V-J Day August 15, 1945

[19Fordy]

Thank you to all the men and women who served then, since and now.
Wonder if we have any WW II vet Fordbarners?

[V8COOPMAN]

Wow, they would be nearing 95 years-young, or more. I KNOW we have some sons (and maybe a daughter or two) of WWII vets here. My dad was a right seat B-17 driver flying out of England. They made it through the tour with the airplane "whanged-up" a time or two, but all made it back home to America in one piece. I know that Dad kept-up with two guys in his crew through at least 2003. DD

[jimTN]

They are almost gone. Two of my friends who drove right up to the end went in the last two years, one at 99 a dog face and one at 98 a submariner, both had great storys to tell.

[ford38v8]

my brother enlisted in '43, but was transferred to Merchant Marine when they discovered he was only 16.

[RKS.PA]

Just finished Countdown 1945 by Chris Wallace last night, the story of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan that ended the war in the Pacific and created V-J Day.

Highly recommend it and had trouble putting it down. I was two years old then, so don't remember too much about it at the time, but have been to Los Alamos and Alamogordo, New Mexico.

If you like history, WWII airplanes and war stories, you'll love this book. (Not sure if I remember there being anything involving our Fords, but they must have been in there somewhere!)

[JSeery]

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If my math is correct, you had to be born in 1923 to be 18 in 1941. My dad was born in 1926 and went into the service at the very end of the war, never left the US. He is currently 94. Anyone born in 1923 would be 97, getting up there. Most of the guys I worked with when I first started at Boeing were ex-WWII pilots or crew. It was very interesting, I know a few of them are still alive.

[tubman]

Uh, V-J day was August 15,1945, not April 15.

I share your sentiments, though.

(V-E day was May 8,1945.)

[RKS.PA]

Originally Posted by JSeery

If my math is correct, you had to be born in 1923 to be 18 in 1941. My dad was born in 1926 and went into the service at the very end of the war, never left the US. He is currently 94. Anyone born in 1923 would be 97, getting up there. Most of the guys I worked with when I first started at Boeing were ex-WWII pilots or crew. It was very interesting, I know a few of them are still alive.

Jerry, we all owe a debt to Boeing...for many reasons!!

[koates]

I lift my hat to all who fought and contributed to the war in the Pacific. My Dad was born in 1919 in South Australia and was in this group but was not allowed to go to war because he was a toolmaker which was a protected industry. He made naval guns and bofours anti aircraft guns in Melbourne Victoria. He passed at 94 years. We will remember them. The greatest generation for sure. Regards, Kevin.

[Lawrie]

My dad ,born 1915was in the NZ airforce, father in-law was in the NZ airforce at Gualcanal,
Three Uncles served , one a pow in Europe, One mussing in action in Libya.
My generation is very lucky to have missed all of that s**t
Lawrie

[F-ONE]

My Great Uncle Charles Edwin Brown was killed in a tank (M24 Chaffe light tank) crossing the Muese in Febuary 1945.
He was 4f in'41 but had surgery so he could enlist. Christmas '44 is quite a story.

Think about this,
2020 1940 1860
Right now WWII is exactly half way to the Civil War.

[51504bat]

My dad turned 100 in May. Entered the Army when he graduated from Lehigh University in 1942. Spent the entire war as a bomb disposal officer. Recalled during the Korean Conflict. Not so clear on things today but still remembers defusing bombs and all things ordinance from the war.

[19Fordy]

Originally Posted by tubman

Uh, V-J day was August 15,1945, not April 15.

I share your sentiments, though.

(V-E day was May 8,1945.)

Please forgive me for that mistake. I really was thinking August but typed April. What's worse, I actually thought all day yesterday that V-J Day was Aug. 14 and wanted to make sure I got it right today. Embarrassing to say the least. Sorry, JIM

[F-ONE]

Originally Posted by 19Fordy

Please forgive me for that mistake. I really was thinking August but typed April. What's worse, I actually thought all day yesterday that V-J Day was Aug. 14 and wanted to make sure I got it right today. Embarrassing to say the least. Sorry, JIM

Really, you are correct. Japan agreed to the terms and ceased fire August 14, 1945.
The next day, August 15, 1945 was celebrated as VJ day.

Germany had two surrenders.
The first was May 7 to Eisenhower at Rheims where Jodl surrendered all forces East and West unconditionally.
Stalin insisted on another ceremony so Keitel surrendered (repeated the ceremony) to Zhukov in the East on May 8.
The day after the first surrender and the day of the 2nd surrender May 8 is VE day.

[DavidG]

Two cousins in our family served, one in the Navy and aboard a minesweeper in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and the other in the Army Air Force flying the Hump between India and China, Both survived the war but are now both gone.

[GB SISSON]

Originally Posted by RKS.PA

Just finished Countdown 1945 by Chris Wallace last night, the story of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan that ended the war in the Pacific and created V-J Day.

Highly recommend it and had trouble putting it down. I was two years old then, so don't remember too much about it at the time, but have been to Los Alamos and Alamogordo, New Mexico.

If you like history, WWII airplanes and war stories, you'll love this book. (Not sure if I remember there being anything involving our Fords, but they must have been in there somewhere!)

Half way through it and loving it. Earlier this year I read 'Killing the Rising Sun'. That was great too. The good guys won.

[ford38v8]

Originally Posted by F-ONE

Really, you are correct. Japan agreed to the terms and ceased fire August 14, 1945.
The next day, August 15, 1945 was celebrated as VJ day.

Germany had two surrenders.
The first was May 7 to Eisenhower at Rheims where Jodl surrendered all forces East and West unconditionally.
Stalin insisted on another ceremony so Keitel surrendered (repeated the ceremony) to Zhukov in the East on May 8.
The day after the first surrender and the day of the 2nd surrender May 8 is VE day.

VJ-Day (the end of hostilities) is observed at the same moment across the globe, which falls on two consecutive calendar days due to the International Time Zones. The formal surrender in Tokyo Bay then took place on September 2nd.

[Karl]

All my great Uncles served . They used to tell some amazing stories.
One was a mechanic in a tank recovery/repair unit-When they evacuated Crete, just in front of the Germans, he left a sack containing all the units micrometers and specialist tools addressed to his parents house in New Zealand in the street of a Cretan village . 12 months later it showed up in New Zealand.

The same Uncle described a British column and a German column in the desert passing each other as they traveled in opposite directions . Despite the fact that they were less than a hundred yards apart they each choose to completely ignore the other. No one wanted a fight that day !

[corvette8n]

My Dad fought in New Guinea and Leyte, I still have his uniform and the sniper bullet they took out of his back. His first car when he got back was a '36 Ford rumble seat coupe, he's been gone ten years now.

[RKS.PA]

Originally Posted by 19Fordy

Please forgive me for that mistake. I really was thinking August but typed April. What's worse, I actually thought all day yesterday that V-J Day was Aug. 14 and wanted to make sure I got it right today. Embarrassing to say the least. Sorry, JIM

No worries, 19Fordy. We knew what you meant and thanks for the original post that started this thread and caused us to remember the events leading up to it and our own personal connections.

[HD]

There are 2 correct dates for VJ DAY, August 15 is when Japen surrendered, and September 2 when they signed the papers on the USS Missouri

[Newc]

Wow; My Dad was a reserve officer and got called up immediately. He did the whole thing from N. Africa into Germany, and stayed in active reserves-retired in '62. We were a 'Reserves' family. He wrote his ww2 memoirs and I'm supposed to publish them. Everyone is gone now. Truman saved many Allied lives with those bombs. Newc

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by Newc

Truman saved many Allied lives with those bombs. Newc

It's been said that Truman was kept in the dark about the development of those things until FDR was gone. They also say that he agonized over their eventual use. Yup, saved MANY Allied lives!! DD

[GB SISSON]

Is Richmond Bell still on here? He had an old Ford parts business in Wellfleet Ma. on Cape Cod for many years. He is a WW2 vet who was in the fight. I spent seven years in southeastern Ma. back in the 60s and 70s and my father in law bought model A parts from him. I have had two fathers in law and they both fought in the South Pacific. Okinawa and the Philipines. Never a war story from either.

[50fordcoupeman]

Yes a great generation. I salute them all. My wifes father was a Hellcat carrier pilot in the South Pacific. Made it through but splashed down twice. We have his picture with him sitting on the wing of his last plane-he shot down 4 and had 23 bombing missions in a Hellcat.

[MGG]

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In all fairness to 19Fordy he started out the title of the thread with August 15, 1945 and in post #2 it got changed to April 15. It got changed back to August in post 22. How does this happen?

[19Fordy]

Thanks to the help of another Fordbarner, I was able to change the title from April to
August 15, 1945.

[RKS.PA]

Originally Posted by 19Fordy

Thanks to the help of another Fordbarner, I was able to change the title from April to
August 15, 1945.

Good to set the record straight, Jim....and makes you feel a lot better!!

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by 19Fordy

Thanks to the help of another Fordbarner, I was able to change the title from April to
August 15, 1945.

Many folks don't believe that you can change a THREAD TITLE on FordBarn. Well, you CAN change a TITLE. You can also change the header in a "For Sale" post from the item displayed, to something else completely, like "SOLD" for instance.


It's simple to do. The ORIGINAL poster simply begins by clicking the button. When the new window pops-up, click "Go Advanced". Now, it is possible to change ANYTHING you want in that window, including the TITLE line, to anything you can dream-up! When finished editing, click on "Save Changes"...………...DONE!


You can go look at the 'play' post that I created, and then went back later and changed the TITLE, as well as some of the message content. Click the link below! DD


https://www.fordbarn.com/forum/showt...41#post1921241

[tubman]

"19Fordy" - I did not mean anything disrespectful in my original post; it's just that these days, unintentional errors sometimes take on a life of their own, especially with incidents a far in the past as this is. I have a penchant for correctness in situations such as this.

Also, it's good to know how to correct thread titles; I made an embarrassing error in one of mine a couple of days ago, but was able to figure out how to fix it.

[B-O-B]

I had a close cousin that was in the air force as an engineer. He was stationed in Australia & married a Aussie girl. Never returned to the states. Became an engineer there & had his own business. They lived in Melbourne. I had a B-I-L that was in the tank core and saw action in Africa. He did come home & was a stone mason. Both are long gone now. I was in the Korean conflict but didn't see any action. Just a lowely mechanic.
In my home town of Hartford ,Ohio we had a guy that survived the Bataan death march,never talked about it.
I had 3 brothers & myself that served & all survived. There is only 2 of us left.
Japan surrender is on my b'day.

[19Fordy]

B-O-B: Thanks to you. your brothers and friends who served.

Glad you made it back home.

Sad, the students today haven't a clue. Sad also that history fades with passing of time.

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by 19Fordy

Sad, the students today haven't a clue. Sad also that history fades with passing of time.

Sad that some folks are trying to change history. DD

[quik]

Awesome thread. Thanks to all who served.

My Grandfather (Dad's dad) served in the Marines in the South Pacific and fought in Guadalcanal and Palau, which were 2 years apart so he was in for a while. Neither my Dad or Uncle had any idea of what he did during WWII. He never mentioned any of it to anyone. They didn't find out about his service record until after he passed and they found his original discharge papers in his belongings.

My grandmother (Dad's mom) was in the motor pool in Washington DC. She was General Eisenhower's personal driver whenever he was in DC. No pictures to prove it, but that's the story I was told and I'm sticking to it.

Another book you should consider reading is "To Wake the Giant: A Novel of Pearl Harbor". I'm in the middle of it now. It tells the story of the events leading up to Pearl Harbor beginning in December 1940 through the eyes of Admiral Yamamoto, the Secretary of State Cordell Hull, and a naval private who ends up on the Arizona. It's a great read.

https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Giant-No.../dp/0593129628

[Karl]

Originally Posted by GB SISSON

Half way through it and loving it. Earlier this year I read 'Killing the Rising Sun'. That was great too. The good guys won.

Yep I agree but what was left of the bad guys ended up with booming economies thanks to the generosity of the good guys rebuilding them afterwards ( The Marshall Plan)

The making of the Atomic Bomb is fascinating . Essentially they threw money at the problem till they solved it. An example is that they needed to purify the Uranium 235 one way of doing this is through gas diffusion through a membrane (there are others like the cyclotron and they used those as well) Uranium hexofluaride gas is very corrosive They didn't know if they could make a membrane or if they could make a pump that would work but they knew if they did they would need power for the pumps so they build a power station first - not knowing if they could even solve the other problems (which they did)

I was reading up about Little Boy last night - It had 64kg of uranium in it of which only 1kg fissioned and only 0.6 of gram was converted in to kinetic and heat energy -All that blast apparently came from 0. 6 grams of material -I find that incomprehensible ! Karl

[petehoovie]

Did you know that more money was spent in the development of the B-29 than was spent in developing the Atomic Bomb? $3 Billion vs. $1.9 Billion....

"The $3 billion cost of design and production (equivalent to $43 billion today[5])—far exceeding the $1.9 billion cost of the Manhattan Project—made the B-29 program the most expensive of the war." >

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing...perfortress%22

[swedishsteel]

My dad was left seat pilot on a B17, flew 23 combat missions and 4 "Chowhound" missions out of Framlingham, England, 390th Bomb Group at the end of the war in 1945. His plane got shot up a few times but none of his crew got hurt and they always made it home. Flew the plane home with his crew and landed on US soil July, 4 1945. Got married on July 21 and then headed off to South Dakota and was training in B29's when Japan surrendered. Not bad for a farm kid born in a log cabin in central Minnesota. Have pictures of him in his officers uniform with mom in front of his first car, '36 Ford 5 window. I didn't know that was his first car until he passed away and we were going through the old pictures. I was fortunate to find a basket case '36 coupe and now have one and every time I drive it I think of him.

[HD]

Richmond Bell passed away a few months ago, he landed on OMAHA BEACH on D DAY, he was awarded A Bronze Star and 3 Purple Hearts, and last year in Boston the French Government awarded him with the highest award given to a Military member

[Karl]

Originally Posted by petehoovie

Did you know that more money was spent in the development of the B-29 than was spent in developing the Atomic Bomb? $3 Billion vs. $1.9 Billion....

"The $3 billion cost of design and production (equivalent to $43 billion today[5])—far exceeding the $1.9 billion cost of the Manhattan Project—m which made the B-29 program the most expensive of the war." >

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing...perfortress%22

Wow Thanks I didn't know that. In my curio treasure cabinet I have a small piece of greenish grey glassy rock . Its Trinite which was formed when the first atomic bomb exploded at the Trinity site and fused the sand under the tower to glass

[Karl]

Originally Posted by swedishsteel

My dad was left seat pilot on a B17, flew 23 combat missions and 4 "Chowhound" missions out of Framlingham, England, 390th Bomb Group at the end of the war in 1945. His plane got shot up a few times but none of his crew got hurt and they always made it home. Flew the plane home with his crew and landed on US soil July, 4 1945. Got married on July 21 and then headed off to South Dakota and was training in B29's when Japan surrendered. Not bad for a farm kid born in a log cabin in central Minnesota. Have pictures of him in his officers uniform with mom in front of his first car, '36 Ford 5 window. I didn't know that was his first car until he passed away and we were going through the old pictures. I was fortunate to find a basket case '36 coupe and now have one and every time I drive it I think of him.

Great story-My Dads first car (a 1938 Triumph Dolemite Drophead Coupe ) was sold to buy a cot for me when I was born . Mum and Dad courted in it and drove it on their honeymoon. It was sold locally and is still owned by the same person. Mum and Dad are both gone now , The owner has told me that it is in his will that on his passing it will be offered for sale to me . I don't think there will be much haggling on the price on my part !!

[V8COOPMAN]

Originally Posted by Karl

Great story-My Dads first car (a 1938 Triumph Dolemite Drophead Coupe ) was sold to buy a cot for me when I was born . Mum and Dad courted in it and drove it on their honeymoon. It was sold locally and is still owned by the same person. Mum and Dad are both gone now , The owner has told me that it is in his will that on his passing it will be offered for sale to me . I don't think there will be much haggling on the price on my part !!

Kind'a like this one, eh? DD

[Fortunateson]

A lot of very brave men and women served during WWII. Some of whom were not treated with respect when they returned. But beyond all that, being a history teacher for 38 years I always have to mention one tiny fact that somehow gets no mention as to the ending of the war with Japan.

Stalin had promised to enter the war and break its treaty with Japan. There was a timeline to do this due to the Potsdam or Yalta conference though right now I can't remember which. It had to be within five months.

Though the Soviets could have entered around August 6th they held off until the day before the second bomb drop. They were entering into Manchuria with 1,775,000 troops and equipment on three fronts. So not to take anything away from all who fought and the nuclear technology the Soviet invasion force, due to its intimidating number, also played a huge part in Japan's surrender. (As a matter of fact the Soviet front had a very big influence on the outcome of the war in Europe as well; the Germans spent a lot of lives, resources, and energy trying to defeat them on the Eastern Front that otherwise would have made the outcome of the Western Front a lot more difficult to achieve.)

I suppose the hatred and fear of the Soviet system has allowed the propagation that it was solely the two nuclear bombs that led to Japan's surrender.

[Karl]

Originally Posted by V8COOPMAN

Kind'a like this one, eh? DD

No Dad always called it a Drophead coupe but I think its actually the Coupe/Roadster
Attached is a bad picture of it and a better picture of my wife in it -She is very happy for it to end up in our garage one day

It was brought in England by a wealthy farmer who shipped it back from England just before the war. After the war it was driven a lot by the farmers best friend a local lawyer who went on to be a knighted politician and incidentally was also my mothers Godfather
-I MUST be fated to own it -Karl

[tomcarman]

It is with the utmost respect I have for this generation. Sad the news never mentioned DDAY nor VJDay.

[Fortunateson]

Up here they did.

[fourfords]

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My Uncle Lee was KIA off Samar, Philippines October 25, 1944 by Imperial Japanese Navy. The efforts of his Taffy 3 group saved thousands of American lives and repelled the far superior Japanese fleet which included at the time the largest battleship in the world. Visited the war memorial at Pearl Harbor when I was quite young. quite humbling, even as a small child. Still have my V-J Day pin with ribbon. Dedicated my '37 Deluxe Fordor to his memory with his photo on board his ship earlier in the war and prior to the battle. -Pinned to the headliner. Deep thanks to all who have found America worth the effort.

[Karl]

We owe them so much !
The sad thing is none of the young staff i work with could tell me what was significant about Aug 6th , 9th or 15th in history . What do they actually learn in school ???