Kookaburra2011
THE PACIFIC WAR: Aug. 20, 1945 - Japan's peace envoys arrive in Manila to surrender to Douglas MacArthur. Collection of Alan Meade, RAN 1943-1946.
3702. Alighting from a US Army Air Force C-54 transport plane, the 16-man Japanese peace delegation had arrived in Manila on August 20, five days after Emperor Hirohito had broadcast Japan's acceptance of unconditional surrender to the Japanese people.
The head of the delegation, Lieutenant General Torashiro Kawabe, the deputy chief of the Japanese Army's general staff , is the braided officer at the bottom of the steps, left, with his aide-de=-campe beside him.
The military officer on the steps, behind the white-suited civilian envoy is Rear Admiral Ichiro Yokoyama.
We have no details of the USAAF officers saluting in the foreground - the man facing may be the aircraft pilot.
With suspicion and animosity still factors, the arrival of the military and civilian commission [the 'peace delegation' ] had been intricately planned. The delegation had flown from Tokyo in two specially marked 'Betty' bombers. to le Shima island, near Okinawa, and there transferred to the U.S. transport plane. Their purpose was to negotiate the manner in which the surrender would be carried out in Tokyo.
We have garnered these few facts from notes that accompany photographs from the Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, and which are shown on the US Navy's Historical Center website.
You can see those further images of the delegation's well-guarded arrival and transfer en route at le Shima here:
www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/japansur/js-3...
This photo: Collection of Alan Meade, RAN 1943-1946, it is from Alan's wartime HMAS SHROPSHIRE photo album. From a disc, with permission.
THE PACIFIC WAR: Aug. 20, 1945 - Japan's peace envoys arrive in Manila to surrender to Douglas MacArthur. Collection of Alan Meade, RAN 1943-1946.
3702. Alighting from a US Army Air Force C-54 transport plane, the 16-man Japanese peace delegation had arrived in Manila on August 20, five days after Emperor Hirohito had broadcast Japan's acceptance of unconditional surrender to the Japanese people.
The head of the delegation, Lieutenant General Torashiro Kawabe, the deputy chief of the Japanese Army's general staff , is the braided officer at the bottom of the steps, left, with his aide-de=-campe beside him.
The military officer on the steps, behind the white-suited civilian envoy is Rear Admiral Ichiro Yokoyama.
We have no details of the USAAF officers saluting in the foreground - the man facing may be the aircraft pilot.
With suspicion and animosity still factors, the arrival of the military and civilian commission [the 'peace delegation' ] had been intricately planned. The delegation had flown from Tokyo in two specially marked 'Betty' bombers. to le Shima island, near Okinawa, and there transferred to the U.S. transport plane. Their purpose was to negotiate the manner in which the surrender would be carried out in Tokyo.
We have garnered these few facts from notes that accompany photographs from the Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, and which are shown on the US Navy's Historical Center website.
You can see those further images of the delegation's well-guarded arrival and transfer en route at le Shima here:
www.history.navy.mil/photos/events/wwii-pac/japansur/js-3...
This photo: Collection of Alan Meade, RAN 1943-1946, it is from Alan's wartime HMAS SHROPSHIRE photo album. From a disc, with permission.