AUGUST 15, 1945: V-J DAY
August 15th, 2010 | 2:19 pm
President Truman informs reporters of Japan’s surrender at a pres conference in the Oval Office. August 14, 1945.
(photo courtesy of Times Life)
Japan acceptance of the Potsdam Declaration calling for their unconditional surrender on August 15, 1945 (August 14 in the United States) marked the end of World War II, three years, eight months, and seven days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. While the official signing of the surrender took place on September 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, victory was celebrated in the United States, Britain, and Australia with a two day holiday beginning on August 15. Soldiers and civilians alike rejoiced in the streets of cities across the United States and Europe. When the announcement came at 3 a.m. in Hawaii, every ship in Pearl Harbor set off its store of rockets.
Amidst the celebrations, the gravity of the situation was not to be forgotten. King George VI addressed the British people from Buckingham Palace, saying:
“Our hearts are full to overflowing, as are your own. Yet there is not one of us who has experienced this terrible war who does not realize that we shall feel its inevitable consequences long after we have all forgotten our rejoicing today.”
These consequences are still felt today. Of the almost 300,000 American combat deaths during World War II, more than one-third occurred in the Asia-Pacific Theater. This “Victory in Japan” Day should serve not only as a day to remember the final Allied victory, but also as a day to remember those who so nobly lost their lives fighting and winning the war in the Pacific Theater.
Mr. Edsel, I am working on the Monunments Men in Asia, as my father was born and raised in China, was in the OSS, a d worked with laurence Sickman in Beijing. My dad was not a Monumnets Man, but I am a scholar of Asian art educated at School of Oriental and African Studies, (SOAS) at University of London. I am doing a study on American collectors of Asian art, and the MacArthur section of the MFAA was a :game changer: encouraging John D. Rockefeler III to increase his Asia collection with the help of Sherman Lee. My study is going to be more academic than your incredible book, I am focusing on Sherman Lee, Laurennce Sickman, and a couple of others, including Langdon Warner. I am also going to focus on the template that the Monuments Men project formed for protecting cultural property, and how it was ignored by Donald Rumsfeld and the entire mess in Iraq, where he was quoted :stuff happens”– no General Eisenhower, he.