Victory in Japan Day, well, the last one.

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Makes me want to smoke a cigar, to be honest.  While far to young to have even seen anything about even Vietnam or the Korean War, let alone WW II, I came to know about the latter and former very well indeed.  I never got to the point of reconstructing maps and troop layouts, memorizing uniforms, ribbons, or any of that, true.  I did become familiar with the general way the war was fought, and the European front as well of course, crucial battles, paths, little pockets of trouble, some of the political and internal military politics, some of the leaders and such.  And, reading enough, I almost sweated with the guys in the jungles, or ran to quarters with the sailors being attacked first conventionally then by suicide planes.  Lots of good boys became men, and many of those never came home.  They will always be sorely missed.

Oh, why is September 2nd the "last" VJ-Day?  Well, because the Japanese surrendered by cable on August 14th, the news hit the world August 15th, but the official surrender ceremony was held September 2, 1945.  Ffor those of you who consider one of the other days to be "the day".  And, yes, they are all validly considered VJ Day, if president Truman declared it to be today, the Japanese (and many parts of the world) consider it to be August 15th, with the emperor's radio message of surrender.  In any case, that is a bit more trivia for you.

It's difficult to even find photos of General MacArthur signing the treaty.  They ARE busy scrubbing history, aren't they.  Don't want people to know, remember, understand, think outside of their cubicle, classroom, "place".  Never mind.  I did find one.  Oh, he was just the fussy stuffy ol' guy who told the rest what to do, and to a degree how to do it, then expected them to pull his miracle out of their *bleep*, sort of.  But... he was the face and lead mind that got it done.  It's difficult to know how much to thank a general, or admiral, having been what I was.  But... there is plenty of room for respect, and he was good at his job.  If he was a gruff sob about it.  Then again, he sent a lot of men to their graves, and really, he had to do so.  Yeah, I guess I would be a bit gruff too.  Just being gruff myself today?  :p  Though too, what he did to Japan... still ruffles my feathers.  He forced women to get the vote and... socialized everything he could get his hands on, and destroyed the place, culture.  Maybe that WAS the point, not sure.  Or maybe he was a typical idealistic elite.  I will never know.

Our boys did a hell of a job.  From fighting, to thinking, to making, to surviving, to winning.  We won a war we didn't start.  The cost?  Ask what the cost of losing would have been.  The price was... non-negotiable.