September 8th, 1945 (SATURDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: NAS Ballyhabert Northern Ireland No 4 Naval Air Fighter School 768 RN Sqn, Corsair a/c #JT357, Lt (A) Frank Wilfred McGarry RCNVR killed flying accident. Engine failure, crashed 5 miles SSW of air field.
HMS Landrail RNAS Campbeltown 766 RN Sqn Albacore a/c, #L7109, S/Lt (A) Ross MacRae "Tug" Wilson RCNVR killed in night flying exercise, accident near Shiskina, Arran.
Corvette HMS Geranium sold to Denmark as HDMS Thetis.
KOREA: US troops fly in to Korea, to balance the Soviet occupation of North Korea. They land at Inchon and will occupy the southern half of the country below the 38th parallel.
Recollections of Art Morneweck:
we arrived at Inchon, Korea and took a train to Taegu, Korea. We were the first Americans the Koreans ever saw. We marched into the Japanese compound past the Japanese guard and stopped in front of a 2-story building we were to use as our barracks. Being in the first squad we marched to each guard post, the Japanese soldier fell in the rear of our column and one of our men took over the guard post. I took guard of the ammo dump and it was raining very hard. The Japanese soldiers were very cordial and bowed to each of us as we replaced them. When we got back from guard duty the Japanese were gone. The following night we were just getting in bed and the C.O. came in and told our squad to make a full field pack (with rations), get our rifles and ammunition, because of some trouble in town. We packed up (13 in our squad) and were taken to the city hall. We just got there and were standing at the gate when up from three directions came three Japanese s soldiers running at us. To us it looked like the whole Japanese army was coming at us. Those rifles of our got loaded really quick and ready. The Japanese just came up to surrender to us Americans. They were afraid of the Korean Police. We were to guard some important criminal and political papers. My guard post was two vaults and it was pitch black. Here comes the kicker!! We were the regular army troops, but the only ones there so we were given M.P. helmets, M.P. arm bands and 45 calibre revolvers and we worked with the Korean Police. We set up our radios in police stations to talk to our jeep. There was a city block of houses, built side by side, no back door, and facing the courtyard. Only one way to get in and we were there to keep G.I.'s out from this whorehouse district. I don't know how they would get in but a Korean madam would come out saying American, American and we would have to go in and check each room and kick them out. Four of us were put at an o ut-post many miles from town at bottom of some mountains. Every morning a jeep with a hot stove would come and make us hot breakfast, the rest of the day k-rations or one time two of us took our rifles and got a few ducks. We were guarding a large barn. One day we looked in the barn and it was full of rice bowls. Many miles away another 4-man post was guarding parachutes. The Korean toilets were oblong holes in the floor and they had Honey dippers who would take away the human waste and spread it on their food gardens, everything grew twice as large as ours. We were not aloud to eat anything that came from the ground. We did not destroy any arms; I assumed the Japanese took them home with them. There was a room that had a few things we could have, I brought back a sword. We did turn in our rifles and they dunked in some preservation gook. I left Korea Feb. 26, 1946 and was discharged March 20, 1946. When I was at Taegu, we (GI's) had no problems with the Korean people and knew nothing about political problems, we just wanted to go back to the states. I was in the 40th Division, 185th Infantry, Company E, 1st Platoon, 1st Squad.
JAPAN: Tokyo: Hideki Tojo, Japanese prime minister during most of World War II, attempts suicide rather than face a war crimes tribunal. The attempt fails and he was later convicted and hanged.
In Yokohama, Los Angeles, California-born Iva Togori (Tokyo Rose) is arrested for treason. She will stand trial in the U.S.
MacArthur"> MacArthur drives through Tokyo to the American embassy, which will be his home for the five and a half years. (Drew Halevy)
FRENCH INDOCHINA: Ho Chi Minh restores universal suffrage.
NETHERLANDS EAST INDIES: Australian General Sir Thomas Blamey accepts the surrender of the II Japanese Army (Lieutenant General Teshima Fusataro) on Morotai Island in the Halmahera Islands.
BORNEO: In Dutch Borneo, Japanese naval officers are transported to the Australian frigate HMAS Burdekin (K 376) and sign the surrender document in front of four Australian brigadiers.
SOLOMON ISLANDS: Off Bougainville Island, the Japanese forces surrender to Australian, New Zealand and U.S. officers.
CANADA: Minesweeper HMCS Larch Lake launched Penetanguishene. Ontario.
U.S.A.: A bus equipped with a two-way radio is put into service for the first time in Washington, DC.
At the Miss America contest in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Bess Myerson, Miss New York, became the first Jewish contestant to be crowned Miss America.
Destroyer USS Fiske launched.
Destroyer USS Harwood commissioned.
1951
UNITED STATES: Beginning 4 September1951, delegates from over fifty countries gathered at the San Francisco Opera House to discuss the making of a peace treaty with Japan. Signed by forty-eight countries today, the San Francisco Peace Treaty, as it is better known, contained seven chapters and a preamble. It marked the end of hostilities between the signatories, provided for the termination of the occupation, and specified the details of the settlement of war-related issues. More information is available at: http://www.jpri.org/public/wp78.html (Mike Lenox)