Friday, September 08, 2017

VJ day was Sept 2nd... and I just remembered


August 14th was the unconditional surrender, but the ceremony was Sept 2nd on the USS Missouri, ending 6 years of war in the Pacific

By 1945, in an attempt to break Japanese resistance before a land invasion became necessary, the Allies were consistently bombarding Japan from air and sea, dropping some 100,000 tons of explosives on more than 60 Japanese cities and towns between March and July 1945 alone.

The Potsdam Declaration, issued by Allied leaders on July 26, 1945, called on Japan to surrender; if it did, it was promised a peaceful government according to “the freely expressed will of the Japanese people.” If it did not, it would face “prompt and utter destruction.” The embattled Japanese government in Tokyo refused to surrender, and on August 6 the American B-29 plane Enola Gay dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima, killing more than 70,000 people and destroying a 5-square-mile expanse of the city. Three days later, the United States dropped a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, killing another 40,000.

Of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, more than 400,000 died during the war. At the end of the war, there were approximately 79,000 Americans unaccounted for, 48,103 in the Pacific war zone.

This number included those buried with honor as unknowns, officially buried at sea, lost at sea, and missing in action. Today, more than 73,000 Americans remain unaccounted for from WWII.

America then took 6 years to locate all known leads to buried or missing American military, locating and identifying 280,000 of the approx 400,000 dead

Then from 1951 to 1976 another 200 were located

From 1976 to 2003 another 346 were located, and after 2003, another 300 were located

In 2003, historians at the Defense Prisoner of War Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) began to develop a comprehensive database of WWII service members whose remains were not recovered or identified after the war. This database was a significant step in creating a comprehensive plan to research WWII missing personnel.
VE Day is May 8th

http://www.dpaa.mil/Our-Missing/World-War-II/
http://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
https://www.pacificwrecks.com/mia/usa/index.html


Donna Esposito, who works at the Empire State Aerosciences Museum in upstate Glenville, visited Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands this spring and was approached by a local man who knew of WWII dog tags and bones found along a nearby jungle trail. The man asked if Esposito could help find relatives of the man named on the tags: Pfc. Dale W. Ross.

After she returned home, Esposito found that Ross had nieces and nephews still living in Ashland, Oregon. A niece and a nephew were given his dog tags and a bag containing the skeletal remains.

Assigned to the Army's 25th Infantry Division, he was listed as MIA in January 1943, during the final weeks of the Guadalcanal campaign. He was last seen in an area that saw heavy fighting around a Japanese-held hilltop.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/dog-tags-wwii-soldier-found-south-pacific-island-article-1.3419976

4 comments:

  1. Thanks for posting this. We have to keep their sacrifices alive or we will lose who we are as a free nation.The Aerosciences museum is only a few miles from me and is a goood way to spend a day with the grandkids to teach them.

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    1. you'r welcome. I agree, and history only keeps it's efficiency as a learning source if we pay attention, and revisit the lessons so we don;t have to repeat the mistakes and suffer the consequences.
      I don't remember to post about military history as often as is possible, but, I think I do allright in a general way in reminding readers of a couple things that might be forgotten soon if no one else brings them up. And, as a guy who posts about historical stuff, well... why the hell not use my site on a rare occasion for other things that aren't exactly fun stuff with wheels? Like charity, safety, and now and then, a memorial post.
      How long have you been reading along?
      How old are you grandkids, and which aeroscience museum?

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  2. Been following for about 7 years. The grandkids are only 5 and 9 But every chance I get I try to teach them about the real world in a way they won't learn in school.Every veterans day they go to get a poppy and are reminded why it's important.
    The museum is the one in Glenville in your post also next to Stratton air guard base. We have a niece that we used to take to the airshows there, she ended up joining the air force and became a flight nurse because of what she learned about the 109th airwing flights to Antarctica.
    A lot of vets I know follow for the high quality car posts and appreciate the memorial side posts.keep up the good work.

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    1. 7 years, wow, that's been a heck of a lot of content. % and 9, that's when kids are terrific. No diapers, plenty of conversation and understanding of what going on. Flight nurse, wow. That's cool, and career beginning! Thanks for the compliments!

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