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Formal Japanese Surrender, September 2, 1945. Special Marine Honor Guard aboard USS Missouri (BB 63) at the formal surrender at Tokyo Harbor, Japan.
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The famous "Hang it on the wall" sequence... when the Japanese rep arrived on Big Mo he held out his hand to shake. The American started to reach out, thought better of it, and jerked his hand back to point "this way" with his thumb over his shoulder. It became symbolic of a refusal to shake hands and "Hang it on the wall" went with it :) History is so cool.
What sticks out to me the most from the ceremony was MacAurthur's treatment of Gen. Wainright. In 1942, Mac had flow into a rage and cursed out Wainright when he heard of his surrender of the troops at Corregidor because he was so troubled by the loss of the Philippines. When Wainright was nominated for the Medal of Honr, Mac single-handedly prevented the award. In the interim, he had second thoughts. When hostilities ceased, Mac sent special forces to find and rescue Wainright from the hostage (not P.O.W.) camp he was in, where he had been treated badly and starved.
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He got him fed and uniformed and rushed to the ceremony for the signing of the surrender. That's the gaunt Wainright behind him with British Gen. Aurthur Percival, commander of fortress Singapore when it was captured in 1942.
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After signing five times with five pens, Mac turned around and handed the first pen to Wainright and the second to Gen. Percival. When Wainright was again nominated for the MOH, Mac put up no resistance and it went through. But there was a real statement being made about Wainright by MacAurthur on V-J Day.
Bob
Wainwright would have been even more bitter had he known of MacArthur’s reaction to the surrender. When first informed of his subordinate’s action, MacArthur had cabled the War Department that he believed Wainwright to have become “temporarily unbalanced.” That view was not shared in Washington, and on July 30, 1942, Marshall advised MacArthur of the citation with which Wainwright was to be awarded the Medal of Honor. MacArthur was furious, informing Marshall that such an award would be an injustice to unnamed generals who had “exhibited powers of leadership and inspiration to a degree greatly superior to that of General Wainwright.” Neither Marshall nor Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson was impressed by this response, but neither wished to precipitate a row with MacArthur. The issue was quietly shelved, but not forgotten.
After being evacuated from the Philippines, leaving his troops to death and misery as prisoners of the Japanese, MacArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor for political reasons, despite the fact that he showed no heroism or particular efficiency in losing the islands. In fact, he was huddled up in an underground bunker and refused to go outside to see the situation or to rally the troops. He was derisively known as “Dugout Doug.” Dwight Eisenhower objected to this award personally to General Marshall, but was over ruled.
10 Reasons People Have Called General Douglas MacArthur a “Jerk†- History and Headlines