The Very Unofficial Surrender of Japan

[Talyn]

If you are a WW2 history buff, you probably know that General MacArthur landed in Japan on 30 Aug 1945 and accepted the surrender of Japan on 2 Sep on the battleship Missouri. And according to William Manchester's American Caesar - Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964 ... "Japan, the only major power whose soil had never been sullied by the boot of an enemy soldier, lost that distinction at dawn on Tuesday, Aug 28, when Colonel Charles Tench, a member of MacArthur's staff, stepped from a C-47 and set foot on Atsugi's bomb-pocked runway."

History is in error on two counts. MacArthur was not the first to take the surrender of Japan, nor was Tench the first to sully the Japanese soil.

The Very Unofficial Surrender of Japan

The first Allied aircraft to land on Japan after its surrender was a...

On August 25, 1945, a pair of P-38L-5LOs piloted by Colonel Clay Tice and his wingman were the first American aircraft to land in Japan after the surrender on August 15. They later claimed that this unauthorized landing was due to "engine difficulties", a somewhat suspect explanation. Nevertheless, this was a fitting recognition for an aircraft which had contributed so much to victory.

 

[Recusant]

Great story!

 

[The Night Rider]

I don't know if there's any documentation to this but in the book Baa Baa Black Sheep Boyington states the Marines arrived at the Ofuna POW camp and were liberalating POWs prior to the surrender actually being signed.

 

[HayesGreener]

If you are a WW2 history buff, you probably know that General MacArthur landed in Japan on 30 Aug 1945 and accepted the surrender of Japan on 2 Sep on the battleship Missouri. And according to William Manchester's American Caesar - Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964 ... "Japan, the only major power whose soil had never been sullied by the boot of an enemy soldier, lost that distinction at dawn on Tuesday, Aug 28, when Colonel Charles Tench, a member of MacArthur's staff, stepped from a C-47 and set foot on Atsugi's bomb-pocked runway."

History is in error on two counts. MacArthur was not the first to take the surrender of Japan, nor was Tench the first to sully the Japanese soil.

The Very Unofficial Surrender of Japan

The first Allied aircraft to land on Japan after its surrender was a...

On August 25, 1945, a pair of P-38L-5LOs piloted by Colonel Clay Tice and his wingman were the first American aircraft to land in Japan after the surrender on August 15. They later claimed that this unauthorized landing was due to "engine difficulties", a somewhat suspect explanation. Nevertheless, this was a fitting recognition for an aircraft which had contributed so much to victory.

What a fantastic airplane. As a kid I assembled several models and the P38 stirred the imagination

 

[Mr.W.]

Thanks for the refresher, as I had all but forgotten the P38. Absolute elegance. . .

 

[HayesGreener]

Over in the F4 thread we discussed Robin Olds. He flew P38's and P51's in WWII with multiple kills, then flew F4's in Vietnam with 4 mig kills. Olds retired as a Brigadier General with a total of 16 kills.

 

[KillerFord1977]

P-38’s were also sent to shoot down Yamamoto which they did successfully

Operation Vengeance: The Killing of Isoroku Yamamoto | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

US code breakers deciphering Japanese naval messages provided an opportunity for vengeance in April 1943 after intercepting the travel plans of Japan’s naval commander in chief, the mastermind behind the attack on Pearl Harbor.

www.nationalww2museum.org

 

[The Night Rider]

A long, long time ago I cleaned carpets for a living. I met some very interesting people doing it.

One of my assignments was a house on the west side of Colorado Springs (in the Skyway neighborhood of interviewer familiar with that area).

I walked into the house and there was a painting in the entryway of a P-51 shooting down a German aircraft. I didn't have enough knowledge to identify the German aircraft but I mentioned to the homeowner that it was an interesting painting. He told me it was him.

I didn't believe him at first but I walked into the living room of his house while I was doing my estimate and he had his shadow box on the wall. He had a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Silver Star and a few other medals.

I don't remember his name I do remember that he was a very humble man. I remember saying that he must have done something extraordinary to have earned a Distinguished Flying Cross and he told me that he shot down a Germans during World War II. When I get home that night I looked up his name and he had retired from the Air Force as the commandant of the Air Force Academy. I could be wrong about this but I seem to remember him being the first HispaniCommandant.

There was another guy that worked at the Air Force Academy as a janitor.

He got the janitor job after he retired from the Army and I think he retired as janitor as well.

This is very well documented, the local news does a story on this guy every year right around Memorial Day. His name was William J. Crawford and he was a recipient of the Medal of Honor.

And none of the cadets were aware of it until one of them found him in a history book.

 

[Recusant]

What a fantastic airplane. As a kid I assembled several models and the P38 stirred the imagination

I also built several model P 38s, but they were plastic and have been lost to time. However, I matured and began collecting this type of P 38 which is certainly not an aircraft.

 

[Talyn]

I don't know if there's any documentation to this but in the book Baa Baa Black Sheep Boyington states the Marines arrived at the Ofuna POW camp and were liberalating POWs prior to the surrender actually being signed.

Boyington was at the Omori prison camp.

POWs on The Day They Learned the War Was Won

Who were the airmen in John Swope’s famous photograph of the Omori prison camp?

www.smithsonianmag.com

The "official" surrender occurred on Sept. 2, 1945.

Surrender of Japan (1945)

EnlargeDownload Link Citation: Instrument of Surrender; September 2, 1945; Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff; Record Group 218; National Archives. View All Pages in the National Archives Catalog View Transcript Aboard the USS Missouri, this instrument of surrender was signed on September...

www.archives.gov

 

[The Night Rider]

Boyington was at the Omori prison camp.

POWs on The Day They Learned the War Was Won

Who were the airmen in John Swope’s famous photograph of the Omori prison camp?

www.smithsonianmag.com

The "official" surrender occurred on Sept. 2, 1945.

Surrender of Japan (1945)

EnlargeDownload Link Citation: Instrument of Surrender; September 2, 1945; Records of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff; Record Group 218; National Archives. View All Pages in the National Archives Catalog View Transcript Aboard the USS Missouri, this instrument of surrender was signed on September...

www.archives.gov

Go back and read your history he was also at Ofuna.

 

[Talyn]

He was at Omori, as per the links, when he was liberated.

On August 29, 1945, after the atomic bombs and the Japanese capitulation, Boyington was liberated from Japanese custody at Omori Prison Camp.

Pappy Boyington - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[The Night Rider]

He was at Omori, as per the links, when he was liberated.

The Ōfuna Camp (大船収容所, Ōfuna shūyōsho) was an Imperial Japanese Navy installation located in Kamakura, outside Yokohama, Japan during World War II, where high-value enlisted and officers, particularly pilots and submariner prisoners of war were incarcerated and interrogated by Japanese naval intelligence.[1] Richard O'Kane,[1] Louis Zamperini and Gregory Boyington[2] were among the prisoners held at Ōfuna.

You didn't say when he was liberated you said he was held at Omori.

I don't think he ever mentioned in his biography the names of the prison camps but he did state that he was held in a prison camp outside of Yokohama which would have been Ofuna.

According to Bruce Gambel's Black Sheep One he was held at both Omori and Ofuna at different times.

 

[Talyn]

The Ōfuna Camp (大船収容所, Ōfuna shūyōsho) was an Imperial Japanese Navy installation located in Kamakura, outside Yokohama, Japan during World War II, where high-value enlisted and officers, particularly pilots and submariner prisoners of war were incarcerated and interrogated by Japanese naval intelligence.[1] Richard O'Kane,[1] Louis Zamperini and Gregory Boyington[2] were among the prisoners held at Ōfuna.

So... he was transported first to Ōfuna and finally to Ōmori Prison Camp near Tokyo, where he was liberated. Which I clearly said in reference to this link., above.

POWs on The Day They Learned the War Was Won

Who were the airmen in John Swope’s famous photograph of the Omori prison camp?

www.smithsonianmag.com

The official documentation also states that.

Gregory "Pappy" Boyington after his liberation from Omori Prison Camp, Japan, 1945 | The Digital Collections of the National WWII Museum : Oral Histories

www.ww2online.org

He wasn't in each camp at the same time.

 

[The Night Rider]

So... he was transported first to Ōfuna and finally to Ōmori Prison Camp near Tokyo, where he was liberated.

Yes, this is true.

I think we have a miscommunication here. I took what you originally posted to mean that I was absolutely wrong and that he was never held at the Ofuna camp.

 

[Cedric]

Great story. No one can doubt the contribution of the P-51, but after reading The Forked Tailed Devil by Martin Caidin I became a fan of the P-38.

 

[The Night Rider]

A long, long time ago I cleaned carpets for a living. I met some very interesting people doing it.

One of my assignments was a house on the west side of Colorado Springs (in the Skyway neighborhood of interviewer familiar with that area).

I walked into the house and there was a painting in the entryway of a P-51 shooting down a German aircraft. I didn't have enough knowledge to identify the German aircraft but I mentioned to the homeowner that it was an interesting painting. He told me it was him.

I didn't believe him at first but I walked into the living room of his house while I was doing my estimate and he had his shadow box on the wall. He had a Distinguished Flying Cross and a Silver Star and a few other medals.

I don't remember his name I do remember that he was a very humble man. I remember saying that he must have done something extraordinary to have earned a Distinguished Flying Cross and he told me that he shot down a Germans during World War II. When I get home that night I looked up his name and he had retired from the Air Force as the commandant of the Air Force Academy. I could be wrong about this but I seem to remember him being the first HispaniCommandant.

There was another guy that worked at the Air Force Academy as a janitor.

He got the janitor job after he retired from the Army and I think he retired as janitor as well.

This is very well documented, the local news does a story on this guy every year right around Memorial Day. His name was William J. Crawford and he was a recipient of the Medal of Honor.

And none of the cadets were aware of it until one of them found him in a history book.

There are a couple of typos in this and I wanted to clarify he told me he shot down EIGHT German Planes

 

[Talyn]

Great story. No one can doubt the contribution of the P-51, but after reading The Forked Tailed Devil by Martin Caidin I became a fan of the P-38.

One of my favorite books about the P-38.



While a beautiful aircraft with great performance, the P-51 was a late comer to the Pacific for the AAF.

The first P-51s were deployed in the Far East later in 1944, operating in close-support and escort missions, as well as tactical photoreconnaissance. As the war in Europe wound down, the P-51 became more common.

The North American P-51 Mustang: A “Little Friend” with a Big Impact | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans

Few fighter aircraft have had an impact on a conflict like the P-51 Mustang.

www.nationalww2museum.org

While the Brits used Allison-powered Mustangs in 1942, the Merlin-powered P-51 didn't go into production until 1943 and... the first American P-51 units arrived in Europe towards the end of 1943.

The P-51 was cheaper to manufacture, and easier to maintain and fly compared to the P-38.

But, the P-38 was used in all of the WW2 theatres, was the first USAAF fighter to reach Berlin, and made the first and last USAAF kill in Europe.

8th Air Force FO 259 BOMBER ESCORT | American Air Museum

www.americanairmuseum.com

10 Facts You May Not Know About the P-38 Lightning - I Love WWII Planes

www.ilovewwiiplanes.com

Final Dogfight – May 8, 1945: Who scored the last aerial victory of the air war in Europe? - The Aviation Geek Club

Final Dogfight – May 8, 1945: Who scored the last aerial victory of the air was in Europe?

theaviationgeekclub.com

It may have not been the "best" USAAF WW2 fighter but it was the most versatile, and was in service from beginning to end.

 

[Dun]

I also built several model P 38s, but they were plastic and have been lost to time. However, I matured and began collecting this type of P 38 which is certainly not an aircraft.


View attachment 42506

Ah likes me some GERMAN P-38 goodness! The post-war manurhin French copies not so much.

 

[HayesGreener]

I also have a bunch of P38's but I keep losing them