Allied Forces Land In Japan (1945) 

Can you image the joy that soldiers felt, knowing that they weren’t going to die attacking Japan!

My father was on board on one of the first ships to enter Yokohama harbor. There is a picture of him standing next to two armed Japanese Sailors on a pier.

The biggest irony of the Pacific war was that the Atomic bombs used on Japan saved more lives than they took. Every WW2 veteran i ever knew to a man felt that Harry made the right decision.

The end of all the death. Imagine the feelings of the Americans--the war finally over and the Japanese submit. A great but surreal moment. My father in law had been a POW in Japan for almost 3 and a half years. He was Dutch, and very glad to see American troops.

My father was in Europe during WWII, and I thought I knew a lot about what happened. But, I never knew this is how Americans entered Japan. I'm thankful I saw this....and glad to see we made a strong military entry.

The 11th Airborne is the same group that rescued my father, and 2,100 other prisoners, from the Los Banos Internment Camp (south of Manila) on February 23, 1945. I wish I had known this fact years ago when I could have attended their meetings and thanked them personally. Honor. Respect. Remembrance.

Man, those were heady days. What it took for ALL of America (home & abroad) to get to that point from Dec 7, 41 is almost a miracle.

Not all Americans came to Japan. A lot were killed folks. A lot.

My late father in law was with the 11th Airborne in Japan at that time. Later with the 101st Airborne in Korea

Pure history right there! This video can never be lost!

WOW! A part of the story never spoken of. My father was on Tinian in August 1945. He never really spoke of those days. He was an officer, 1st Lieutenant, B25 navigator, who owed his life to the atomic bombings. He was sent to Japan shortly thereafter, I don't know the dates, we have pictures of Hiroshima in the family picture albums. He was one of the last to leave Japan because of his officer status. My parents got married in June 1946, so he had to have gotten back to the States sometime in the Spring of '46. He always spoke highly of the Japanese, how wonderful they were as people, and so unlike the propaganda pictures he had lived with for 5 years. Those were horrible, unspeakable years. And yet, in the end, it turned out well. God bless the memory of President Truman. I, and my brother, both owe our lives to that man.

as cruel as the japanese were to us in the prison camps it makes me shudder to think how we would have been treated had they won

Yes, the Japanese "just stared." Not a surprise. Btw, the Allies were not exactly loved in Germany at first, either. It wasn't until 1947 that Germans really began to appreciate the food & stores to get over the starvation hump. As the Marshall Plan began to take effect and Germany de-Nazified, the strong friendship between the U.S-Germany began in earnest.

My father, Everett "Smitty" Smith of the HQ Company/187th/11th Airborne, was on General Swing's staff and was one of the first to land at Atsugi. I thank the Signal Corps cameramen for making this tape for everyone to see now and in the future!

We had a family friend who was first on mine sweeper to enter Tokyo bay .He said it was spooky as they didn't know what to expect with history of Japanese military.

My grandfather J.P. MARTIN Sr was aboard the MISSOURI in Tokyo bay when the surrender was signed and was among the first US Navy personnel to come ashore at Yokosuka.

little did they know those japanese trucks were the vanguard of the conquest of the us auto industry

this is what every man in that theater fought bled and some died for This Moment In Time

My Dad was on the USS South Dakota with the other battleships with the USS Missouri. The surrender of Imperial Japan was announced on August 15 and formally signed on September 2, 1945, bringing the hostilities of World War II to a close. By the end of July 1945, the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was incapable of conducting major operations and an Allied invasion of Japan was imminent.

Dad was thrilled that he did not have to invade the place. He was supposed to have been in the second wave of Operation Olympic set for November 1945.

My dad was in the 49th FG, 8th FS and they occupied Atsugi from the end of the war into 1946. It was two P-38 pilots from this group who were the first to land on the Japanese mainland--much to some of the upper brass' annoyance.

I had no idea the military went into Japan putting American flags on everything that moved and even did amphibious landings. I'm glad things worked out well in the end.

My Father was on one of the first ships to sail into Yokahama. He has picture of himself standing next to Japanese Navy security guard who was still armed.

One of my Uncles was stationed in Japan with the occupational forces. One of my old landlord's husband was a photographer and stationed there for a while also. I was in the Air Force when I knew this guy so he would see me in my uniform when I would get home from work and he would run out to chat. One of my great uncles was a seargent and landed on Omaha beach. Big old Uncle Nick. My Dad joined in June of 45 when he turned 18. He trained as a landing craft driver and was literally boarding the ship to transit to Japan for the Japan mainland preparations when the war ended.

Thanks for your up road. I am 17 years old. I am Japanese people.

Love your country , love your culture, love your people and your traditions.

This should be a 2 hour movie ! God bless you and your family Aloha

My Father may have been in this film. 11Th AB Div 1945-1947.

LT Bud Smith to MacArthur just prior to the surrender ceremonies - "Will you take a motor launch out to the Missouri, sir, or will you walk?"

WOW ! how did I not find this sooner! My father would have loved to watch this, he just died in March '19, 99 and 4 months old. His LST was already unloading telephone company equipment on a beach at Hiroshima. When empty, his and the other LST's stayed beached there. So the crews were 'volunteered' to help the Japanese civilians root around thru all that white ash and find anything that might be useful to them making a home again. Seems none of these +/-500 sailors EVER died of a cancer, everything else, yes. So his body is still being researched as I type this. It seemed the Japanese civilians and enlisted men were not very bothered by the allied occupation, some even seemed pleased. We can only wonder the oppressive social system they had for centuries.

shocked there are ANY negatives. The Japanese were brutal during WWII. Thank GOD the war ended. If it were not for the atomic bomb, we would have lost over 1 million men!

I am so glad we are on the same side now.

I got goosebumps when the Marine's Hymn started playing

Back then, people had respect for the flag and what it stands for...

3:26 I know it's spelled Yokosuka, but it's pronounced "Yokooska". I've been there several times.

According to the Pacific War series I saw on Smithsonian channel, Macarthur did not allow US troops to have bullets in their weapons when they entered Japan. This was done in order to avoid an incident. Since I wasn't there, I'll have to take the word of the narrator of the documentary.

My uncle was part of the USA occupation forces. He never spoke about the war much. My Dad, his younger brother, was in the Navy and trained as a landing craft driver. My dad finished training, transited the Panama Canal and was in California getting ready to head towards Japan to support the invasion of Japan. Lucky for him, the war ended literally two days after they had set sail! His ship turned around and Dad hung out in California for a while. One of my Great Uncles was a seargent and landed at Normandy. That's just what those generations did.

Next time pick your enemies real careful before you decide to drop a bomb on them cuz the sleeping giant will wake with a piercing Roar.

Operation Ichi-Go is an operation conducted by the Japanese Army on the Chinese mainland from April 17th to December 10th, 1944 during the Sino-Japanese War. It was the last major offensive of the Japanese Army, which caused the National Revolutionary Army to be hit hard and affected during the Chinese Civil War. However, on the other hand, the United States is also mediating the conclusion of the Double Tenth Agreement with Chiang Kai-shek in order to avoid a civil war. According to a study by Barbara W. Tuchman, the results of this operation had a more significant impact on the subsequent war situation than the Japanese had imagined, and had a decisive impact on Japan's fate. According to it, Franklin Roosevelt has consistently strongly trusted and supported Chiang Kai-shek since the beginning of the war, and encouraged him in the war against Japan so that he would not drop out of the Allies in a single peace with Japan during the Cairo Conference. However, he said that he changed his mind because the front of Chiang Kai-shek collapsed due to this operation. In fact, Chiang Kai-shek has not been invited to important Allied conferences ("Yalta Conference" and "Potsdam Conference") since then. According to the Stilwell document, Roosevelt said, "Can China win?" Stilwell said, "There is no choice but to eliminate Chiang Kai-shek." During the 1944 Hengyang battle, he could not sleep at night and twice. He says he thought about suicide. The American side also planned to assassinate Chiang Kai-shek, and three methods of "poisoning", "aircraft incident", and "pretending to be suicide" were considered, but it was canceled in 1944 due to changes in the international situation such as Burma. The successor that the United States envisioned is Sun Fountain. As Roosevelt's Chief of Staff George Marshall and General Joseph Stilwell have long insisted, Chiang Kai-shek's army is actually a demoralized and corrupt organization that does not form an army. It became clear that he had no desire or ability to fight with the United States and other Allied forces. As a result, President Roosevelt changed the scenario of the operation against Japan from the conventional bombing of Japan and other countries from the air bases of mainland China to the one that MacArthur and others claimed to occupy the islands of the Pacific Ocean one after another. China was dismissed at the Yalta Conference, and the Allied nation's footsteps were disturbed, with angry Chiang Kai-shek presenting a peace plan to Japan against the will of the United States. In the Japan-US negotiations, Japan's allegations were peace by the confluence of Wang Jingwei of the Nanjing government and Chiang Kai-shek of the Chongqing government, and a proposal for defense from communism jointly by Japan and China. The US allegation was the withdrawal of Japanese troops from China, admitting only the Chongqing government. The negotiations broke down and the United States stopped oil, resulting in a war between Japan and the United States. The Japanese Operation Ichi-Go attack left the National Revolutionary Army with 750,000 casualties. This caused the Kuomintang to lose to the Communist Party in the civil war. China would not have been dominated by the dictatorship Communist Party if it had made peace with Japan and cooperated in protecting it from communism.

Thinking about it, it should have been one of the battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor that the Japanese surrendered on instead of The Missouri.

My dad was CFC on Flak Magnet in Tinian during WW2 and participated in many of the firebomb raids. He became a career NCO and we lived in the Tokyo area in several locations. The last place was Green Park Military Housing, a huge complex , fully self contained housing 720 families. It had been an airplane factory and so overbuilt that it survived intense bombing relatively intact. So we ended up living in a place my dad and the Air Corps tried to destroy.

As a school kid, I remember doing without during WW II. Everything was rationed and food stamps were necessary to purchase most everything. A bag of pinto beans was hard to come by even though they were grown a few miles away. It took me years to get over hating the Japanese. I purchased the first Toyota Corona model in 1967. Quality was far above what the Big Three were turning out. Toyotas or Hondas ever since.Times change.

5:53, GI faceplants into water 6:15, Naval Officer trips on gangway

My dad patrolled the streets of Hiroshima two weeks after the war ended. Got the photos to prove it.

Damn! I wish I were there on that day to witness this chilling moment.

I met a man who was a survivor of the battle of Guadalcanal,he was from the first marine division,he hated the japanese till the day he died

Very interesting news reel.

I was stationed at US Naval Air Facility in Atsugi, Japan in 1972-1976 and 1986-1989 when I was in the US Navy and retired 21 years of service ☺

In some underground cave somewhere are a bunch of B-17s being guarded by elderly Japanese soldiers who think the war is still going on.

They were very fortunate to have been defeated by the US rather than Russia or China, they chose their enemy wisely ;-) A horrible war won amazingly quickly by some of the best commanders America has been fortunate to have ( Admirals Halsey, Spruance, Nimitz, King, and Leahy). But a call out also for all the Americans who supported the effort and mobilized the industrial base in one huge national project and that includes all our Black brothers and sisters. who played an especially important roll in helping to build nearly 6 THOUSAND ships during those years. Phenomenal effort by all - no sheltering in place or fretful social distancing in those days it was all hands on deck damn the torpedos and damn the waves of epidemics that receded into insignificance in that fight for national survival.

Music at about 2:00 sounds straight out of a scene with The Empire in Star Wars

An elderly friend of mine who was a gunnery sergeant in the marines, told me that many more Japanese tried to surrender than got to. He made three landings and was wounded twice. The animosity towards the Japanese soldiers was quite strong.

My later Father-in Law was a BM2c on the USS Nevada during the Pearl Harbor attack. The Nevada was present in Tokyo Bay during the surrender of Japan. I've always thought it would have been appropriate for the surrender to have been held on the deck of the Nevada, vice the Missouri. I suspect the ceremony was held on the Missouri as Missouri was the home state of President Truman.

Even though I was born 15 years after the end of WW11 my family and school were very patriotic and knew how many men died for our freedoms to stay intact, I could never show how much appreciation I have to those who serve. Thank you and thank God. 🙏🇺🇲

Truman made the right choice. In the immortal words of Ozzy Osborne " Thank God for the bomb "

I was born June 1945. My father was a Navy seaman who was at Pearl Harbor. He was transferred to San Francisco in 1944. He was at Great Lakes when this film was made.

Thanks

the tension of those first landing would be incredible. there would be extreme distrust towards the Japanese after pearl harbor. the idea of this being a trap would be paramount in the minds of everyone.

This must of been terrifying for them total surrender

and then 8 years of Ol Big Ears - Obummer

poor guys..... read a statement by ww2 vet that said in effect.... Allied troop liberating Europe were met with cheering crowds, victory parades, flowers, food, wine, kisses, partying, boinking..... the troops in Asia.......the people just stared at them:)

Hard to believe Raymond Burr in 1956 was in Godzilla King of the Monsters. That’s what I call reaching across the table.

Those soldiers on the Nagato look so young and tired, they probably had orders originally to never let it fall into enemy hands, but they did the right thing and surrendered.

The Japanese were very lucky regarding the terms of surrender ....

at 6:16 a guy almost falls down the gangplank LOL

My Dad was in the Navy when they landed on the beach.. he said if they had invaded he would have come home in a box

My Grandfather Manuel '' Manny '' Rodriguez was there in the USMC. I remember telling about this, i glad to find this, R.i.p PaPa

6:17 watch your step now :D

I lived in Atsugi in 1987. Great little town, ton of history.

People today, who don't understand why the atomic bombs were dropped need to study this as part of their education. An organised surrender, that minimised suffering.

Bataan the proper pronunciation is Bah-Tah-Ann not Bah-Tahn

Odd that some of those planes at Atsugi have their propellers. Removing was part of the surrender agreement

Interesting

Nagato: pls leave me to Japan America: nop

Judging by the way that so many Japanese troops refused to surrender in places like Okinawa, Iwo Jima, Saipan, Burma, Guadalcanal etc and fought on after the end of the main fighting, I wonder how many Japanese troops escaped to the hill's and forests and mountains of Japan to carry on the fight. I don't think that the allies would have publicised the resistance attacks in case other Japanese also decided to resist the occupation. If you imagine how much weaponry and military equipment could have been hidden and how many of the 100 million Japanese people would have been only too willing to rid their country from occupation?

Japan was extremely lucky to be still in existence. If we had a dozen atomic bombs, we’d have used them on a weekly basis. If we had a third bomb, it would have been used on Tokyo. Japan would have become like so many other countries that no longer exist.

McArthur is the biggest coward. When times are tough and his troops being defeated, he left the battle field, go home, and let our young boys slug it out. Later when things get better, he returns and say “see, I’d told you I would return !” He took all the credit of the soldiers who died for him. What an asshole.” Our soldiers fought with their lives, McArthur fought with his cigars and pipe.

My father fought through the Pacific with the 1st Cav then occupied Japan. I was never able to understand how he was able to love the Japanese people the way he did???

Why are the Marines landing at Yokosuka (5:48) still carrying 1903 Springfield rifles? I know thweMarines always claimed they got "hind tit" on supplies and were last to get M-1's, but 1945 and they are still carrying WW I rifles? (I know some were used as sniper rifles but these guys all have them)

GOD BLSS ALL OF YOU WHO SERVED, DEFENDING GOD ,ALL OF US, AND OUR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. LIKE MY GRAND FATHER MY FATHER, AND UNCLES. THANK YOU.

This guy really butchered the name "Yokosuka"; I lived there when I was very young.

MacArthur’s pose at the gate of the landing airplane is characteristic.

My dad was in the 11th Airborne. I was stationed on Okinawa for 26 months of my life.

Notice how MacArthur stands at the top of the ladder to pose for everyone like, gee, if I don't stand here for a few seconds, maybe they won't recognize me? One thing I like about these videos is the number of aircraft damaged/abandoned....makes for great dioramas.

when did the pronunciation of allied change?

The Japanese were lucky that it wasn't the Chinese who won the war. It would be Nanjing 2.0 in Tokyo.

I google no answer. What became of United News?

If only there'd had the same occupation plan for Iraq! Leave the lower ranks to do their jobs and just replace the high command decision makers.

THEY STARTED IT. WE ENDED IT!!

Greatest generation....

Once enemies before,both countries are in cooperation with each other.

When I was first there, in '66 at Iwakuni, later aboard the USS Bon Homme Richard in '67, and USS Ticonderoga in '68, I was totally unaware of both ports (Yokosuka, Atsugi), and their significance to US occupation of Japan mid-'40s. I loved their people then, their country too, just as I do today. Arigato . . .

Great video! I had 2 uncles survive Pearl Harbor and a friend on Iwo.

Imagino a humilhação que os japoneses tiveram nesse dia em ver seu país se render ao "inimigo" e os oficiais japoneses frente a frente com os oficiais do Estados Unidos conversando. Se Japão naquele tempo não tivesse uma mentalidade estúpida, fosse como a Noruega, Suíça, Islândia de país pacífico e amigo a história do Japão poderia ter sido outra. Hoje em pleno 2021 Japão é outro país apesar de que ainda preferem ser um país fechado para o mundo, eu admiro o Japão de hoje e admiro as lindas japonesas, eu gostaria de namorar com uma linda e querida japonesa. Deus abençoe o Japão 🙏❤😍🇯🇵😍❤🙏

that had to be a heady day. Nice things have turned out so well :)

There was an Admiral Badger? I'd love to see that.

When the Japanese signed the Instrument of Surrender on board the USS MIssouri, representatives of all Allied nations were present. However, although Britain, France, Holland, Aus & NZ plus others had troops fighting in the Pacific, the Americans refused to allow any of them to be part of the Occupation Force; that was to be purely American.

"300,000 troops were in the area of the air field but have all been disarmed and removed" this was BEFORE the U.S. paratroopers arrived. Did the Japanese do it themselves or were there advance personnel that made sure this was done to avoid conflict?

My uncle, Les Stratton, of Pacific House/Blaire's Mill, CA (above Placerville on U.S. Hwy 50) was a navy sailor, on USS San Diego. We all heard the story of how his ship was first Allied into Tokyo Bay, at the end of the war. I kept looking for is face, but...

You would have thought that the Americans beat the Japanese all themselves! How many British, Indian, New Zealand, Australian and other occupied nationals died?