September 2-3, 1945, Tokyo Harbor, Signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender

Liestoppers ^ | 1 day later than I meant to | Self

[Ready4Freddy]

Did no one post a thread on Sept 2-3 re: Signing of the Japanese Instrument of Surrender?

[Ready4Freddy]

Maybe this will get it started.

[Peter W. Kessler]

And no one believed the Japanese could be “democratized.”

[The Great RJ]

If the current Democrats had been in control of Congress in 1941, the war would have been over on December 8th and articles of capitulation would have been signed by January 1942.

[Ready4Freddy]

Generals Wainwright and Percival standing behind General MacArthur.

The managers of the 2nd place team on board:

[Ax]

From everything I'd ever read about MacArthur's tenure as the military governor of occupied Japan, it was the most enlightened occupation of a conquered enemy in history. It set the stage for Japan's extraordinary recovery.

I was stationed outside Tokyo for three years in the mid-60s and in a lot of places, they were still rebuilding, 20 years after.

[Ready4Freddy]

No kidding, Peter. I've never been a big MacArthur fan for some reason, but he did a helluva job in Japan. It's good to be king, I guess.

One of my uncles was stationed there in the early 50's, and he used to send us this (what we thought was) cheap-ass Jap shiite. When the sibs and I were going through the house a few years ago after our parents died, we looked more closely at the 'cheap-ass jap shiite'. Most of it was stunningly beautiful stuff.

Each of us took a small teacup & saucer, among other things. The cups and saucers had 'Made in Occupied Japan' on them.

[squarebarb]

My father was at Iwo Jima, in the Navy, and survived, and sent home about 100 letters which someday I am going to enter into this computer.

She got a letter (undated) that said, capital letters,

“JAPAN HAS SURRENDERED!!! Darling I am coming home!!”

[Ready4Freddy]

Thank you for honoring the men on the USS Missouri by making that snarky comment. ;>)

[Ready4Freddy]

Awww, thanks. I bet Mom was glad to get that one.

BTW, 'someday' starts today, I'm told. Get that scanner. ;>)

[Ready4Freddy]

Gen MacArthur was definitely the right man for the job. See my post #6.

[NavyCanDo]

My Dad was there on that day. He was a sailor on the Battleship U.S.S. Mississippi which was also in Tokyo Harbor.

[sneakers]

Hey! I remember a small saucer that said “made in occupied Japan” somewhere in my mom’s stuff. My dad was in on the first days of the occupation of Japan. He passed away in 2000. Mom passed away a few months ago. Have to check her stuff to see if she still had it. I remember it had a colorful, delicate design on it.

[Ready4Freddy]

Wow, that’s great! I guess he didn’t memorialize the day w/ his Sony/Nikon/Canon digital camera? Damn, they’ve come a long way, huh?

[Eric in the Ozarks]

Much of Sagamihara was still burnt piles of rubble in the mid 50s. About a block down from our house in Yokohama was a smashed multi-story building that our maid said was a vaccine facility during the war. The lot was covered with broken slabs of concrete and thousands of tiny glass vials. The Japanese government did next to nothing for their veterans. We saw many of these men, some with missing limbs, begging in front of various religious shrines.

[CholeraJoe]

The FReeper Foxhole - CholeraJoe visits the USS Missouri & USS Arizona Memorial - Feb. 29th, 2004

Loads of pics I took in 2003 in Pearl Harbor.

[CholeraJoe]

I, too have several items labeled “Made in occupied Japan.”

[Ready4Freddy]

Thank you, CJ.

[Ready4Freddy]

I can’t get that pic to display. Is that one of her guns putting depressions in the water in the Gulf War, or a WWI night shot w/ ~50’ of flames coming out her barrels?

[Ready4Freddy]

I wonder if that was because they (the vets) lost, and the gov thought they should be dead?

The Japanese government did next to nothing for their veterans.