Color Video of Surrender on USS Misouri

gene1

My brother was there on the Indiana & was in the signal div. & watched a lot thru a long glass. 

My brother was there on the Indiana & was in the signal div. & watched a lot thru a long glass. 7 or 8 years ago when my brother had supper with us, my wife asked him how long did he stay over there after the surrender & he said he came home right away as they had 1000 U S prisoners of the Japs on the Indiana & he thought they were one of the first BB's home.  He said the prisoners were first in line in the mess hall & it was open 24 hours a day.  My wife said it was the first time she saw my brother show emotion over the war when he talked about the prisoners.

    He did say the flover was super good & very low. Our next door neighbor was captured at Battan & was in the march. He lost his leg in a coal mine 2 weeks before the war ended & they cut it off on a table with a carpenters saw & no anesthetic. He went to the U. of Fla & I would stop & see him there. He married our neighbor & had 2 kids.  I always wondered if he was on my brothers ship coming home.

Cap'n Mac said: Also, there were some high-ranking recently repatriated POW in attendance, and they were without formal attire, and barely in Service Dress as was.

Generals Percival and Wainwright in particular. I think that's a good point.

amphib

of all the brass standing there in everyday working uniforms. Must have been a political point was being made to the Japanese.

I've heard that a time or two.

I've also heard that Nimitz did not want MacArthur to show up in one of his custom-tailored uniforms potentially fru-fru-ed to sixes and sevens, so he exerted his COMPAC (recall Mac was COMSWPAC, and only nominally COMUSPAC) authority and set uniform of the day to Khaki Service.

Or, it may have just been a practical matter of it still be ing "wartime" until the ink dried.

Also, there were some high-ranking recently repatriated POW in attendance, and they were without formal attire, and barely in Service Dress as was.

Take your pick; or a dose of them all.

The one carrier that should have been there was undergoing repairs in the states.....Enterprise.

I can well imagine that the papers would have been signed on her deck.  And it always stuck in Halsey's craw he wasn't invited......

Straycat1911

Interesting no fleet carriers are listed; only light carriers. Guess they didn’t want to risk a last minute kamikaze attack? 

 

The fleet carriers were there, just over the horizon.  At the conclusion of the ceremony there was a mass flyover of the combined air wings - a show of force demonstration

I've often marveled looking at the pictures of the surrender of all the brass standing there in everyday working uniforms. Must have been a political point was being made to the Japanese.

modelcrazy

The background music really makes an impact, thanks for sharing.

While I feel the Missouri was the right choice, I always thought one of the old ladies from Pearl should have been there. Maybe one was.

 

According to this, USS West Virginia was there. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Allied_ships_at_the_Japanese_surrender

Interesting no fleet carriers are listed; only light carriers. Guess they didn’t want to risk a last minute kamikaze attack? 

The background music really makes an impact, thanks for sharing.

While I feel the Missouri was the right choice, I always thought one of the old ladies from Pearl should have been there. Maybe one was.

plasticjunkie

if this was colorized or reworked to enhance the fading colors if it was originally a color film.

According to the attached information, this was in 8mm color stock when shot.

Which as I write it, causes me to stick a mental asterisk on this.  The original Kodak color stock was formulated much like Ecktachrome color slide stock, which has a decided blue "bias."  (Ektachrome will get you a blue sky even in a 50% sand storm, as the old saw goes .)

This guy mentioned, with the improbable name of Leif Erickson, was a war correspondent and later became the somewhat well-known actor. Real name William Wycliffe Erickson.

CapnMac82

How deep blue the Pacific is.

How blue all the decks of Missouri are.

Also, despite it being a very formal occasion, just how many are in Service Dress. 

Stop buying wood decks.

I think about that whenever I see the photos. I assume it was the ultimate "middle finger".

The Japanese culture has died from that moment on. They had a spurt of growth in the 1980's, but now face a crisis that would be inevitable for any island nation. Despite tries at nationalism, in the future their population will age out. 

I think they made the best of that day and carried their dignity more or less intact.

I always chuckle a little about how my father-in-law spent four years killing as many Germans as he was able to that came in his sights, and wouldn't let me park my BMW in his driveway. But he had a room full of the newest Sony equipment. Your enemy and your friend are only separated by your personal experience, I suppose.

I have seen this before but wonder if  this was colorized or reworked to enhance the fading colors if it was originally a color film.