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August 19, 1945 – Series of reports for Mutual via Shortwave of the arrival of Japanese Representatives to Manila from Ie Shima – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
August 19, 1945 – Despite sporadic reports still coming in of skirmishes, including one report of a U.S. reconnaissance plane shot at by a Japanese fighter plane over Tokyo, killing a photographer and wounding two others, the process of surrender was proceeding. With the arrival in Manila of Japanese Representatives to sign surrender documents, the reality of the moment and the end of the war was staring to sink in.
On board the C-54 transport plane were sixteen Japanese representatives there to receive surrender orders from Supreme Allied Headquarters. As the group stepped off the plane they were met by Major General Willoughby who, only four years earlier was preparing to abandon The Philippines with General MacArthur as Japanese forces overran the region. This day, the shoe was on the other foot, and those same Japanese Representatives who were part of a group overseeing the American surrender were now on hand to offer theirs. General Willoughby was on hand to check credentials and escort the Japanese representatives to General MacArthurs headquarters.
With the surrender decision made and accepted, the many details necessary to implement it had to be conveyed to the Japanese Government. To this end, on 19 August a combined military and diplomatic delegation left Japan in two specially marked “Betty” bombers. After landing at Ie Shima island, near Okinawa, the envoys were flown on to General MacArthur’s Manila headquarters in a U.S. transport plane. In a series of meetings there, the Japanese received the Allies’ instructions concerning surrender arrangements and initial occupation plans. The “firmness but fairness” shown in Manila favorably impressed the envoys and set the tone for the events that followed.
Here is a series of reports via shortwave, sent to Mutual in New York on August 19, 1945.
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