Class Note 1943

I am writing this column during the first week of August. It was exactly 74 years ago that I was on the island of Mindanao in the southern Philippines, serving as a sergeant in the U.S. Army as a Japanese language linguist. World War II was heading toward its biggest challenge. It was rumored that U.S. forces and allies were staging for the invasion of Japan. The war in Europe had ended on VE Day May 8, 1945. FDR had died on April 12, 1945, and Harry Truman was sworn in as president. It was President Truman who ordered the dropping of two nuclear bombs a few weeks later.

On August 6, 1945, a single bomb was dropped by a lone B-29 Super Fortress on the city of Hiroshima on Honshu, the main island of Japan. The first atomic bomb was the equivalent of 2,000 B-17 Flying Fortresses dropping their payloads. The result: 100,000 dead. On August 9, 1945, the second nuclear bomb exploded over seaport Nagasaki. Another 80,000 were killed. On August 15, 1945, I was writing a letter home when I heard sudden bursts of gunfire as machine guns, Bofors, and cannons sent tracers and bullets soaring overhead. Was it a final desperate banzai attack by Japanese troops? I was reaching for my pistol and M1 carbine when a head popped in the doorway hollering, “The war is over! Japan surrenders!” A bunch of us headed to the mess tent. Sure enough, Armed Forces Radio was blaring that Emperor Hirohito had announced that the war had ended. One lieutenant hugged me and said, “George, it’s over. We’ve survived a war we did not start.” There wasn’t a dry eye in our outfit. The two atomic bombs did it—they hastened WW II’s end. The two bombs were tickets home to the States for every GI, gob, and leatherneck in the Pacific theater.

Sad news from Hanover indicates the passing of Phil Harmon on April 29 in Buxton, Maine. We send heartfelt condolences to his family. Phil was awarded the Purple Heart during WW II and served as class treasurer from 1993 to 2009.

—George Shimizu, 2642 Saklan Indian Drive, Apt. 2, Walnut Creek, CA 94595; (925) 937-2504; marymariko@comcast.net