An American destroyer, British battleship HMS King George V and other units of the Third Fleet in Sagami Wan outside Tokyo Bay, Japan, late August 1945.

VJ Day Remembered

September 2, 1945 was one of the most memorable days of my life, because I was an eyewitness to some of the events related to the historical Japanese Surrender Ceremony.

Adobe Acrobat 5.0 or later or Adobe Reader or equivalent are required to view these files. For a free download, click on the icon above left. Within Acrobat, use the zoom tool bar (see sample, above) to improve legibility.    Open a file by clicking under the link column below.    Return to this page by closing the reader. NICHOLAS (DD 449) LINK PAGES CONTENTS 122K 3 War Diary for 28 August–5 September 1945. 607K 15 Deck logs for selected dates, August–October 1945. O’BANNON (DD 450) LINK PAGES CONTENTS 177K 15 Deck logs for selected dates, August–October 1945. TAYLOR (DD 468) LINK PAGES CONTENTS 100K 15 Deck logs for selected dates, August–October 1945. BUCHANAN (DD 484) LINK PAGES CONTENTS 198K 15 Deck logs for selected dates, August–October 1945. LANSDOWNE (DD 486) LINK PAGES CONTENTS 105K 15 Deck logs for selected dates, August–October 1945.

     I was serving on board Nicholas and we were operating with Halsey’s Task Force 38 off the coast of Japan. We were assigned to Task Group 38.4, of of four Task Groups of Task Force 38.
     On August 14, 1945, we received the welcome news that Japan had surrendered. Since the details of the official surrender had to be worked out, TF 38 continued to operate off the coast of Japan. Finally, on August 27, certain units of the task force, including Nicholas, anchored in Sagami Bay, which was outside of Tokyo Bay.
     Two days later, on August 29, the battleship Missouri, escorted by Nicholas, O’Bannon and Taylor entered Tokyo Bay and anchored. Other ships of the fleet followed and anchored nearby.
     It was a great honor to be one of the three destroyers picked to escort the Missouri into Tokyo Bay.
     Early on the morning of September 2, Nicholas was one of four destroyers that moored alongside the Custom House Pier in Yokohama. These four ships were used as “water taxis” to transport personnel from the pier to the Missouri for the surrender ceremony. One was for General MacArthur and his staff, one was for the Japanese delegation and one was for the media.
     Nicholas took on board high-ranking American Army, Navy and Air Force personnel, which included five generals, ten lieutenant generals, 18 major generals, 15 brigadier generals, eight colonels, two lieutenant colonels and one sergeant. Some of the more well known names were Stilwell, Krueger, Spaatz, Kenny, Hodges, Doolittle, Twining, Eichelberger, Perceival, Wainright (just released from prison camp) and LeMay (B-29s). Also on board were Allied representatives from seven countries who were to sign the official surrender document. Each one had several staff members with them. These representatives were as follows:

Australia Gen. Sir Thomas Blamey Canada Colonel L. Moore Cosgrave China Gen. Hsu Yong-Chang France Gen. B.J. LeClerc The Netherlands Adm. C.E.K. Helfirch New Zealand Air Vice Marshal Isitt USSR Gen. Kuzma Nikolaevich Derevyanko

     You can imagine how excited all the sailors on our ship were to see so many “stars” and famous people. We proceded from the pier and went alongside the Missouri to deliver our passengers. As they went aboard, Admiral Nimitz and Admiral Halsey were there to greet them.
     We then anchored nearby and listened to the ceremony on the radio. After the ceremony was completed, we went back alongside the Missouri and returned our passengers to Yokohama.
     During the next thirty days, Nicholas operated with other ships in and around the Tokyo Bay area performing duties related primarily to processing released Allied prisoners of war.
     On October 1, 1945, Nicholas received orders to join a group of ships returning to the United States. After stopping at Okinawa to pick up former POWs, Nicholas arrived in Seattle, Washington on October 19, 1945.

— Louis H. Roe, QM3/c, USNR