“Happy VJ Day and special thanks to all veterans of the Pacific Theater. From Richard Sullivan some amazing film shot by his father in Honolulu, August 14, 1945.” — Photo above is a still shot of the film. To view the video, head to Iowahawk’s page.
What does VJ Day mean to you? For me, it means I probably would not be here if we hadn’t won the war. My Dad fought while serving in the U.S. Navy.
From Resistnet:
V-J Day
Aug. 15, 1945 is the official date of V-J Day, or Victory over Japan Day. V-J Day followed Victory in Europe Day by three months, and with the surrender of Japan who was the last axis power remaining,V-J Day marks the end of World War II.
At noon Japan standard time, Aug. 15, 1945, the Imperial Rescript on Surrender speech by Emperor Hirohito stated Japan’s acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration and was broadcast to the Japanese people via radio. The declaration stated that if Japan did not surrender and agree to the terms, “They would face prompt and utter destruction.” Earlier the same day, the Japanese advised the Allies of their surrender by sending a cable to U.S. President Harry S. Truman. (Note: In U.S. time zones the date was Aug. 14th.) — Jim B
Frank Ross at Big Journalism shows us what VJ Day means to the alleged president.
While VJ Day was one of the great moments in American history, I am reminded that one of the great generals of World War II, LTGEN Claire Chennault, founder of the famed “Flying Tigers” and former commander of the 14th Air Force in China, was denied an invitation to the surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay aboard the USS Missouri. General Chennault was then at home in the U.S., having been recalled two months earlier by President Truman, after General Chennault expressed his outrage over his discovery of a secret American mission to meet with the Communists in Yenan. Chennault considered the meeting with Zhou En-lai a serious mistake. He felt that the Communists were not to be trusted and an extreme danger to the future of the Chinese people. Moreover, he was stunned that he had not been informed that such a meeting was being considered.
If the State Department had listened to Chennault, it is likely that the horrors of the Communist takeover in China might never have taken place. Chennault’s truly heroic achievements in China never got the recognition they deserved, and Chennault has been written off in history as a minor figure in WW II. This is another in the many distortions of American history resulting from the progressive domination of the history professor guild, and an example of the harsh treatment afforded of several of the greatest American military leaders of that period, including General MacArthur and General Patton. (There is considerable evidence that General Patton was assassinated in a setup auto accident in Germany as a result of his outspoken hostility to Stalin and the Communists in the Soviet Union. This was too much for the leftists in the State Department and the OSS) .