Saturday, August 15, 2009

Happy V-J Day!

v-j day pin The Japanese surrendered unconditionally to the Allied Powers on this date 64 years ago.

I was 32 days old at the time.

The official surrender documents were signed aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay on Sept. 2.

And contrary to what President Obama believes, Emperor Hirohito was not present at the signing.

Obama told ABC news last month, "I'm always worried about using the word 'victory,' because, you know, it invokes this notion of Emperor Hirohito coming down and signing a surrender to MacArthur."

Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu signed for the Emperor and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu signed for the military.

Maybe this knowledge will ease Obama's concerns about using the word 'victory.' We could stand to hear it a bit more often.

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