Back when very bad things happened to those who attacked us

It was 66 years ago today that representatives of Emperor Hirohito, the Japanese government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters signed the instrument of surrender aboard the battleship U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II.

Among the hundreds of sailors, soldiers, Marines and civilians watching the proceedings was a young LIFE magazine correspondent from Zionsville, Ind. – Bernard Clayton Jr.

Clayton, 94, author of best-selling bread baking cookbooks, a fellow alumnus of The Indianapolis News, and father of my boyhood friend Jeff Clayton, died March 28 in Bloomington.