Quote:
Originally posted by Tony Smith
I was once sharply brought to task by a WW2 Veteran for calling it VP Day. He said "VP Day Bulls***! It's VJ Day 'cos we fought the bastard Japs! We never saw any Pacifists amongst 'em!"
Oficially, August 15 and 16 1945 were gazetted as public holidays in Australia to celebrate the cessation of hostilities. Aug 15 is technically known as VP day, and September 2 is VJ day as that is the date the signing of the surrrender treaty occurred on USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, oficially ending the war. Note that while Australia, Britain, Nationalist China, the US and the Netherlands signed the treaty, the USSR and the Communist Chinese were not signatories and have not oficially ended WW2, thus leading on to the Korean War which hasn't officially ended either, just come to a ceasefire. In memory of the exchange with that Veteran, I refer to the day as VJ Day.
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Hi Tony, I'm sure that a lot of Australian vets have the same sort of horror stories to relate as do our Canadian vets. The Japanese's code of Bushido and the fact they never signed either the Hague or Geneva conventions led them to believe they could rape, torture and murder with impunity. I remember watching an Australian made movie years ago about an Aussie soldier witnessing the execution of many Australian P.O.W.'s. For the life of me I can't remember the name of the movie, but I do remember it was very moving.
I've been fortunate to see the U.S.S. Missouri three times, in Bremerton, Washington which used to be it's home port, in Vancouver, B.C. which is a favourite liberty port for U.S. sailors, and in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii where it now rests near the U.S.S. Arizona. Laid in the Surrender Deck, as they call it, is a large copper medallion made with a penny from each of the crewmen onboard the Missouri at the time of surrender. Also on display are the surrender documents, (replicas, I'm sure!) An amusing aside....the representative for the Canadian armed forces signed in the wrong place!
Now to the present....do I harbour ill will to the Japanese soldiers of WW II? Yes! It's my opinion that we break faith with both those who suffered at the hands of the IJA and their loved ones who had to cope with the loss of those who never returned and the rehabilitation of those who did. Do I harbour ill will towards present day Japanese service men? No! I served alongside Japanese soldiers when I was a member of CCUNDOF in the Golan Heights. I found them to be friendly, gracious, and very appreciative of any help they received. However, I've also been to a WW II re-enactment where there were 30 to 40 Japanese present. Before and after the battle they were fine...friendly. talkative, and very much interested in interacting with all the other re-enactors. But once they put on the IJA uniforms their demeanor changed drastically. They became sullen, quiet, and somewhat arrogant, especially the officers. were they just getting into their roles?......Perhaps. ..but I have this overwhelming feeling that there is something in the Japanese psyche that worships the warrior mentality and that present day Japanese civility is but a thin veneer.