1945 THE END OF THE WAR "I KNOW THAT!"

2nd September,1945 - Japanese Surrender
 aboard U.S.S. MISSOURI in Tokyo Bay.

H.M.A.S. Warramunga( I )

On Wednesday, 15th August, 1945 the Feast of the Assumption of Our Lady, I can recall being roused from bed by the sound of the elder daughter of our friends across the street calling out at the back flyscreen door. I got to the door at the same time as my Mum who had been busy elsewhere in the house. The young Judith Dryden called out joyfully "The War is Over!" - I was not impressed. "I know that", I said, "It happened a long time ago ""  - "No! That was the Germans! Now the Japanese have surrendered and it is all over!"

The interesting thing about this very clear memory, to me at any rate, is that I knew enough about what was going on at age 5 for the German surrender to register, but not enough to know that the Japanese were yet to be brought to heel.

The actual formal surrender of the Japanese took place on 2nd September,1945 in Tokyo Bay aboard the mighty battleship U.S.S. MISSOURI which enjoyed the nickname "Big Mo", also present was H.M.A.S. WARRAMUNGA which had been part of MISSOURI's destroyer screen. She was irreverently dubbed "Little Mo"by the Aussies.

The imposing figure of General Douglas Mac Arthur - not a perfect man - but one of my heroes nonetheless, accepted the Japanese surrender. He later ruled Japan absolutely under an Allied mandate, and did so with noble distinction, concluding with the transfer to democracy he had engineered.