Friday, September 3, 2010

Sixty-Five Years Ago, Yesterday

I suppose it says something about the state of American self-respect, that this was not played as an important story.

What it is is newsreel footage of the formal signing of surrender papers by the Japanese, to end World War II.

Nothing to see here, I guess.
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8 comments:

  1. lady redSeptember 3, 2010 at 7:36 AM

    It's probably racist and imperialistic to mark the anniversary of September 2 in our consciousness and our history books. Yep.

    The black and white photographs taken aboard the Missouri are stunning.

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  2. LyanaSeptember 3, 2010 at 9:41 AM

    Thanks for the reminder, DWT. I don't think I realized the significance of September 2; I think of the anniversary of the dropping of the bombs in early August as the end of things in the Pacific, but it really did take another month before the surrender was signed.

    I just picked up a copy of Pappy Boyington's "Ba Ba Black Sheep" yesterday, which springboarded an extended conversation about WWII with the girls; they're now champing at the bit to watch a 10 volume video documentary about the war...

    We won't forget.

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  3. LutherSeptember 3, 2010 at 8:51 PM

    In my opinion, what a magnanimous acceptance of surrender. I wonder if those 'rare' parchment documents are accessible online.

    I read Boyington's book at such an early age I can't remember when. Once, at the Chino Air Museum, I saw his car disappear in the dust. I had missed by five minutes seeing him. Cool about the girls, Lyana.

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  4. AlphieSeptember 3, 2010 at 8:59 PM

    Great video. Thanks for posting, DWT.

    And yes, lady red, the photos are stunning.

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  5. RadioMattMSeptember 3, 2010 at 9:34 PM

    I read Boyington's book as well. It was a good read, but it was a few years ago that I read it.

    I think I have mentioned it before, but I should mention it again: it was a normal bombing run in mid-August that really ended the war. The Japanese military was ready to stage a coup to prevent the Emperor from surrendering. The bombing raid, which flew over Tokyo but did not target Tokyo, derailed the coup. With that, the Emperor was able to get his wish and surrender to end the war.

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  6. LutherSeptember 5, 2010 at 7:17 AM

    Rare color footage of the surrender.

    http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/blog/id.5915/blog_detail.asp

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  7. lady redSeptember 5, 2010 at 9:53 AM

    Hi Luther! It's good to "see" you!

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  8. LutherSeptember 5, 2010 at 12:21 PM

    Hi back and same here Lady Red. Good to see everyone is still around.

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