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Missouri and the War 215
MISSOURI AND THE WAR
PART XIV
BY DOROTHY DYSART FLYNN1
On Saturday, September 2, 1945, on board the U. S. S.
Missouri, the Pacific half of the bloodiest war in the history
of the world was brought to a formal end with the signing of the
surrender document by both American and Japanese representatives. All day carrier-based planes circled protectively
in the sky in waves of twenty and thirty, an endless parade of
might through the cloud-streaked skies. It was America on
victory parade. The thousands who survived moved in majesty to claim the triumph of the thousands who had died on
lonely atolls or were lost in swirling waters in those days of
struggle when a world at peace had seemed a forlorn delusion.
The solemn ceremony aboard the mighty battleship Missouri marked the first defeat in Japan's 2600-year old semi-
legendary history. Twelve signatures, requiring only a few
minutes to inscribe on the article of surrender, ended the
bloody Pacific conflict which had lasted for three years and
nine months, after "the day of infamy," Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941. The Japanese signed first, then one by one
the allied representatives stepped forward and signed the
document that blighted Japan's dream of empire built on
bloodshed and tyranny. The flags of the United States,
Britain, Russia, and China fluttered from the veranda deck
of the famed superdreadnaught, polished and scrubbed as
never before. When the pages of history are turned fifty
years hence, the name, Missouri, will stand forth in full and
recognized glory for its contributions in winning the peace:
the supreme commander of the army and navy, Missouri's
first president, Harry S. Truman, announced to the world the
end of the war in both the European theater and the Pacific;
Idorothy dysart flynn, a native Missourian, graduated in 1932 from the
school of journalism at the University of Missouri, and did graduate work in
1940-1941. She is now a research associate on the staff of the State Historical
Society of Missouri at Columbia.
Object Description
| Rating | |
| Title | Missouri Historical Review, Volume 40 Issue 2, January 1946 |
| Volume | 40 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Month | January |
| Year | 1946 |
| Publisher | The State Historical Society of Missouri |
| Publisher-Electronic | The State Historical Society of Missouri |
| Rights | Copyright The State Historical Society of Missouri, 2008 |
| ISSN | 0026-6581 |
