WWII veteran recalls Japan's surrender
By Erik Pekar, Town Historian
The Second World War was still ongoing at the start of August 1945. The war in the European theater had already ended, with Germany's surrender on V-E Day, May 8. The war in the Pacific was yet to be over.
Resources were being moved, and forces being built up in the Pacific. They were based at Okinawa, an island that was the southernmost Japanese prefecture. The island had been captured in the spring. "Taking Okinawa was a big step," recalled John "Hector" Norton, who was there. "It gave us a base... we were getting ready... building up for the invasion of Japan"
A land invasion of Japan was slated to start in the fall. As already experienced in the Pacific, it would be a fight to the death from the Japanese, and the military would have been going up against millions of Japanese infantrymen. As a result, the casualty estimates for the invasion were at least a million, if not more. The daily casualties at the start were estimated to potentially be higher than that of D-Day.
"[The United States government] estimated [a] figure of a million casualties," recalled Norton. "It would have been terrible."
The Potsdam Declaration of July 26, 1945 gave Japan an ultimatum: surrender, or else they would face "prompt and utter destruction". Japan did not surrender.
However, the U.S. government had been working on a top-secret project to develop the atomic bomb as a new powerful weapon. It was hoped that it could bring an early end to the war. The atomic bomb had been recently tested and worked. The use of atomic bombs was authorized. No one could have realized that the surrender was closer than anyone would have thought.
Two atomic bombs were dropped on Japanese cities by two different planes. "Little Boy" was dropped on Hiroshima by the Enola Gay on August 6, and "Fat Man" was dropped on Nagasaki by Bockscar on August 9.
The Japanese emperor announced their surrender on August 15. World War II was over. "The atomic bomb convinced the emperor to surrender", Norton remarked.
The news of the surrender was cause for much joy in the United States. In Granville, a large parade was spontaneously assembled.
Norton was in Okinawa when the surrender was announced, on the USS Vulcan. "A couple weeks later, our ship went there [to Hiroshima] with several other [ships]."
The use of the bombs preempted the start or need of an invasion that would have cost many, many lives.
The formal surrender documents were signed on September 2 aboard the USS Missouri.
***
After the war, the United States continued to have military presence there with the Japanese occupation, until the early 1950s. There were several reasons for this, including aiding the transition of the government to give more power to their parliamentary body (and in turn to the people) and the economy to be more free market than it had been. But this was not all, however.
"We had a lot of work to do," said Norton. "Japan [had] convinced its people that we would kill their women and children." As a result, another goal they had to work toward was convincing and showing the Japanese people that those claims were lies.
"I got ashore a lot... the people I met were really nice," recalled Norton.
Norton remained in Hiroshima until February of 1946, when he left with the USS Vulcan to return to the States. They went from Hiroshima, to Yokohama, to Hawaii. They were originally to dock at the naval base in Washington state. "Our plans [were changed]," said Norton. "We went through the Panama Canal to the Brooklyn naval yard... [got back] about a month after I was supposed to."
By then it was April 1946. Norton arrived in Granville on Good Friday, and thereafter joined his father at the Wilson's Clothing store.
***
Granville threw its full support to the war effort, both at home and in the service. Over 700 of Granville's own men were in the service during that time. Some had enlisted, others were drafted.
The draft had started as far back as 1939 - at that time one served for a year and then came back. There was a song that fit the situation: "Goodbye Dear I'll Be Back in a Year". They had to go back in after Pearl Harbor.
Most Granville families had at least one son in the service during the war. There were several families that had five men serve. Two families had 6 sons serve, and one family had seven sons in the service.
Several students from Granville High School enlisted before graduation, served in the military, and came back after the war to finish their senior year.
There were five women from Granville who served as nurses.
***
The support of those on the home front cannot be overlooked. Granville did its part to support the war effort. Many supplies were rationed, and there were stamp books; one could only get so much cheese, flour, clothing, shoes, etc.
There were war bond drives to help raise funds for the war, and scrap metal drives to acquire more metal to recycle as tanks and munitions.
Cars were not used as often; there were rations on tires and gasoline. One could not get a new car either; production had been suspended, and the assembly and production lines changed over to wartime equipment.
Granville's industries also contributed to wartime production. Telescope made army cots. Nora Lee Lingerie made fabric for parachutes.
***
This August 15 marks seventy-five years since the surrender of Japan was announced, which brought World War II to an end.
Over 700 from Granville served during WWII, "something Granville can be proud of", remarked Norton. Certainly, we can be proud of those who served from Granville, and indeed we have been and are proud of them.
No comments:
Post a Comment