The End of World War II This Date, 1945: Japanese Surrender

ON AUGUST 14

1941--  President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill signed the Atlantic Charter, a statement of principles that renounced aggression.

1945--  President Harry Truman announced that Japan had accepted the terms of unconditional surrender, that World War II was over and that he had proclaimed the following day to be V-J Day (Victory Over Japan).

This was 74 years ago.   This past Sunday I attended the Keep the Spirit of '45 Alive commemoration in McHenry, Illinois, at Veterans Park. which is always held the second Sunday of August to remember the Greatest Generation.

Finally, Over.  --GreGEn

Chinese Pirates Plunder British Shipwrecks 'War Graves'-- Part 2

The battleship HMS Prince of Wales and battle cruiser HMS Repulse were both sunk 10 December 1941. This incident is often referred to as Britain's Pearl Harbor.  These two ships were part of Force Z which also included four destroyers sent out to stop the Japanese invasion of Malaya.  They had no air cover.

Earlier in 1941, the Prince of Wales had participated in the sinking of the German battleship Bismarck and had also ferried Winston Churchill across the Atlantic for a secret summit where he and FDR signed the Atlantic Charter, a document that paved the way for the United Nations.

The HMS Repulse was a World War I battle cruiser.

--GreGen