August 15th 2015 is the 70th anniversary of Victory over Japan (VJ) Day.
For British troops who were stationed in the Far East, the war had continued beyond VE Day and the troops had no idea when 'their' war would end.
My father served in the RAF during WW2 as a radar technician. He was posted to the Far East in December 1944, arriving in the Cocos Islands in April 1946 as part of Operation Cockroach. This was the plan that had been devised to regain Singapore from the Japanese.
However, on 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States dropped atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, rather changing the situation. Also on 9 August, the Soviet Union declared war on Japan.
The following day (10th August), the Japanese government indicated its intention to surrender under the terms of the Potsdam Declaration, but with too many conditions for the offer to be acceptable to the Allies.
Finally, a little after noon in Japan Standard Time on August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito's announcement of Japan's acceptance of the terms of the Potsdam Declaration was broadcast to the Japanese people over the radio. Dad sent a letter home to the family every week from Dec 1944 until he left Bombay towards the end of June 1946 on the final leg of his trip home. Nana Frost kept all the letters. The image of the letter that Dad wrote on August 15th 1945 is shown here. It is a poignant letter, clearly showing the confusion and emotion that he felt about the news and talks about his hope for prompt demobilisation. In the event, troops didn’t start to leave the islands for another seven months. The transcribed text is included below. |
Section 301 Ceylon Air Forces 15/8/45 Dear Mum A few minutes ago we heard that Japan had accepted our terms of surrender. For the last 5 days, since it was announced that they were willing to accept the Potsdam terms we have been on tenterhooks. Every time we heard the announcer say “There is still no further news from Japan”, we switched the radio off in disgust. You can imagine just how we felt when we finally heard that the Japs had accepted out surrender terms. It was hard to believe that the war had come to an end and I suppose it will be the most popular subject of conversation for days to come. This was the signal for the beginning of many discussions on the possibilities of an early repatriation for us. Now the war has reached its end, it’s difficult to see what use people in this trade are. For all we can do now we might as well pack up and come home, but I don’t suppose for a minute that this is the attitude which the powers that be will adopt. Everyone here has been making rapid calculations or should I say guesses as to when their demob is due. It has become a matter of trying to calculate how many troops the ships and planes can deal with per week. I wonder how you will celebrate VJ day at home. The local authorities won’t have had much time to prepare for the celebrations but I don’t suppose there’ll be much need for preparation. I know if I was at home my actions would be absolutely spontaneous. It’s something well worth celebrating. It’s been a long 5½ years but I must admit that I didn’t expect the end to come quite as quickly as this. The news of the Jap offer of surrender came as a complete surprise to us. Things have moved so quickly that I just feel in capable of writing a coherent letter. Thoughts of demob & home are mixed up with the things that I intended to write about; the happenings of the past few days. My mind is just a mosaic of odd facts which refuse to be moulded into a reasonable letter. I think I shall have to wait until my mind has absorbed the facts of the new state of affairs. It’s all very confusing. Before I say cheerio I must tell you of a little incident which took place a few days ago. Two of the native girls were driving a flock of sheep by the camp. Among the flock was a big ram. He came running round our tent and as we were having breakfast we fed him a few of the crusts. Of course, after that we just couldn’t get rid of him. One of the boys had an idea; he enticed him away from the tent with a biscuit and then about 15 yds from the tent through (sic) the biscuit, expecting the ram to hare after it. The ram had different ideas. Instead of going after the biscuit he charged. Head down at the chap who, not expecting an attack of this sort had turned his back to the ram and was walking back to the tent. Much to our amusement he hit Arthur with considerable force, right in the seat of the pants, hurling him flat on his face. Fortunately he wasn’t hurt and when he recovered himself enjoyed the joke as much as anyone. Cheerio for now, love to all Ken |