the Enola Gay unleashed the power of the atom and initiated the Atomic Age, devastating the city of Hiroshima.  After bombing another city, Nagasaki, Japan surrendered unconditionally to the Allies.

August 14, 1945 was declared VJ day.  All across America and the rest of the free world, crowds gathered and cheered to commemorate the peace for which we had prayed for four long years.  The famous photograph of a sailor spontaneously and joyously kissing a girl in New York City’s Times Square echoed the world’s elation.  The photo was widely circulated and reproduced.  Today a statue of this couple still stands in Sarasota, Florida; no doubt, other likenesses stand elsewhere in our nation.

On August 14, 2010, a reenactment of that scene will be held in Times Square to commemorate the surrender of Japan to the Allied Forces in the Pacific.

It was 65 years ago when that sailor kissed that girl.  As he was planting that kiss, I was sailing on a troopship in the Pacific Ocean, heading — literally — for a baptism by fire.  I was part of a massive armada sent to invade Japan.  But when the Captain of our ship announced Japan’s surrender, the invasion was no longer necessary.  Thus, I served my country in another capacity, by occupying Japan for a full year.  From October 1945 through September 1946, my fellow soldiers and I — Americans and European Allies — ensured the stabilization of Japan subsequent to its surrender.

I was recently interviewed by a reporter from The Courier Post, for an article that the newspaper is running with respect to VJ Day.  After she finished the formal interview, the reporter asked me, “As a veteran of that war, how do you feel about us no longer celebrating the days that finalized World War II — VE Day and VJ Day?”

I answered, “August 6th was not the official end of the war.  That took place in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.  That is another day that is not celebrated; another day that gets lost in the Labor Day weekend, like other holidays set aside to honor God and country.”

Maybe something that occurred 65 years ago has no meaning to those who weren’t there.  But it still means something to me.  Those who sacrificed themselves for that war did so to protect the lives and fundamental freedoms of Americans as well as all who were oppressed, tortured, and murdered by the Axis Forces.

It has been rightly said that “those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”  For that reason, the study of World War II is immensely important and the reason why Americans and, for that matter, all inhabitants of this planet should both remember and commemorate events like VJ Day.

Related Post:  VJ Day: August 14th

Although August 14th is not a date that pops out on the calendar as a major holiday or anniversary, it marks a key turning point in our nation’s history: the anniversary of the unofficial surrender of Japan to the Allied Forces in 1945, the end of the long, bloody conflict known as World War II, and National Navajo Code Talkers Day.   Navajo soldiers used their native tongue to communicate strategic military information during this global conflict; thereby, thwarting our enemies’ efforts to decipher critical transmissions.  In a rather ironic twist of fate (if you know the slightest bit about American history), our government honors the efforts and achievements of these brave Native Americans who helped to defend us against the Japanese.

September 2, 1945 commemorates the official denouement of the Second World War.  On that day, aboard the Battleship Missouri, anchored in Tokyo Bay, the Japanese Foreign Minister and General Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, signed the official Surrender in accordance with the terms of the Potsdam Agreement.

Between those two historic dates — on August 10, 1945, to be exact — I boarded a troopship in San Francisco harbor and sailed with my comrades for the South Pacific.  We were appointed as one segment of a gigantic task force committed, if things had gone the other way, to the invasion of Japan.   Six days later, our ship’s captain announced the Japanese surrender; a month later, I landed with my fellows on Leyte, in the Philippine Islands.  There, I was assigned to the 24^th Signal Company on the island of Mindinao.  In late September, we were ordered to secure the Islands of Japan. What began as an invasion ended up an occupation under the terms agreed to by Japan’s Prime Minister.

As part of the occupying forces, my mates and I then boarded the U.S.S. George S. Clymer: the lead ship of a giant convoy.  Arriving on the island of Shikoko in early October, we anchored off the town of Matsuyama, which would become our home for the next few months.  After our stay in Matsuyama, we then replaced His Majesty’s Royal Cameron Highlanders at Okayama on the island of Honshu.  Our final move was to Kokura on the island of Kyushu, where we were relieved by other troops and finally sent home to the good old U.S.A.

To most Americans, VJ Day is just another day on the calendar. But for this old soldier, that date brings back so many vivid moments that will live in my mind and heart forever.  My journey as an infantryman began with my initial training at Camp Robinson in Arkansas, followed by reassignment to the Pacific theater after VE Day at Fort Mead, Maryland, and six subsequent weeks of jungle survival and combat training in Texas, which was followed by preparation, on the West Coast, for the invasion of Japan.

Sharp in my memory remain the images and emotions surrounding shipping out as part of that gigantic task force, hearing the ship’s Captain announce the Japanese surrender, and later, occupying Japan for a full year.  These memories make me proud, grateful, and humble.  I am proud to have been among those troops that facilitated the safe closure of World War II, and I am grateful and humbled that the Lord, in answer to my mother’s fervent prayers, spared me to enjoy a good, long life and to share my memories with the readers of this Site.