On September 2, 1945, General Douglas MacArthur, representing the Allied Powers, signed the surrender documents ending WWII. The surrender occurred on the deck of the battleship the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The USS Missouri, "Mighty Mo," was the last battleship to be built and the last to be decommissioned. She now serves as a memorial in Pearl Harbor.
Seventy-five years ago, after six years of fighting – four and a half years of world-wide fighting and United States involvement, the ravages of World War II were finally coming to an end. The cessation of combat in the European Theater came on May 8, 1945. Celebrations erupted all over Europe and in the United States.
Long time Jewell resident, Norman Greene, recalls hearing about the end of the war "on the radio" and remembers a celebration in the Jewell Park to observe the end of the fighting in Europe. Celebrations were in order. But WWII was a two front war and the war in the Pacific was anything but over.
As celebrations of V-E Day continued, so did the fighting on a small island in the Pacific. The Battle for Okinawa took 82 days of bloody fighting before victory was finally obtained. The U. S. military losses were 49,000 casualties including 12,500 deaths. The island is 466 square miles, a bit more than half the size of 900 square mile Jewell County.
Troops in Europe were waiting for orders sending them to the War in the Pacific. Those already in the Pacific were looking at a dreaded battle on the islands of Japan itself. The "D-Day" for the invasion of Japan was set for Nov. 1, 1945.
In mid-July, the U.S. Army detonated the first atomic bomb in Alamogordo, N.M. Less than a month later, on Aug. 7 and 9, two atomic bombs were dropped on Japan. On Aug. 14, Emperor Hirohito and the country of Japan "capitulated" and fighting on both fronts of the war was over.
The actual surrender occurred on the deck of the battleship the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. The date, Sept. 2, 1945. Esther Headrick, Superior, remembers that day 75 years ago. It was her birthday. She and her late husband, Wendell Headrick, were privileged to celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the surrender on the actual deck of the USS Missouri as it was in dry-dock in Bremerton, Wash.
Fawna Barrett, Randall, definitely remembers the days surrounding the surrender of Japan. Her parents had a farm sale on Aug. 15, the day after the surrender. Her father always believed his implements, all steel tires, sold poorly as bidders knew rubber would soon be available.
Barrett also remembers the family's September move to Jewell. As a "farm girl" she was surprised to see cars driving the streets with horns honking to celebrate the signing of the surrender.
Erma Dillon, Northbranch, doesn't recall the actual days around the end of the war but she remembers when her brother, John Parsons, came home from the Pacific. She remembers him crediting his "mother's prayers" for his survival.
Living in Ionia during the war, Kathleen Little of Jewell, remembers the family and friends she knew who went to war. Her uncles, Clarence Loomis, who was wounded in Europe, and Robert Broyles, both served their county. Also, nearby farm neighbors, Orlan Orlene, Wendell Collie and Jay Sample, lived "just down the road" and within a mile of each other were also in the service. Little remembers her father had worried if the war continued, he and other older men would also be drafted.
Jack Wilson doesn't recall the end of the war but does recall a "little thing." His older brother, Robert "Bob" Wilson was 14 years older than he and Jack wrote him often during the war when Robert was in the service. To this day, Jack remembers Robert's service number "67224671."
Continued thanks to all those men and women, some 407,000, with a "little thing" a service number like Robert Wilson's, who did not come home and are buried in cemeteries around the world. Because of them, we are free.
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