September 2, 1945

My dad served as an officer on the USS Missouri at the end of WW II. He was on board when the Japanese surrendered in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945. Here is his account of that day, as told in a letter to his parents:

September 3, 1945

Dear Mom and Dad: -

I’m awfully sorry that I haven’t written the past few days but I’ve been terribly
busy. I wrote you the day before yesterday but dated it the 2d so that it would have a
special cancellation on it.

Yesterday was The day that we have waited and worked for so long. The days
just before it were hectic ones indeed for us. We had to scrub and paint the ship up to
look like new. How the men managed to do it and still stand their watches really amazed
me.

But now I suppose that you are interested in the ceremony. For us it started at
0750 when we had quarters. As the Division officer was on watch, I was acting Division
officer (some honor, ha, ha). Our space for quarters was amidships on the starboard side.
So by taking a little stroll I could just about see the table and the men signing the
agreement. The correspondents had already come aboard and were in their locations by
the time that we fell in for quarters. They had come aboard from a destroyer. There were
at least 300 of them from all over the world. Then after we had fallen in at quarters
another destroyer came along side with some army officers and foreign representatives.
Then finally the destroyer with General MacArthur came alongside. Unfortunately for us
these came alongside to Port so that we couldn’t see them come aboard. Just before this
Admiral Nimitz came aboard from this barge, on the Starboard side. He seemed to have
a big smile on his face as he came aboard. A number of other Admirals (Vice and rear)
came aboard also but they are too numerous to mention here.

The Japanese delegation came aboard from our gig which transferred them from
the destroyer. The Prime Minister and other diplomatic office assistants wore the typical
diplomates’ dress. Striped trousers, white shirts with wing collars and striped neckties
and a tall silk hat. They were accompanied by some Army and Navy officers in their
dress uniform. The premier is quite a cripple. I understand that he has a wooden leg. He
had quite some difficulty in going up the accommodations ladder. He was unaided
except for the cane that he carried. The others followed him up and up to the first
superstructure deck where the table was placed for the signing of the surrender pact. The
chaplain was up in the navigation bridge giving a running description of the ceremony for
the benefit of those who couldn’t see. I strolled up forward a couple of times to see what
I could see. The first time I went up was when the Russians were signing the pact. They
have some very colorful uniforms. In fact they are quite similar to those worn by our old
CAP pilots. At least that is what the red color pads that they had reminded me of. I
could see the Japanese delegation standing there with the premier in the fore and flanked
by his Army and Navy officers. They all seemed pretty glum and very bored. As a
matter of fact, almost every Jap that I have seen so far seems to be almost bored with
everything in general and nothing in particular. The Allied delegation were right
opposite the Japanese and seemed to be very happy. There were some Chinese officers
on the outboard part of the deck there and I honestly believe that they were the most
obviously happy people at the ceremony. They were chatting with anyone up there that
they could get to speak to. There were British, American, Russian, French and all among
the people up there.

The Correspondents were as usual all over the place, especially the Russian
Photographers. They were taking them left and right all over the place. They tell of one
of the Russians lying on his back to get a picture of the base drummer pounding his drum,
and of another one down on his knees getting pictures of the side boys.

At one time we had 21 boats lying off the side of the ship to take visiting admirals
and other officers back to their ships. There were several hundred visitors on board.
When most of the visitors had departed we secured from quarters at 1100.

Oh yes, I nearly forgot, just as the ceremony was drawing to a close we had a
huge air armada sweep overhead. I’ve seen several raids going over Japan, but I’ve never
seen as many at one time before. Led by B-19s flying in close formation and about 1500
feet elevation. They were followed by Navy Carrier planes flying in extremely close
formation and stacked up from 750 feet to about 2,000. Torpedo Bombers, Dive
Bombers, Hellcats, Corsairs, all types of carrier planes. So much that it looked like a
swarm of angry bees. There were a few Corsairs doing loops and crazy maneuvers
during the middle of the flight. It helped you see one of the many reasons that the
Japanese had to surrender.

I had the watch in the afternoon and during it I received a call from one of the
yeoman in the gunnery office asking if I wouldn’t like to go over to the (illegible) for
supper. As I had never eaten on a British ship I hastily said “yes” and then got myself
secured from 20-24 watch that night. Six of us went over.

I’ll tell you all about it later. It tried to tell you most of it the best I could. I don’t
suppose I’ve succeeded too well, but maybe I have. I think I could do a better job in
person..

Until later, I guess I’ll say
Goodnight,
Your loving son
Frederick