Seventy years ago today, August 30, 1945, the Japanese naval base at Yokohama surrendered to General Douglas MacArthur, who arrived there in anticipation of the formal surrender ceremony a few days later. The headline here is from that day’s Chicago Tribune.
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Photo courtesy of W8KBF, Yahoo War Emergency Radio Service group.
During World War II, Boy Scouts in both America and Britain were called upon to serve as volunteers in civil defense. In the July 1942 issue of Boys’ Life, BSA Chief Scout Executive James E. West wrote an editorial encouraging Scouts to volunteer in the Messenger Service of the Citizens Defense Corps. The Office of Civilian Defense recommended that six messengers and two adult leaders be recruited for each 1000 persons in a community. Even though others were eligible to join, both the BSA and the Office of Civilian Defense believed that Scouts, due to their training and qualifications, would be ideal. The editorial stressed that during an emergency, other means of communications could be disrupted, and that written messages might be the only means of communication. West concludes:
This is one of the most important national service projects that has been requested of the Boy Scouts of America. It requires the utmost effort on the part of our organization to fulfill the responsibility which has been assumed. Let us face resolutely whatever the enemy has in store for us, and BE PREPARED to do what we are asked to do to the best of our ability.
Franklin County, Ohio, identification card for Boy Scout CD messenger. worthingtonmemory.org photo.
British Scouts Tour America
Visiting British scouts with James E. West and BSA foreign relations chairman Thomas J. Watson.
A few months later, a group of British Scouts who had served in civilian defense roles during the Battle of Britain made a tour of Canada and the United States, including a meeting with West, and their heroic tales were written up in the magazine’s September 1942 issue. These Scouts represented four towns that had been heavily hit by bombing. Scout Stanley Newton of London explained:
Our Troop went through six months of heavy bombing in London. I cannot say that we came off unharmed. Our two Troop headquarters were wiped out, one was burned down and the other was blown to pieces. Several of the boys lost their parents and their homes and two of the younger boys were killed in those raids. But we were glad that we could go through them and do something to use our training as Scouts in helping some way or another.
Another of the Scouts, John Bethell of Birkenhead, describes the work the messengers did during the Blitz:
When a bomb drops one of the first people on the spot is either the head warden or one of the senior wardens. He always has a messenger with him; one of us Scouts. What he does as soon as he gets there is to make out a report on what has happened, give it to that messenger and the messenger rides down to the post, which we call the pill box.
Inside the pill box there is a telephone. That is the only telephone we are allowed to use during an air raid. But sometimes the telephone lines get broken when a bomb hits the road. Then instead of just having to ride to the post and telephoning, we messengers have got to ride down to the control center. Sometimes it is a long way and sometimes it isn’t. In my case it is three miles; that’s three miles there and three miles back, maybe ten times in one night. Not only do we send one messenger but three minutes after the first messenger is gone we always send another one so if the first one gets bumped off the second one may get through.
Derrick Belfall (1926-1940): I Have Delivered My Message
Derrick Belfall. Photo courtesy of Mrs. Rita McInnes.
Indeed, one of those Scouts, Derrick Belfall, was “bumped off” in the course of his duties as a civilian defense messenger. Fourteen year old Belfall lived at 109 Bishop Rd, Bishopston, Bristol. He was the only son of Cecil Ernest and Mary (née Miller) Belfall, who died in 1983 and 1964, respectively.
The official minimum age for messenger service was sixteen, but due to his insistence, Derrick was allowed to join the service. On the night of December 2, 1940, he was dispatched with a message. He delivered it successfully, and upon returning to his post, he found a house beginning to burn and he stopped to put out the fire. He then heard cries from another house where he rushed in to save an injured baby. Shortly after effecting these rescues, the air raid still underway, Derrick was injured by an exploding bomb and taken to the hospital with injuries that proved fatal. As one of the visiting Scouts confirmed, his last words at the hospital were: “Messenger Belfall reporting. I have delivered my message.”
Defused German parachute mine. Wikipedia photo.
A Narrow Escape
Bethell, one of the British Scouts touring America, also recounted his own tale of being thirty yards away from an exploding parachute mine which killed two other civil defense workers:
A warden and I were riding along the streets on our bikes and saw a couple of parachutes coming down. Well, first we thought they were German airmen bailing out and we were just going to run towards them and give them something like what we would like to give Mr. Hitler–a kick in the pants or something like that–and then we realized that they were what are known as parachute mines…. We started to ride towards them to see if we could help in the rescue work we knew would follow….
We saw a couple of chaps running up in front of us also going on the same job. Just then we heard something flapping. It was only very faint but we realized that it was another parachute with a mine coming down. We knew if we were able to hear that flapping we must be pretty close to it. We got down on the ground and shouted to the other two chaps. But unfortunately they didn’t hear us. The roar of anti-aircraft fire drowned out our shouts. They went on. The mine went off just thirty yards ahead of us. We were just blown across the street but otherwise all right. But those other two chaps standing up under the full blast–it got them right in the chest and blew their lungs out and killed them.
American Scouts In Action
The American Scouts shown here in the February 1943 issue of Boys’ Life are participating in a civil defense exercise. The display shown at the top of the page is the uniform of a Scout as he would have appeared in 1943 as a civil defense messenger in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. It was put together by W8KBF of the Yahoo War Emergency Radio Service group.
While American Scouts and other civilians escaped the harrowing experiences of their British counterparts, it is clear that they lived up to the Scout Motto to Be Prepared. And as the British Scouts proved, a scout is brave.
As Scout Executive West wrote, these Scouts “were not specialists but were equipped only with such knowledge as is normally given to Scouts through our Advancement Program. Yet how nobly these Scouts lived up to our Scout Motto ‘Be Prepared.’ We, too, have a job to do!”
Acknowlegments
I would like to thank Mrs. Rita McInnes, a neighbor of the Belfall family, for providing the photograph of Derrick Belfall. This photograph hung for many years in the Belfall home as part of the illuminated photo shown here containing Derrick’s last words. (Click on the small image to view the full image.)
I would also like to thank Sam Hevener, W8KBF of the Yahoo War Emergency Radio Service group for allowing me to use the photo of the American Scout messenger’s uniform at the top of the page.
Additional References
Read More at Amazon
, page 275.
, page 140.
, page 220.
Louis Zamperini in 1943. Wikipedia photo.
Today marks the 70th anniversary of an event that thankfully never happened.
In 1944, the Japanese War Ministry issued orders to prison camp commandants for the “final disposition” of Allied prisoners of war. Under those orders, all POW’s were to be killed at such time as Allied forces landed in the territory in which they were being held. The rationale behind the order was to prevent the POW’s from being repatriated and becoming a part of the liberating force.
For example, on December 14, 1944, about 150 prisoners of war at Palawan in the Philipine Islands, were ordered to the air raid shelters, at first in apparent response to an actual air raid. But after the raid, because of a mistaken belief that an invasion of the island was underway, they were ordered to remain, at which time the wooden structure was doused with gasoline and set afire.
According to the book Unbroken
That book is the story of Louis Zamperini, a record-breaking track star of the 1930’s. Among his claims to fame was a personal meeting with Hitler at the 1936 Olympics. In 1943, his plane crashed in the Pacific and he drifted in a small raft for 47 days until his “rescue” by the Japanese. He remained a prisoner until the end of the war, enduring much torture. After the war, haunted by nighmares of his experience, he drifted into alcoholism until attending a Billy Graham crusade in California.
Because of the Japanese decision to surrender, motivated at least in part by the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the orders to execute Zamperini and other prisoners in Japan were never carried out.
References
Read More At Amazon
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After the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, surrender quickly followed. The Japanese communicated their intention to surrender on August 15 Japan time, which was the evening of August 14 in the United States. While the official U.S. date for V-J day was the date of the surrender in Tokyo Harbor, September 2, V-J Day was celebrated in the United States the night of August 14 and August 15. The newspaper shown here is the Milwaukee Journal, August 15, 1940.
US Navy photo, via Wikipedia.
Scenes such as the one shown here in New York were common around the country. (The photo shown here is a public domain picture taken by an employee of the U.S. Navy. It is not the iconic copyrighted photo of the same scene that appeared in Life Magazine.) The Milwaukee paper, for example, reported that thousands of families spontaneously gathered in downtown Milwaukee, their car horns blaring.
Sixty years ago, the British magazine Pracitcal Wireless, August 1955, carried the plans for this “sensitive two-valver” receiver suitable for local broadcast reception. It featured a regenerative detector and one stage of audio amplification sufficient to drive a speaker. It ran off the 230 volt AC mains, but employed a transformer to isolate the chassis. The article noted, however, that it could be used without the isolation transformer, but warned that if constructed without one, “the operator must stand on a dry board when touching metal parts of the live chassis.” The set was designed to be sensitive enough to be used with a short one-foot antenna. The article noted that neither of the alternatives, either “a few feet of wire hanging from the back” or a frame aerial, add to the decorative effects of a room.
![EF50 tube, Wikipedia photo. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:EF50.jpg By RJB1 (Own work) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://onetuberadio.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/180px-EF50.jpg)
EF50 tube, Wikipedia photo. By RJB1 (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 4.0-3.0-2.5-2.0-1.0.
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Seventy years ago today, August 9, 1940, a second atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki, as shown here in that day’s issue of the Chicago Tribune. If the Japanese needed further convincing to surrender, that day also brought news that the Soviets had declared war on Japan and were attacking Japanese forces in Manchuria.
The video below is a broadcast that day by President Truman promising that the bombings would continue until the Japanese surrendered. The war would be over in a few days.
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Seventy years ago today, August 6, 1945. the United States dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, killing at least 129,000. The gun-type weapon (one sub-critical mass fired into another subcritical mass) exploded 2000 feet above the city, unleashing the power equivalent to 12 to 15 thousand tons of TNT.
The Potsdam declaration, demanding unconditional surrender, had been broadcast directly to Japanese civilians over KSAI radio, and millions of leaflets had been dropped.
Preparations were underway for an invasion of the home islands, and U.S. planners estimated U.S. casualties between 130,000 and 220,000, with between 5 and 10 million Japanese deaths. Nevertheless, the Japanese leadership did not heed the Potsdam Declaration, and made preparations to continue defending against an apocalyptic invasion.
On August 14, only after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Hirohito addressed the nation by radio:
Moreover, the enemy now possesses a new and terrible weapon with the power to destroy many innocent lives and do incalculable damage. Should we continue to fight, not only would it result in an ultimate collapse and obliteration of the Japanese nation, but also it would lead to the total extinction of human civilization.
Such being the case, how are We to save the millions of Our subjects, or to atone Ourselves before the hallowed spirits of Our Imperial Ancestors? This is the reason why We have ordered the acceptance of the provisions of the Joint Declaration of the Powers.
References
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1 August 1945 leaflet. From CIA website.
70 years ago today, August 1, 1945, five days before the bombing of Hiroshima, the United States dropped millions of copies of this leaflet on 35 Japanese cities, including Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Japanese text on the reverse read as follows:
Read this carefully as it may save your life or the life of a relative or friend. In the next few days, some or all of the cities named on the reverse side will be destroyed by American bombs. These cities contain military installations and workshops or factories which produce military goods. We are determined to destroy all of the tools of the military clique which they are using to prolong this useless war. But, unfortunately, bombs have no eyes. So, in accordance with America’s humanitarian policies, the American Air Force, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives. America is not fighting the Japanese people but is fighting the military clique which has enslaved the Japanese people. The peace which America will bring will free the people from the oppression of the military clique and mean the emergence of a new and better Japan. You can restore peace by demanding new and good leaders who will end the war. We cannot promise that only these cities will be among those attacked but some or all of them will be, so heed this warning and evacuate these cities immediately.
This warning had been preceded, starting on July 26, of transmission by by 50,000 watt KSAI Radio in Saipan the contents of the Potsdam declaration, warning the Japanese people of the “prompt and utter destruction” of Japan if the Japanese government failed to surrender. KSAI’s medium wave signal (1010 on the standard broadcast dial) was as strong as any Japanese domestic station, and could be heard by millions of Japanese.
After the bombing of Hiroshima, an updated leaflet was prepared, stressing the special nature of the Hiroshima bomb, and warning of the same fate to other cities. Similar warnings were transmitted by KSAI and repeated every fifteen minutes.
For more information on leafleting and other allied propaganda operations, see my earlier post.
References
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Front page story announcing ship’s loss, Chicago Tribune, Aug 15 1945.
Today marks the 70th anniversary of the greatest loss of life in American Naval history, the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis on July 30, 1945. On July 16, the Indianapolis left San Francisco with the enriched uranium which would be used in the Hiroshima atomic bomb. She reached Pearl Harbor on July 19 and raced on to Tinian with the cargo, where she arrived on July 26. After delivering this top secret cargo, the ship continued to Guam and then Leyte, where the crew was to receive training.
USS Indianapolis in 1937. Wikipedia photo.
Shortly after midnight on July 30, she was struck by two Japanese torpedoes, sinking in minutes. About 300 of the 1196 crewmen went down with the ship. The remainder were set adrift with few lifeboats and many without lifejackets.
Due to radio silence and general miscommunication, the ship was not missed when its scheduled arrival time passed. The 880 men drifted forgotten. Most perished from exposure and dehydration, although the attack is most famous for the sharks the men had to contend with. Undoubtedly, some of the men were killed by sharks, but it is more likely that most of the victims succomed to exposure and dehydation, with the dead being driven off by sharks.
The men were discovered by accident three and a half days later when Lt. Wilbur “Chuck” Gwinn and Lt. Warren Colwell spotted the men adrift during a routine patrol fight.
Only 317 men ultimately survived. Over 800 men lost their lives.
Ironically, the disaster was not reported by the newspapers until August 15. The greatest naval disaster in American history was decidedly a less important news story that day, since the papers also reported Japan’s surrender and the end of the war.
Of interest to radio amateurs is the recreation of the ship’s radio installation (whose call letters were NABD) at the USS Indianapolis Memorial.
References
History at USSIndianapolis.org
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The cover of this wartime issue of Radio Craft magazine, May 1943, shows a radioman, as her designation is called, of the U.S. Coast Guard. The accompanying article explained that she was a membe of SPARS, the U.S. Coast Guard Women’s Reserve, which had just been created in November of 1942, and largely followed the Navy’s WAVES model of allowing women to serve in stateside positions. More than 11,000 women served in SPARS during the war.
The article explained that the women who would serve as radiomen underwent a sixteen-week training at the University of Wisconsin, which included Morse code, typing, and radio procedure and theory. At the conclusion of the training, the women would pass a code test at 22 words per minute, at which time they received a rating of Radioman 3rd Class.
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