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The United States has always been particularly formal about how it accepts the surrender of defeated enemies. Each time it happens, the event is charged with deliberate—and sometimes inadvertent—symbolism. Such was the case on October 19, 1781, when General George Washington and his colleague, French General Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, accepted the surrender of British General Charles Cornwallis’s British forces at Yorktown. The whole event was highly ritualized—although Cornwallis refused to appear, sending his subordinate Charles O’Hara out instead—with Rochambeau and Washington sternly directing O’Hara to tender his sword to American General Benjamin Lincoln, who had the...

n his book Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Doolittle Raid pilot Ted Lawson recalls the moment his B-25 bomber reached the coast of Japan – the first land he had seen, he tells us, after being at sea on the USS Hornet for nearly three weeks. "It looked very pretty," he writes:"Everything seemed as well kept as a big rock garden. The little farms were fitted in with almost mathematical precision. The fresh spring grass was brilliantly green. There were fruit trees in bloom, and farmers working in their fields waved to us as we pounded just over their heads. A...

The submarine that sank a train: the U.S.S. Barb | 8:28 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered | 1.57M subscribers | 663,144 views | May 18, 2017

The defeat of Japan in August 1945 has become a footnote to Allied victory in Europe. But the world we inhabit today was forged in Asia 80 years ago.

In 1945, Truman’s decision to drop two atomic bombs was grim—but it ended a war that could have cost millions more lives on both sides and unleashed even greater horrors. Disinformation and the Dropping of the Atomic Bombs Legitimate disagreement about the wisdom of dropping two bombs on Japan to end World War II in 1945 persists even 80 years later, as reflected in discussions this past week. But recently, there has often been no real effort even to present the facts, much less to consider the lose-lose choices involved in using such destructive weapons. In an age of revisionist...

With the passing last week of the 80th anniversary of the U.S. dropping atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (on August 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (three days later), familiar questions once again arise about our having done so. These include whether it was absolutely necessary in order to bring an end to the war, and whether or not there was any alternative to the two bomb attacks? Addressing the second question first, an alternative option had been discussed. It involved providing the Japanese with a demonstration by dropping an atomic bomb on an uninhabited island. But such a...

Eighty years ago this week, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japan, forcing the end of World War II. On August 6, 1945, the B-29 Enola Gay dropped the “Little Boy” uranium bomb on Hiroshima, killing up to 166,000 people. Three days later, on August 9, the B-29 Bockscar was diverted from its primary target of Kokura due to bad weather and instead dropped the more powerful “Fat Man” plutonium bomb on the secondary target of Nagasaki, killing up to 80,000 and compelling Japan’s surrender.

"Gentlemen," Captain Kaju Sugiura, commander of Japanese Destroyer Division 12, began, "I am very happy to report that our last transport mission to Kolombangara was a complete success. Both the Navy and the Army high command are gratified. . . . They have also ordered that the mission be repeated the day after tomorrow. . . . We shall go through Vella Gulf and Blackett Strait again . . . exactly as we did last time." Captain Tameichi Hara, commander of the destroyer Shigure, listened to the 4 August 1943 briefing in stunned silence. Before Sugiura had finished, Hara came...

There is a statue of Harold Bray on the corner of Military and First streets in Benicia. The 7-foot-tall statue — created by Matt Glenn — shows smiling Bray as a teenager in his U.S. Navy uniform. “I wanted to show the sparkle in his eye as if he was saying, ‘Everything is going to be OK,'” said Glenn at the statue’s unveiling in 2023. Eighty years later everything is OK for the statue’s subject, who calls himself “The luckiest man in the world.” But on July 30, 1945, Harold Bray was anything but lucky. Bray was one of 317...

A mysterious object spotted on the South Pacific seafloor has been identified as the bow of a torpedoed World War II ship that famously sailed thousands of miles backwards to avoid sinking, historians say. The nearly 100-foot long section of the USS New Orleans was found Sunday, July 6, by the Ocean Exploration Trust as it searched the seafloor near Guadalcanal with a remotely operated vehicle. A positive identification was made with the help of paint fragments still clinging to the hull, along with an engraved anchor, the trust reported. The bow, which fell to a depth of 2,214 feet,...

Ben Salomon was an Army dentist who faced down the largest Banzai charge of the Second World War. It took 58 years for his action to be recognized. Ben Salomon's Medal of Honor | 16:33 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered 1.56M subscribers | 25,354 views | July 7, 2025

I need not tell fellow Freepers the story of the USS Indianapolis, we all know it.Harold Bray has lived in Benicia, California for many years (as did I). Mr. Bray routinely shared his story with high school history classes (both my sons heard his him). I met him once and spoke with him, he is a gentlemen and a hero. His birthday is coming up: June 15th. He will be 98 years old. His family and friends have asked for birthday cards and well wishes from as many people as possible. The address to send the cards is:Harold Bray PO...

https://x.com/DeptofDefense/status/1918999055566614571May 4, 2025 · 253.3K Views

On February 19, 1945, waves of 18, 19 and 20-year-old Marines hit the beaches of Iwo Jima, a heavily defended island held by the Japanese. The importance of taking Iwo Jima and converting it into a major airfield for American bombers, cannot be overestimated. Our planes needed a place to land and be repaired to continue their devastating attacks on Japan; and only courage and blood could secure the landing fields they needed to get the job done. Those young Iwo Jima Marines who are still alive, are great grandfathers now with the youngest survivors being 92 years old. We...

The Doolittle Raid wasn't just an operation of the Army Air Force. The Navy made its own plans, took its own risks, and has its own story that deserves to be remembered. Beyond Doolittle: The Navy Role in the Doolittle Raid | 15:16 The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered | 1.53M subscribers | 55,154 views | April 18, 2025

A 100-year-old World War II veteran traveled from Bristol, Connecticut, to Iwo Jima to mark 80 years since the U.S. fought on the small Japanese island. Joseph Caminiti, a 100-year-old WWII veteran who still goes to the gym daily, joined U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, military officials, and families of those killed in the battle of Iwo Jima to visit the island for the combat’s 80-year anniversary, according to a report by WTNH. Caminiti is among the estimated three remaining living survivors of the battle of Iwo Jima, where the iconic photograph was captured of U.S. Marines raising the...

Operation Detachment, the U.S. Marines’ invasion of Iwo Jima, is launched. Iwo Jima was a barren Pacific island guarded by Japanese artillery, but to American military minds, it was prime real estate on which to build airfields to launch bombing raids against Japan, only 660 miles away. The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese defense of the island in June 1944, when B-24 and B-25 bombers raided the island for 74 days. It was the longest pre-invasion bombardment of the war, necessary because of the extent to which the Japanese—21,000 strong—fortified the island, above and below ground, including a...

The National Museum of the Pacific War presents an oral interview with Charles E Daugherty. Daugherty joined the Navy in 1939. He received basic training at Great Lakes and was aboard the USS California (BB-44) during the attack on Pearl Harbor. He remained at his battle station as a phone talker, nearly suffocating as the ship’s ventilation system malfunctioned. When the order was given to abandon ship, Daugherty was carried up two flights of stairs. Then a ferry came by and Daugherty stepped aboard, hiding in a sand pile for the remainder of the attack. The next day, he returned...

[Video] Ira “Ike” Schab Jr. of Portland is one of the few remaining survivors of that day, and the only one left from the USS Dobbin. HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) -- A 104-year-old respected war veteran and Pearl Harbor survivor is back in Hawaii. Ira “Ike” Schab Jr. of Portland touched down in Honolulu Tuesday ahead of the 83rd commemoration the attack on Pearl Harbor. He’s one of the few remaining survivors of that day, and the only one left from the USS Dobbin. His flight was met with a water cannon salute, and at the gate, sounds of the Navy’s U.S....

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, plunging the United States into World War II, Jerry Yellin was a teenager living with his family in Hillside, N.J. Having been intrigued by flight since he was a youngster — he constructed planes modeled on World War I aircraft — he joined the Army Air Corps in February 1942, on his 18th birthday, and became a fighter pilot.