V-J Day 75th Anniversary (14 Aug)

The Allies declared victory over Japan on Aug. 14, 1945. The 75th anniversary is this Friday.

Check out this link that features beautiful pictures of WWII aircraft as they prepare for celebrations in Hawai’i.

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...d-of-gorgeous-world-war-ii-warbirds-to-hawaii

(Apparently, much of the world celebrates, on the 15th, but due to time-zone differences it was announced in the USA on the 14th.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_over_Japan_Day )

My father joined the Army Air Corps months before Pearl Harbor and ended up as a photography specialist, a sergeant running a darkroom (staffed by civilian women!) in Gulfport, MS. So of course, I have lots of pictures from his service, but this one seems appropriate: all the guys in his (obviously hot as hell!) barracks pooling their alcohol to celebrate news of the surrender. My dad's the bare-chested one over "SURRENDER":

Hi
My Dad was in Panama, learning to do weather radar over Japan when the war ended. He was in the South Pacific from November 1942 until roughly April 1945 when he went to Panama. He was a huge proponent of the use of the atomic bomb which he thought had possibly saved his life and the lives of thousands of American soldiers.
Later

1961MJS said:

Hi
My Dad was in Panama, learning to do weather radar over Japan when the war ended. He was in the South Pacific from November 1942 until roughly April 1945 when he went to Panama. He was a huge proponent of the use of the atomic bomb which he thought had possibly saved his life and the lives of thousands of American soldiers.
Later

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Not only that, but it saved the lives of the Japanese as well, as hard as that is to comprehend. If there had been an invasion, millions would have been killed as they attacked the Allied soldiers with their sharpened stakes they were being trained to use. They would never have given up. In fact, even after the second bomb was dropped, the military leaders were trying to persuade the Emperor to not surrender, to never surrender.

Peacoat said:

Not only that, but it saved the lives of the Japanese as well, as hard as that is to comprehend. If there had been an invasion, millions would have been killed as they attacked the Allied soldiers with their sharpened stakes they were being trained to use. They would never have given up. In fact, even after the second bomb was dropped, the military leaders were trying to persuade the Emperor to not surrender, to never surrender.

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From Wikipedia:

Japan's geography made this invasion plan obvious to the Japanese; they were able to predict the Allied invasion plans accurately and thus adjust their defensive plan, Operation Ketsugō, accordingly. The Japanese planned an all-out defense of Kyūshū, with little left in reserve for any subsequent defense operations.[12] Four veteran divisions were withdrawn from the Kwantung Army in Manchuria in March 1945 to strengthen the forces in Japan,[13] and 45 new divisions were activated between February and May 1945. Most were immobile formations for coastal defense, but 16 were high quality mobile divisions.[14] In all, there were 2.3 million Japanese Army troops prepared to defend the home islands, backed by a civilian militia of 28 million men and women. Casualty predictions varied widely, but were extremely high. The Vice Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, Vice Admiral Takijirō Ōnishi, predicted up to 20 million Japanese deaths.[15]