This day in the war in the Pacific 65 years ago.

[syscom3]

Aug 23rd 1945

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS (Eleventh Air Force): 4 B-24s fly a photo mission over Paramushiru and Shimushu.

WESTERN PACIFIC [Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: HQ 310th Bombardment Wing (Medium), Fifth AF, moves from San Jose, Mindoro to Clark Field.

 

[syscom3]

Aug 24th 1945

JAPAN: Military cadets occupy broadcasting facilities in Kawaguchi, near Tokyo in Saitama Prefecture, in protest to the Japanese surrender. General TANAKA Shizuichi, Commander of the Eastern District Army, goes to the station and continues to harangue the cadets until they give up. Late that night, General Tanaka commits harakiri in his office. He takes the whole responsibility for the destruction by fire of a section of the Imperial Palace. The fire was the result of a USAAF bombing raid. His instructions to the regimental commanders of the Eastern District Army are: "I am very grateful to all of your regiments for keeping in strict order after the Imperial command to surrender. Now I have fulfilled my duty as Commanding Officer of the District Army. I am determined to lay down my life to beg His Majesty's awful pardon in place of you and all of your officers and men. I heartily hope that you and all your officers and men will strictly watch yourselves and guard against rashness and be devoted to the peaceful revival of our fatherland."

ALEUTIAN ISLANDS (Eleventh Air Force): B-24s try to photograph the Soviet occupation of the Kurile Islands but are impeded by clouds.

CHINA THEATER (AAF, China Theater) Tenth Air Force: C-47 unit moves: 2d Troop Carrier Squadron, 443d Troop Carrier Group, from Dinjan, India to Chihkiang, China; 322d Troop Carrier Squadron, Tenth AF, from Liangshan to Chihkiang, China.

Fourteenth Air Force: The 76th Fighter Squadron, 23d FG, moves from Luliang to Liuchow, China with P-51s.

WESTERN PACIFIC [Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: HQ 317th Troop Carrier Group moves from Clark Field, Luzon to Okinawa.

NEW GUINEA: Forces of the Japanese 18th Army have been ordered to ceasefire but their commander says that he cannot order them to surrender until he receives instructions from Field Marshal Count TERAUCHI Hisaichi, Commander in Chief Southern Army.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: On Bougainville, Japanese commander, Lieutenant General KANDA Masatane, Commander of the 17th Army, is still awaiting instruction from Tokyo.

U.K.: Prime Minister Clement Atlee announces in the House of Commons that the sudden ending of Lend-Lease aid, without prior consultation. Attlee, notes that the abrupt ending of American aid has left the country in a "very serious financial position." The Foreign Minister, Ernest Bevin, says that 700,000 homes in London require repairs. Former Prime Minister Winston S. Churchill described the statement as very grave and disquieting.

U.S.: The last M-24 Chaffee light tank built by the Cadillac Division of the General Motors Corporation rolls off the assembly line. Cadillac is now free to begin building automobiles for the first time since 1942.

U.S.S.R.: The Soviet Union and China sign a treaty of alliance.

 

[syscom3]

Aug 25th 1945

JAPAN: There are reports of large numbers of people "committing hara-kiri before the Imperial Palace in Tokyo."
In the Kurile Islands, Soviet troops occupy Paramushiru Island. USN PB4Y-2 Privateers based in the Aleutian Islands continue their photographic missions over Onekotan, Shasukotan and Harumukotan Islands.
Carrier-based USN aircraft begin daily patrols over airfields and attempt to locate and supply POW camps. This operation continues until 2 September.
Two USAAF 7th Fighter Squadron P-38s, one flown by Lieutenant Colonel Clay Tice, Jr., Commanding Officer of the 49th FG based at Motuba Airfield on Okinawa, lands at Nittagahara on Kyushu at 1205 hours local. The second aircraft was low on fuel and could not return to Okinawa. The two had been part of a six-plane element flying over Japan. At 1305 hours, the American were contacted by officers and men of the Imperial Japanese Army and although conversation was difficult, they were greeted in a friendly manner. Prior to landing, Colonel Tice had contacted an SB-17 Flying Fortress of the of the 6th Air Sea Rescue Squadron and advised him of the situation. The SB-17 landed at approximately 1315 hours and with a fuel pump and hose furnished by the Japanese, the Americans transferred approximately US 260 gallons of fuel from the SB-17 to the P-38. The SB-17 and two P-38s took off at 1445 hours and landed on Okinawa at 1645 hours.

CHINA THEATER (AAF, China Theater) Tenth Air Force: C-47 units moving to Luliang, China: 3d and 4th Combat Cargo Squadrons, 1st Combat Cargo Group (under operational control of HQ 69th Composite Wing), from Myitkyina, Burma and Hathazari, India respectively.

Fourteenth Air Force: The 118th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Fourteenth AF, moves from Laohwangping to Liuchow, China with F-6s.

WESTERN PACIFIC [Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: Unit moves: 68th and 69th Troop Carrier Squadrons, 433d Troop Carrier Group, from Clark Field, Luzon to Iwo Jima with C-46s and C-47s respectively; 318th Troop Carrier Squadron (Commando), 3d Air Commando Group, from Laoag, Luzon to Ie Shima with C-47s.

CHINA: Nationalist forces enter Nanking and Shanghai.
For no apparent reason, John Birch, an American missionary before the war and an Army captain during the war. is killed by the Chinese communists. Birch, a Baptist missionary in China when the war started, was commanding an American Special Services team when ordered to halt by Communist troops. A scuffle ensued and Birch was shot dead. In the 1950s, Robert Welch created a right-wing anticommunist organization named the John Birch Society.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: As the Japanese surrendered to the Allies, the Communist Viet Minh under Ho Chi Minh aimed to take power. Due to Emperor Bao Dai's Japanese associations, Ho Chi Minh was able to persuade him to abdicate today, handing power to the Viet Minh, an event that greatly enhanced Ho's legitimacy in the eyes of the Vietnamese people. Bao Dai was appointed "supreme advisor" in the new government in Hanoi, which asserted independence on 2 September 1945.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: General Yamashita Tomoyoki, Commander of the 14th Area Army, informs the commander of the US 32d Infantry Division that he has ordered all Japanese troops in the Philippines to lay down their arms.

U.S.: Vice-Admiral Willis A. "Ching" Lee Jr. succumbs to a fatal heart attack while in his launch, returning to his flagship, USS Wyoming (AG-17), off the coast of Maine. Lee had been Commander, Battleships, Pacific Fleet from April 1943 to December 1944 and then commanded Battleship Squadron Two until June 1945. He was sent to the Atlantic to command a special unit researching defenses against the Kamikaze threat. He is buried, with honors, at Arlington National Cemetery.
The seven German POWs convicted of hanging a fellow German submariner in the shower room of Compound 4 at Camp Papago, 8 miles east of downtown Phoenix, Arizona, on 12 March 1944, are executed at Fort Leavenworth, Leavenworth, Kansas.

 

[syscom3]

Aug 26th 1945

JAPAN: Japanese diplomats board the U.S. battleship USS Missouri to receive instructions on Japan's surrender.
The posts of Minister of Greater East Asia, Minister of Agriculture and Commerce and Minister of Munitions in the Cabinet of Prime Minister, Prince HIGASHIKUNI Naruhiko are abolished.

WESTERN PACIFIC: The 70th Troop Carrier Squadron, 433d Troop Carrier Group, moves from Clark Field to Iwo Jima with C-46s.

BURMA: Japanese envoys, led by Lieutenant General NUMATA Takazo, Chief of Staff to Field Marshal Count TERAUCHI Hisaichi, Commander in Chief, Japanese Southern Army, arrives at an airfield outside Rangoon this morning to carry out surrender arrangements in southeast Asia.

HONG KONG: Instructions have been given to the Japanese garrison to surrender to British Rear Admiral Cecil H. J. Harcourt, Commander of the 11th Aircraft Carrier Squadron.

U.K.: Air Chief Marshall Sir Arthur "Bomber" Harris, Commander in Chief of RAF Bomber Command, announces his resignation. He will relinquish his command next month and retire from the RAF shortly afterwards.

 

[syscom3]

Aug 27th 1945

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: An armed truce has been declared throughout New Britain Island.

BURMA: Contact has been established with the Japanese troops in the Sittang valley and they now await specific surrender instructions.

JAPAN: With most surrender and occupation arrangements made, the Allied fleet prepares to enter Sagami Wan (Bay) and the adjacent Tokyo Bay. To facilitate this operation, the Japanese destroyer HIJMS Hatsukakura brings out several Japanese naval officers to provide piloting services. Fear of treachery remained strong, so the visitors are carefully searched and treated sternly. However, there are no hostile incidents, and the pilots safely bring the U.S. and British warships into their anchorages. Part of this armada is the USN's Third Fleet under Admiral William F. Halsey Jr. The Third Fleet consists of 23 aircraft carriers, 12 battleships, 26 cruisers, 116 destroyers and destroyer escorts and 12 submarines.

JAPAN: A USN PB4Y-2 Privateer of Patrol Bombing Squadron One Hundred Sixteen based on Iwo Jima, lands at Atsugi Airfield because of mechanical problems. The Japanese do not approach the aircraft and the plane returns to Iwo Jima the same day. Actually there was no mechanical problem. The squadron commander had rounded up an all-volunteer crew and planned the whole thing.

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Isolated Japanese garrisons are reported to be ignorant of the ceasefire.

U.S.: President Harry S. Truman says that the situation in the Pacific continues to have many elements of danger and urges Congress to continue the draft (conscription) for a further two years.

CENTRAL PACIFIC Twentieth Air Force: B-29s begin supplying prisoners-of-war and internee camps in Japan, China, and Korea with medical supplies, food, and clothing. The first supply drop (to Weihsien Camp near Peking, China) is followed by a concentrated effort of 900 sorties in a period of less than a month. 4,470 tons of supplies are dropped to about 63,500 prisoners in 154 camps.

WESTERN PACIFIC: Unit moves: HQ XIII Bomber Command from Morotai to Clark Field; and 67th Troop Carrier Squadron, 433d Troop Carrier Group, from Clark Field to Iwo Jima with C-46s.

 

[syscom3]

Aug 28th 1945

JAPAN: The occupation of Japan officially begins as an advance party arrives in the Home Islands. When the news of the Japanese proposal for surrender came on 15 Aug, the 68th Army Airways Communications System (AACS) Group, 7th AACS Wing, received orders to fly into Atsugi Airfield and set up the communications equipment necessary to guide in the first contingent of occupation troops. AACSs mission was to provide navigational aids, point-to-point communications with Okinawa, air-to-ground communications for planes in flight, weather data, and air traffic control. Colonel Gordon Blake quickly assembled a special unit of 5 hand-picked men. Colonel Blake and his AACS men, part of a 150 man task force, flew from Okinawa to Atsugi with 24 C-47 aircraft laden with equipment. In order to carry as much equipment as possible, the load was lightened by carrying only enough fuel to reach Atsugi. Although the Japanese had surrendered unconditionally, Blake and his communicators still did not know whether some might still be hostile. The sight of hundreds of Japanese Navy guards lined up along the airfield was not encouraging to the occupants of the first aircraft to land, but they were met by a group of courteous, English-speaking Japanese military personnel. The navy guards were in their honor. The AACS-men lost no time in getting operations into full swing, and by 29 Aug, the Atsugi control tower was completed. The first planes to arrive on 30 Aug were 5 additional C-47s carrying components to set up the first airborne radio station in Air Force history. Within a few hours, the first C-54 aircraft of the official occupation forces landed at Atsugi and by mid-afternoon Blake's AACS crews had directed 340+ takeoffs and landings at the rate of 1 every 2 minutes. On 30 Aug, Atsugi was the busiest airport in the world.
USN underwater demolition teams (UDT) land to check prospective Tokyo Bay landing beaches and ensure that fortification are neutralized. Minesweepers begin clearing mines from Tokyo Bay.
In the air, the 386th Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy), based on Okinawa, flies its last combat mission, a photo reconnaissance mission, with the Consolidated B-32 Dominator.
Destroyers of the Royal Australian Navy joined Royal Navy and United States Navy ships in Tokyo Bay to receive the main Japanese surrender on 2 September.

CHINA: HQ 443d Troop Carrier Group and 1st Troop Carrier Squadron move from Dinjan, India to Chihkiang, China with C-47s.

BURMA: Japanese forces sign a formal surrender in Rangoon.

CANADA: French General Charles de Gaulle arrives in Ottawa, Ontario, for talks with Canadian Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King.

CHINA: Chinese communist leader Mao Tse-Tung arrives in Chunking to confer with Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-Shek in a futile effort to avert a civil war.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: The Viet Minh form a provisional government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam with Ho Chi Minh as president, Vo Nguyen Giap, as interior minister and Pham Van Dong, as finance minister.
In Laos, Prime Minister Prince Phetsarath wires provincial governors notifying them of the Japanese surrender. The Prince further declares that the proclamation of independence is unaffected and that the governors should resist any attempts at foreign intervention in their administration. The French Resident Superieur is released from prison but Phetsarath refuses to recognize his authority.

JAPAN: The occupation of Japan officially begins as an advance party arrives in the Home Islands. When the news of the Japanese proposal for surrender came on 15 Aug, the 68th Army Airways Communications System (AACS) Group, 7th AACS Wing, received orders to fly into Atsugi Airfield and set up the communications equipment necessary to guide in the first contingent of occupation troops. AACSs mission was to provide navigational aids, point-to-point communications with Okinawa, air-to-ground communications for planes in flight, weather data, and air traffic control. Colonel Gordon Blake quickly assembled a special unit of 5 hand-picked men. Colonel Blake and his AACS men, part of a 150 man task force, flew from Okinawa to Atsugi with 24 C-47 aircraft laden with equipment. In order to carry as much equipment as possible, the load was lightened by carrying only enough fuel to reach Atsugi. Although the Japanese had surrendered unconditionally, Blake and his communicators still did not know whether some might still be hostile. The sight of hundreds of Japanese Navy guards lined up along the airfield was not encouraging to the occupants of the first aircraft to land, but they were met by a group of courteous, English-speaking Japanese military personnel. The navy guards were in their honor. The AACS-men lost no time in getting operations into full swing, and by 29 Aug, the Atsugi control tower was completed. The first planes to arrive on 30 Aug were 5 additional C-47s carrying components to set up the first airborne radio station in Air Force history. Within a few hours, the first C-54 aircraft of the official occupation forces landed at Atsugi and by mid-afternoon Blake's AACS crews had directed 340+ takeoffs and landings at the rate of 1 every 2 minutes. On 30 Aug, Atsugi was the busiest airport in the world.
USN underwater demolition teams (UDT) land to check prospective Tokyo Bay landing beaches and ensure that fortification are neutralized. Minesweepers begin clearing mines from Tokyo Bay.
In the air, the 386th Bombardment Squadron (Very Heavy), based on Okinawa, flies its last combat mission, a photo reconnaissance mission, with the Consolidated B-32 Dominator.
Destroyers of the Royal Australian Navy joined Royal Navy and United States Navy ships in Tokyo Bay to receive the main Japanese surrender on 2 September.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Thanks syscom!

 

[syscom3]

Aug 29th 1945

JAPAN: The USN's Task Group 30.6, commanded by Commodore Rodger W. Simpson, arrives in Tokyo Bay to undertake emergency evacuation of Allied POWs in waterfront areas. Accompanying Commodore Simpson is Commander Harold E. Stassen, USNR, Flag Secretary to Commander, Third Fleet, Admiral William F. Halsey. Guided by TBM Avengers from the light aircraft carrier USS Cowpens (CVL-25) and taken to the scene in LCVPs from the high speed transport USS Gosselin (APD-126), Commodore Simpson carries out his orders. The appearance of the LCVPs off the camp at Omori (the first liberated) triggers "an indescribable scene of jubilation and emotion" by the former captives, some of whom swim out to the approaching landing craft. Many of the POWs, suffering from malnutrition and other health problems, required immediate medical care and the hospital ship USS Benevolence (AH-13) is stationed nearby to receive them. Their treatment as POWs was described as an "inquisitional form of barbarism."
Soviet forces occupy Etorofu Island in the Kurile Islands.
Off Japan, the USN submarine USS Segundo encounters Japanese submarine HIJMS I-401 off the northeast coast of Honshu, and "after considerable negotiation, " places prize crew on board.
General MacArthur is appointed supreme commander of the Allied occupying force in Japan
Major Gregory "Pappy" Boyington, famed leader of the Black Sheep Squadron is freed from a POW camp in Japan. Boyington had been shot down over Rabaul two years earlier.

INDONESIA: The New Republic: The constitution that had been drafted by the PPKI preparatory committee, and announced on the 18th, is adopted (UUD 45). Sukarno is declared President, Hatta is declared Vice-President. PPKI (originally BPUPKI, founded under the Japanese occupation the previous March) is remade into KNIP (Central Indonesian National Committee). KNIP is the temporary governing body until elections can be held. The new government is installed on August 31.
The Patih (chief advisor) of Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX of Yogya dies. No successor is chosen; the Sultan takes charge of his own affairs, and begins to institute reforms in Yogya
Tan Malaka reappears in Jakarta.

EAST INDIES: The Japanese garrisons on Halmahera and Morotai Islands in the Netherlands East Indies surrender.

HONG KONG: The British Navy arrives to reclaim the colony for the U.K.

MALAYSIA: Japanese troops in southeast Asia, numbering about 740,000, surrender in Singapore to British Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander Southeast Asia. General ITAGAKI Seishiro, Commander of the 7th Area Army, signs the document for the Japanese.

U.S.: Secret Army and Navy reports of official enquiries into the raid on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941 are made public. The blame is placed on a lack of preparedness, confusion and a breakdown of inter-service coordination. Former Secretary of State Cordell Hull, General of the Army George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army, and former Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Harold R. Stark are criticized. President Harry S. Truman objects to the findings on Hull and Marshall.

 

[syscom3]

Aug 30th 1945

JAPAN: The occupation of Japan in force begins when the US Army's 11th Airborne Division is flown to Atsugi Airfield and the 4th Marines of the 6th Marine Division lands at Yokosuka naval base. After securing Atsugi Airfield, General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, flies in and sets up a temporary Supreme Allied headquarters at Yokohama. Meanwhile, the USN light cruiser USS San Diego ties up at the Kurihama Naval Base. Aboard the cruiser are Rear Admirals Oscar C. Badger and Robert B. Carney to join Marine Brigadier General William T. Clement for the formal transfer of that important naval facility from Japanese to U.S. control.

JAPAN: Landings by the occupation forces begin in the Tokyo Bay area under cover of guns of the Third Fleet plus Naval and USAAF aircraft. MacArthur arrived in Tokyo on August 30, and immediately decreed several laws: No Allied personnel were to assault Japanese people. No Allied personnel were to eat the scarce Japanese food. Flying the Hinomaru or "Rising Sun" flag was initially severely restricted (although individuals and prefectural offices could apply for permission to fly it). The restriction was partially lifted in 1948 and completely lifted the following year.

CHINA: Tenth Air Force: HQ 1st Combat Cargo Group moves from Myitkyina, Burma to Liuchow, China.

OKINAWA: The 159th Liaison Squadron (Commando), 3d Air Commando Group [attached to 5th Air Liaison Group (Provisional)] moves from Mangaldan to Okinawa with UC-64s and L-5s.

U.S.: In Detroit, Michigan, a pale green Super Six coupe rolls off the Hudson Motor Car Company's assembly line, the first post-World War II car to be produced by the auto manufacturer. The Super Six boasted the first modern, high-compression L-head engine, though it garnered its name from the original Hudson-manufactured engine produced in 1916.

 

[syscom3]

Aug 31st 1945

JAPAN: Soviet forces occupy Utruppu Island in the Kurile Islands after fierce fighting with Japanese troops.
U.S. Marines of Company "L," Third Battalion, Fourth Marines, land at Tateyama Naval Base, Honshu, on the northeast shore of Sagami Wan, and accept its surrender. They will reconnoiter the beach approaches and cover the landing of Army's 112th Cavalry Regiment. Meanwhile, the Japanese submarine HIJMS I 401 surrenders to submarine USN submarine USS Segundo at the entrance to Tokyo Bay.

PACIFIC: The Japanese garrison at Marcus surrenders to American General Whiting.

HONG KONG: The RCN armed merchant cruiser HMCS Prince Robert enters the Crown Colony where her commanding officer represents Canada at the surrender ceremonies of Japanese forces.

 

[syscom3]

Sept 1st 1945

JAPAN: Two civilian internment camps are located in the Tokyo area and the captives are freed and transferred to the American hospital ship USS Benevolence (AH-13).
Soviet forces occupy Kunashiri and Shikotan Islands in the Kurile Islands.

CHINA THEATER (AAF, China Theater) Fourteenth Air Force: The flights of the 35th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, Fourteenth AF, at Chihkiang and Nanning, China with F-5s, return to base at Chanyi.

WESTERN PACIFIC [Far East Air Force (FEAF)]: The 371st and 372d Bombardment Squadrons (Heavy), 307th BG (Heavy), move from Morotai Island to Clark Field, Luzon with B-24s.

 

[syscom3]

Sept 2nd 1945

CAROLINE ISLANDS: Japanese troops in the Palau Islands and Truk Atoll surrender to US forces.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: In Vietnam, Vietnamese communist Ho Chi Minh declares the independence of Vietnam from France and proclaims himself president. The proclamation paraphrased the U.S. Declaration of Independence in declaring, "All men are born equal: the Creator has given us inviolable rights, life, liberty, and happiness!" He was cheered by an enormous crowd gathered in Hanoi's Ba Dinh Square.

JAPAN: The battleship USS Missouri (BB-63) was the scene of the signing of formal surrender documents by representatives of the Japanese government. The "Mighty Mo," and much of the U.S .Third Fleet, was anchored in Tokyo Bay. General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, commander of U.S. Army Forces in the Pacific, signs for the Allies; Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, commander of the Pacific Ocean Areas and Pacific Fleet, for the U.S.; Admiral Sir Bruce A. Fraser, Commander-in- Chief, British Pacific Fleet, for Britain. Other Allied commanders were present along with former POW Lieutenant Generals Arthur Percival, former commander of the British Malaya Command and Jonathan Wainright, former commander the U.S. Far East Command. The Japanese Foreign Minister SHIGEMITSU Mamotu and General UMEZU Yoshijiro, Chief of Imperial General Staff, sign for the Japanese government. The treaty calls for a U.S. Army of Occupation which will rule the Japanese Home Islands, but Emperor Hirohito remains the head of state and Japanese political and police officials maintain their positions. The Americans progressively disband the high command and military organizations. U.S. forces occupy island possessions in the Pacific. Korea was placed under American and Soviet occupation, pending the establishment of a democratic Korean government. The Japanese cede the Kurile Islands and the southern half of Sakhalin to the U.S.S.R. Outer Mongolia becomes part of the Soviet sphere of influence and the Soviets share the facilities and supervision of Lushun (Port Arthur) and the Manchurian railways with China. The Chinese regain sovereignty over Inner Mongolia and Manchuria, as well as the islands of Taiwan (Formosa) and Hainan. The British regain control of Hong Kong.

MARIANA ISLANDS: Japanese troops on Pagan and Rota Islands surrender to US forces.

 

[syscom3]

Sept 3rd 1945

BONIN ISLANDS: Off the Bonin islands, Lieutenant General TACHIBANA Yoshio, the local commander, signs the surrender documents on board the USN destroyer USS Dunlap (DD-384) off Chichi Jima. General Tachibana was later convicted and executed for a particularly gruesome series of war crimes perpetuated against U.S. airmen who has been captured in the area during 1944-45.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: In Laos, Franco-Laotian forces enter Vientiane and release interned French civilians.

PHILIPPINE ISLANDS: Japanese General YAMASHITA Tomoyuki Yamashita, the commander of the Philippines, surrenders to Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright at Camp John Hay, Baguio, Mountain Province, Luzon, Philippine, Islands

WAKE ISLAND: Off Wake Island, the Japanese surrender in a ceremony on board the American destroyer escort USS Levy

New Guinea - Crashed droping surrender leaflets is Beaufort A9-622.

 

[syscom3]

Sept 4th 1945

MARIANA ISLANDS: U.S. Coast Guard Cutter CG 83434 became the first and only USCG vessel to host an official surrender ceremony when Imperial Japanese Army Second Lieutenant YAMADA Kinichi surrenders the garrison on Aguijan Island on board. Rear Admiral Marshall R. Greer, USN, accepted the surrender for the United States.

WAKE ISLAND: The U.S. flag is raised over Wake Island as a U.S. Marine Corps bugler plays "Colors." This is the first time the Stars and Stripes has flown over Wake since its capture by the Japanese on 23 December 1941.

 

[syscom3]

Sept 5th 1945

CANADA: Soviet Cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko defects from the Soviet Embassy with more than 100 secret documents under his coat, detailing the workings of a major Soviet spy ring in Canada, with tentacles reaching into the Department of External Affairs code room, the British High Commissioner's Office and the Chalk River, Ontario, nuclear facility. His defection results in 20 espionage trials and nine convictions. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police give Gouzenko Canadian asylum and a new identity, and he dies in hiding in 1982. (Dana Andrews played Gouzenko in the 1948 film "The Iron Curtain.")
Canada's first nuclear reactor, ZEEP (Zero Energy Experimental Pile) at the Chalk River Laboratory, Ontario, achieves criticality.

CAROLINE ISLANDS: The Japanese surrender Yap Atoll in a ceremony on board the USN destroyer USS Tillman.

CHINA: Allied forces occupy Tientsin, China.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: In Vietnam, Laotian Prince Souphanouvong flies to Hanoi in an aircraft provided by the U.S. Office of Strategic Services. He meets with Ho Chi Minh to discuss Vietnamese aid in forming an Indochinese bloc opposing the return of colonialism. Laotian Prince Phetsarath opposes the initiative.

JAPAN: Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist "Tokyo Rose," is arrested in Yokohama. In 1949, she is tried for treason in a U.S. court in San Francisco, California, convicted of the charges and sentenced to ten years in prison and a US$10,000 fine. She served six years at the Federal Reformatory for Women in Alderson, West Virginia, and is released early in 1956. She maintained her innocence, asserting that she has not said the words used to convict her, and that she has remained a loyal American. Though forced to broadcast to the Allied troops, she claimed that she, with the help of American POWs assigned to the radio broadcasts, made herself and her words purposefully ridiculous. She has refused to give up her American citizenship, despite pressure and even punishment from the Japanese who forced her into the broadcasting role. In the 1970s a public campaign brought to light the testimony of the POWs who worked with her and su
pported her story. The testimony of the witnesses against her is questioned and she is eventually pardoned by President Gerald Ford in 1977. After her imprisonment she returned to Chicago where her family owned a store. She continued to work at the store and as of 2005, she is 89-years-old and living in Chicago, Illinois.

UNITED STATES: H. Corwin Hinshaw and William H. Feldman of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, report the first successful use of streptomycin in treating tuberculosis in humans.

 

[syscom3]

Sept 6th 1945

BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: The Japanese surrender to Lieutenant General Sir Vernon Sturdee, General Officer Commanding First Australian Army, aboard the British aircraft carrier HMS Glory (62) off New Britain Island. Upon inspection, it is found that the Japanese forces at Rabaul are greater than Allied intelligence forecast. Instead of 55,000 soldiers and sailors, there are over 89,000 personnel and another 12,400 on New Ireland Island. The town of Rabaul is in ruins and overgrown with jungle and there are 31 sunken ships in the harbor. Japanese defenses are numerous with the hills honeycombed with a system of tunnels more than 150 miles in length.

CANADA: In Montreal, Quebec, Fred Rose is arrested for communicating official secrets to the U.S.S.R.; he will be sentenced to six years in the penitentiary for espionage. Rose is a Communist union organizer, politician, who is elected as a Member of Parliament for Montreal-Cartier in a 1943 by election.
The Royal Canadian Air Force "Tiger Force" is ordered to cease flying. "Tiger Force" consists of eight bomber squadrons equipped with Canadian-built Avro Lancaster Mk Xs that are intended to be shipped to Okinawa and join USAAF units in bombing Japan prior to the invasion.

JAPAN: The USN's Force 11 (Vice Admiral Frederick C. Sherman) sails from Tokyo Bay for the U.S. west coast.

MARSHALL ISLANDS: The Japanese surrender Maleolap Atoll in ceremony on board the USN destroyer escort USS Wingfield (DE-194).

UNITED STATES: President Harry S. Truman lays out an economic recovery plan to Congress that would address post-war housing and employment needs.

 

[syscom3]

Sept 7th 1945

FRENCH INDOCHINA: In Laos, Prince Phetsarath Ratanavongsa, Lao nationalist and political leader, is informed by the interior minister that the King has issued a proclamation continuing the French protectorate over the Kingdom of Louangphrabang. Prince Phetsarath also favors this.

RYUKYU ISLANDS: On Okinawa, a Japanese delegation signs the surrender document at Tenth Army Headquarters.

 

[syscom3]

Sept 8th 1945

BORNEO: In Dutch Borneo, Japanese naval officers are transported to the Australian frigate HMAS Burdekin (K 376) and sign the surrender document in front of four Australian brigadiers.

FRENCH INDOCHINA: Ho Chi Minh restores universal suffrage.

JAPAN: TOJO Hideki, Japanese prime minister during most of World War II, attempts suicide rather than face a war crimes tribunal. The attempt fails and he is later convicted and hanged.

KOREA: U.S. Army forces land at Inchon to occupy the southern half of the country. The peninsula north of the 38th parallel is already in Soviet hands

SOLOMON ISLANDS: Off Bougainville Island, the Japanese forces surrender to Australian, New Zealand and U.S. officers.

UNITED STATES: A bus equipped with a two-way radio is put into service for the first time in Washington, DC.
INDONESIA: First British troops parachute into Kemayoran Airport at Jakarta.

 

[syscom3]

Sept 9th 1945

CHINA: Twenty-minute surrender ceremonies are held in the auditorium of the Central Military Academy in Nanking at 0900 hours local. General Ho Ying-chen, Commander-in- Chief of the Chinese Army, and Lieutenant General YASUTSUGU Okamura, Commander of the Japanese Forces in Central China, represent their respective governments.

EAST INDIES: The commander of Japanese Second Army, Lieutenant General TESHIMA Fusataro, surrenders to Australian Field Marshal Sir Thomas Blamey, Commander in Chief Allied Land Forces Southwest West Pacific Area and Commander in Chief Australian Military Force, on Morotai Island, Netherlands East Indies.

JAPAN: Japanese officials in northern Japan surrender to the Allies at Ominato Naval Base on Honshu. Japanese officers sign two additional surrender documents.

KOREA: In South Korea, surrender ceremonies are held in the Government Building in Seoul. The U.S. delegates are Admiral Thomas C. Kinkaid, Commander of the Seventh Fleet, and Lieutenant General John R. Hodge, Commanding General XXIV Corps,.

UNITED STATES: A "computer bug" is first identified and named by USN Lieutenant Grace Murray Hopper. Although the term "bug" has been used to describe technical glitches since the late 1800s, the bug that plagued Hopper this day is an actual moth that had managed to get into the circuitry of the Mark II computer at Harvard University. The bug, which Hopper and her assistants removed with tweezers, is preserved at the Naval Museum in Dahlgren, Virginia.

 

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Sept 10th 1945

UNITED STATES: General Jonathan M. Wainwright is awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman. The citation reads, "Distinguished himself by intrepid and determined leadership against greatly superior enemy forces. At the repeated risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in his position, he frequented the firing line of his troops where his presence provided the example and incentive that helped make the gallant efforts of these men possible. The final stand on beleaguered Corregidor, for which he is in an important measure personally responsible, commanded the admiration of the Nation's allies. It reflected the high morale of American arms in the face of overwhelming odds. His courage and resolution were a vitally needed inspiration to the then sorely pressed freedom-loving peoples of the world."

The first of the 45,000 ton large aircraft carriers, USS Midway (CVB-41), is placed in commission at Newport News, Virginia.