80 years ago today; the last American combat death of WWII.

Defense Media Network ^ | 08/14b/15 | Robert F. Dorr

[MCF]

Almost everyone remembers that fighting in World War II ended on Aug. 15, 1945, and that a formal surrender ceremony was signed aboard the battleship USS Missouri (BB 63) in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2. But between those two dates, an unexpected air action took place. Involved were a well-known Japanese air ace, a little-known four-engine American heavy bomber, and U.S. Army photographer Sgt. Anthony J. Marchione.

[abigkahuna]

Always sad that there has to be a last death in a War....Who will be last last war dead in Ukraine, or for Russia? Some simple villager pressed into service for God and Country no doubt...

[PUGACHEV]

I read Saburo Sakai's book many years ago, and one particular incident left a strong impression. During his pilot training in the 1930's, before the war, all of the cadets were formed into two lines, each facing each other. The cadets in one line were then commanded to strike their opposite number in the face as hard as they could. Then, it was the other line's turn to do the same. This went on for multiple rounds. The idea, was, apparently, to toughen up the recruits and weed out those who could not take the pain. This would seem superfluously cruel, but later Sakai was severely wounded in the face during a dogfight, and had to escape by fling semi-conscious and with only one eye for hunderes of miles.

The book is a good read.

[DFG]

[Retain Mike]

Saburo Sakai’s goggles from that encounter are at the WW II Museum in Fredericksburg TX.

[x]

It must really have stunk to go through all the preparation to become a kamikaze and then find your big chance taken away just like that ...

[SuperLuminal]

In addition, Marines from the 6th Marine Division were taken from Okinawa and landed in China, where they engaged in combat after the surrender signing...

[jimtorr]

Yes, good read, I also read it many years ago.

One of the problems with Japanese Navy pilot training before and during the war was that they refused to shorten the training period, to have more pilots in cockpits, as every other country involved did.

As a result, by 1944, the Japanese navy have few pilots left, not even enough to man all the aircraft on the few aircraft carriers they had left. What few pilots they did have, had very little experience.

[Bartholomew Roberts]

What aircraft are those supposed to be?

Privateers?

[Tallguy]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consolidated_B-32_Dominator

[Tallguy]

Consolidated was contracted to build a long-range heavy bomber to compete with the B-29 Superfortress. The USAAF didn’t want to put all their eggs in one basket.