Our October General Club meeting is at 1:00 pm October 6 at the St. Martin Library
NEVER FORGET 9 -11
Today is a day of remembrance. Remember all those workers who lost their lives by simply going to work. Remember ALL the heroic First Responders who rushed to the scene to save their fellow Americans. Remember those who toiled afterwards never giving up hope of finding anyone alive, sacrificing their own lives in some cases to do so. Remember "Let's roll", a story of unbelievable heroism. NEVER FORGET this was an attack on the United States of America by Islamic militants who believe it is their religious duty to destroy western ideologies of freedom and liberty.
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Monday, September 17, 1787, the United States Constitution was signed by thirty-nine brave men who changed the course of history."We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America." Take a moment and commit yourself to the preservation of this document for future generations. Visit The Bill of Rights Institute web site to read the document.
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September is the month of very important Jewish holidays. GCSC would like to take a moment to celebrate with our Jewish friends, family, and fellow stamp collectors in their celebrations of Jewish life.
Sep 10-11 - Rosh Hashanah ( ראש השנה) It is the first of the High Holidays or Yamim Noraim ("Days of Awe"), celebrated ten days before Yom Kippur.
Sep 19 - Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּפּוּר or יום הכיפורים), Also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year for the Jews. May God look favorably upon your acts of atonement and repentance.
Sep 24-30 - Sukkot (סוכות or סֻכּוֹת), sukkōt, or sukkos, Feast of Tabernacles. May your pilgrimage, whether in reality or in your heart, bring happiness to you.
Sep 10-11 - Rosh Hashanah ( ראש השנה) It is the first of the High Holidays or Yamim Noraim ("Days of Awe"), celebrated ten days before Yom Kippur.
Sep 19 - Yom Kippur (יוֹם כִּפּוּר or יום הכיפורים), Also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest day of the year for the Jews. May God look favorably upon your acts of atonement and repentance.
Sep 24-30 - Sukkot (סוכות or סֻכּוֹת), sukkōt, or sukkos, Feast of Tabernacles. May your pilgrimage, whether in reality or in your heart, bring happiness to you.
1994 - Stamp Debate Is Mushrooming
March 01, 1995|By Bob Greene
All over the country in recent weeks, people have been receiving letters and noticing a rather surprising stamp on the envelopes.
The stamp shows a mushroom cloud rising over Japan, as a B-29 bomber flies away. The stamp obviously is commemorating the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
But wait a minute. Didn't the U.S. Postal Service decide not to issue the A-bomb stamp? Wasn't that the decision that was made last December-to do away with plans to issue a mushroom cloud stamp out of sensitivity for the feelings of the people of Japan?
Yes, that's correct-the post office didn't issue the stamps.
But, it turns out, two men in central Ohio did. The men-a Vietnam veteran named Gerry Newhouse and a graphic artist named Ron Kaplan-designed and printed the stamps at their own expense, and have been selling them to the public.
There is no price printed on the front of the stamps-they are not legal postage stamps, although they look just like them. They are intended to be placed on envelopes in addition to regular U.S. stamps.
"These stamps are like Christmas Seals stamps, or Boys Town stamps," Newhouse said. "They are intended for decoration. And to send a message."
That message, he said, is that "the dropping of the atomic bombs ended World War II, and saved American lives, and it is wrong to rewrite history. By deciding not to issue the mushroom cloud stamps, the U.S. government is doing the same thing as if the government ripped pages out of textbooks. It happened-we dropped the bombs, and by dropping them we ended the war, and it's an important part of our history."
Newhouse, 49, who served with the Marines in Vietnam, and Kaplan, 36, who specializes in military artwork, said they are not trying to glorify nuclear warfare by issuing the stamp. "This is not a celebration of the atomic bomb," Kaplan said. "This is a commemoration. There's a difference. I think that difference is understood by the men and women of the World War II generation who are still alive."
So far, the two have sold around 32,000 stamps in sheets of 36, they said; next to the mushroom cloud is printed "August 1945," and at the bottom of the stamps are the words "Atomic bombs end WW II." The men's goal is to have 1 million stamps in circulation by August-the 50th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs.
"You can put them anywhere you want on an envelope that goes through the mail, except in the very upper right-hand corner," Newhouse said. "My preferred place for the stamp is right next to a regular postage stamp-just to the left of a regular stamp."
Some post office employees, he said, have bought the stamps themselves. "The decision for the government not to print the mushroom cloud stamps was a wrong decision," he said. "But there's nothing the government can do to prevent these commemorative stamps."
What about the argument that mushroom-cloud stamps show a lack of compassion for the Japanese? What about the contention that, by choosing not to issue the mushroom cloud stamps, our government showed grace and decency?
"I really don't accept the argument that we shouldn't depict such an important historical event because it might offend the Japanese," Newhouse said. "I have absolutely nothing at all against the people of Japan. But for them to say that it's insensitive for our government to show the mushroom clouds on a stamp-that's a little like the teenager who kills his parents, and then asks for leniency because he's an orphan. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941-which is what led to the United States dropping the atomic bombs in 1945."
While denying that their stamp is in any way gloating or exploitative-"If it were, we would have printed `Hooray for the U.S.A.' over the mushroom cloud," Newhouse said-the men do plan to reproduce the image on T-shirts, lapel pins, coffee mugs and baseball caps.
Is this not likely to cause controversy?
"If people want to express their opinions against this, that's great," Kaplan said. "That's exactly the right that Americans fought and died to defend during World War II. That's the right that Americans preserved by dropping the bombs."
source: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-03-01/features/9503010121_1_commemorative-stamps-postage-mushroom-cloud
All over the country in recent weeks, people have been receiving letters and noticing a rather surprising stamp on the envelopes.
The stamp shows a mushroom cloud rising over Japan, as a B-29 bomber flies away. The stamp obviously is commemorating the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
But wait a minute. Didn't the U.S. Postal Service decide not to issue the A-bomb stamp? Wasn't that the decision that was made last December-to do away with plans to issue a mushroom cloud stamp out of sensitivity for the feelings of the people of Japan?
Yes, that's correct-the post office didn't issue the stamps.
But, it turns out, two men in central Ohio did. The men-a Vietnam veteran named Gerry Newhouse and a graphic artist named Ron Kaplan-designed and printed the stamps at their own expense, and have been selling them to the public.
There is no price printed on the front of the stamps-they are not legal postage stamps, although they look just like them. They are intended to be placed on envelopes in addition to regular U.S. stamps.
"These stamps are like Christmas Seals stamps, or Boys Town stamps," Newhouse said. "They are intended for decoration. And to send a message."
That message, he said, is that "the dropping of the atomic bombs ended World War II, and saved American lives, and it is wrong to rewrite history. By deciding not to issue the mushroom cloud stamps, the U.S. government is doing the same thing as if the government ripped pages out of textbooks. It happened-we dropped the bombs, and by dropping them we ended the war, and it's an important part of our history."
Newhouse, 49, who served with the Marines in Vietnam, and Kaplan, 36, who specializes in military artwork, said they are not trying to glorify nuclear warfare by issuing the stamp. "This is not a celebration of the atomic bomb," Kaplan said. "This is a commemoration. There's a difference. I think that difference is understood by the men and women of the World War II generation who are still alive."
So far, the two have sold around 32,000 stamps in sheets of 36, they said; next to the mushroom cloud is printed "August 1945," and at the bottom of the stamps are the words "Atomic bombs end WW II." The men's goal is to have 1 million stamps in circulation by August-the 50th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bombs.
"You can put them anywhere you want on an envelope that goes through the mail, except in the very upper right-hand corner," Newhouse said. "My preferred place for the stamp is right next to a regular postage stamp-just to the left of a regular stamp."
Some post office employees, he said, have bought the stamps themselves. "The decision for the government not to print the mushroom cloud stamps was a wrong decision," he said. "But there's nothing the government can do to prevent these commemorative stamps."
What about the argument that mushroom-cloud stamps show a lack of compassion for the Japanese? What about the contention that, by choosing not to issue the mushroom cloud stamps, our government showed grace and decency?
"I really don't accept the argument that we shouldn't depict such an important historical event because it might offend the Japanese," Newhouse said. "I have absolutely nothing at all against the people of Japan. But for them to say that it's insensitive for our government to show the mushroom clouds on a stamp-that's a little like the teenager who kills his parents, and then asks for leniency because he's an orphan. The Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941-which is what led to the United States dropping the atomic bombs in 1945."
While denying that their stamp is in any way gloating or exploitative-"If it were, we would have printed `Hooray for the U.S.A.' over the mushroom cloud," Newhouse said-the men do plan to reproduce the image on T-shirts, lapel pins, coffee mugs and baseball caps.
Is this not likely to cause controversy?
"If people want to express their opinions against this, that's great," Kaplan said. "That's exactly the right that Americans fought and died to defend during World War II. That's the right that Americans preserved by dropping the bombs."
source: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-03-01/features/9503010121_1_commemorative-stamps-postage-mushroom-cloud
Proposed US stamp commemorating the Atomic bombs ending of the War in the Pacific against the Empire of Japan.
Honoring the 'horrifically swift' end to World War II
By: Jeff Schogol August 10, 2015
The 50th anniversary of Victory in Japan Day brought simmering questions about the U.S. decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to a boil.
Controversy erupted in 1994 when the U.S. Postal Service canceled a planned stamp that would have commemorated the end of World War II by showing a mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb explosion.
The issue also emerged during a separate heated debate about the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's proposed exhibit of Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Veterans and members of Congress felt the debate slandered the U.S. troops who fought in the Pacific. The exhibit was eventually reworked and the aircraft displayed.
Ron Kaplan, an aviation artist who currently works for the National Aviation Hall of Fame, inadvertently joined the fray when he saw a TV news report about a decorative stamp that Vietnam veteran Gerry Newhouse had made in protest of the Postal Service proposed stamp's cancellation. Kaplan went to Newhouse's office in downtown Columbus, Ohio, to buy three sheets of the decorative stamps, and he told Newhouse the B-29 in the artwork did not look realistic. "I remember saying words to the effect that: 'Gosh, I wish I had known you before you did these because I'm an aviation artist, and frankly I think the art could be a lot better.'"
Newhouse called Kaplan the next day to say the company making the stamps had lost the scan of the original artwork. Newhouse needed more stamps immediately because he was being deluged with orders, so he asked Kaplan if he could come up with a new design.
Kaplan quickly turned around a design for a decorative stamp showing a B-29 flying away from a mushroom cloud along with the words, "Atomic bombs end World War II." The stamps had no postal value, but they could be used along with stamps approved by the Postal Service. Newhouse sold the stamps in 1995 and 1996.
The stamp got a big endorsement from retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets Jr., who flew the Enola Gay on the Hiroshima mission, Kaplan said.
As the 70th anniversary of VJ Day on Aug. 15 approaches, Kaplan talks about the legacy of the two B-29 missions that ended the Pacific War.
source: https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2015/08/10/honoring-the-horrifically-swift-end-to-world-war-ii/
The 50th anniversary of Victory in Japan Day brought simmering questions about the U.S. decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to a boil.
Controversy erupted in 1994 when the U.S. Postal Service canceled a planned stamp that would have commemorated the end of World War II by showing a mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb explosion.
The issue also emerged during a separate heated debate about the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's proposed exhibit of Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. Veterans and members of Congress felt the debate slandered the U.S. troops who fought in the Pacific. The exhibit was eventually reworked and the aircraft displayed.
Ron Kaplan, an aviation artist who currently works for the National Aviation Hall of Fame, inadvertently joined the fray when he saw a TV news report about a decorative stamp that Vietnam veteran Gerry Newhouse had made in protest of the Postal Service proposed stamp's cancellation. Kaplan went to Newhouse's office in downtown Columbus, Ohio, to buy three sheets of the decorative stamps, and he told Newhouse the B-29 in the artwork did not look realistic. "I remember saying words to the effect that: 'Gosh, I wish I had known you before you did these because I'm an aviation artist, and frankly I think the art could be a lot better.'"
Newhouse called Kaplan the next day to say the company making the stamps had lost the scan of the original artwork. Newhouse needed more stamps immediately because he was being deluged with orders, so he asked Kaplan if he could come up with a new design.
Kaplan quickly turned around a design for a decorative stamp showing a B-29 flying away from a mushroom cloud along with the words, "Atomic bombs end World War II." The stamps had no postal value, but they could be used along with stamps approved by the Postal Service. Newhouse sold the stamps in 1995 and 1996.
The stamp got a big endorsement from retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Paul Tibbets Jr., who flew the Enola Gay on the Hiroshima mission, Kaplan said.
As the 70th anniversary of VJ Day on Aug. 15 approaches, Kaplan talks about the legacy of the two B-29 missions that ended the Pacific War.
source: https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2015/08/10/honoring-the-horrifically-swift-end-to-world-war-ii/
A-bomb stamps and a cover from the collection of Bob Marousky.
According to Linn's Stamp News as many as five private labels have been printed about this commemorative subject as a response to or a protest against the USPS action.
JAPANESE LAUD CANCELING OF U.S. ATOM BOMB STAMP
By T.R. Reid, December 10, 1994, TOKYO, DEC. 9 -- The postage stamp controversy that had threatened to reignite lingering World War II resentment on both sides of the Pacific has instead provided a big boost to U.S.-Japanese relations, relieved Japanese officials said today.
The U.S. decision to cancel a planned stamp that depicted the atomic bomb's mushroom cloud, with a caption saying "Atomic bombs hasten war's end, August 1945," has brought widespread praise and gratitude from Japanese leaders -- the same people who angrily denounced the United States just a week ago when the stamp was announced.
"We are grateful for this decision," Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama said. "And we sincerely respect {the United States} for giving real consideration to the feelings of the people of Japan."
Officials in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the two cities hit with atomic bombs in August 1945, also expressed gratitude to President Clinton and the United States for responding to Japanese complaints that a mushroom cloud stamp would be insensitive and "heartless."
Hiroshi Harada, director of Hiroshima's atom bomb museum, said the conciliatory step by the United States might make Hiroshima more inclined to cooperate with the Smithsonian Institution and other U.S. organizations planning events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the war.
The U.S. decision to cancel the stamp received banner headlines in most Japanese newspapers today.
Some reports compared the action to the speech President George Bush gave on the 50th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1991. Bush said, "I have no rancor toward Japan," a statement that was lavishly praised here as the height of statesmanship.
The mushroom cloud stamp was designed to be one of a set of 10 World War II commemoratives to be issued next year in connection with 50th-anniversary ceremonies. As soon as the bright color painting of the familiar mushroom cloud was unveiled, Japanese responded bitterly to the idea that the victims' suffering would be recalled on a stamp.
"Beneath that mushroom cloud," Nagasaki Mayor Hiyoshi Motoshima said last week, "hundreds of thousands of noncombatant women and children were killed or injured on the spot." It would be "heartless" to issue a stamp featuring this "indiscriminate massacre," Motoshima said.
These protests from Japan fell on receptive ears in the United States. State Department officials, White House officials, Bush and even the Veterans of Foreign Wars said they could understand why Japan believed the atom bomb was not an appropriate image for a stamp.
On Wednesday, Postmaster General Marvin Runyon announced that the mushroom cloud stamp would not be printed. Instead, the commemorative set will include a portrait of President Harry S. Truman announcing the end of the war. Japanese officials said the Truman picture would be appropriate.
U.S. diplomats who have been working with the Japanese on plans for next year's 50th anniversary of the war's end breathed sighs of relief that the stamp problem had been eliminated. "The Post Office never asked us before they put out the {mushroom cloud} stamp, and as soon as we saw it we knew the Japanese would be horrified," said one diplomat working on relations with Japan.
The news of the stamp prompted bitter critiques from political leaders, pundits and people on the street. The reaction reflects Japan's extremely sensitive view of its relations with the United States, this country's biggest market, strongest ally and chief role model in the world. The normal sensitivities are heightened even further when the issue of World War II comes up.
During the past week, for example, all the Japanese media engaged in detailed analyses of each of the commemorative World War II stamps issued in the United States over the past four years. Although the Postal Service has tried carefully to balance the collection between the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of the war, the Japanese analysts concluded the stamps are unbalanced, to Japan's disfavor.
One stamp in the set shows the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Another shows the U.S. Navy destroyer Reuben James being sunk. This pair of stamps was reported here to be proof of bias against Japan -- because the Pearl Harbor stamp includes the caption "Japanese attack Pearl Harbor," but the USS Reuben James stamp does not mention that Germans sank that destroyer.
source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/12/10/japanese-laud-canceling-of-us-atom-bomb-stamp/5d6bff89-0beb-4154-8b0f-824bc5949135/?utm_term=.7a06a24517c9
The U.S. decision to cancel a planned stamp that depicted the atomic bomb's mushroom cloud, with a caption saying "Atomic bombs hasten war's end, August 1945," has brought widespread praise and gratitude from Japanese leaders -- the same people who angrily denounced the United States just a week ago when the stamp was announced.
"We are grateful for this decision," Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama said. "And we sincerely respect {the United States} for giving real consideration to the feelings of the people of Japan."
Officials in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, the two cities hit with atomic bombs in August 1945, also expressed gratitude to President Clinton and the United States for responding to Japanese complaints that a mushroom cloud stamp would be insensitive and "heartless."
Hiroshi Harada, director of Hiroshima's atom bomb museum, said the conciliatory step by the United States might make Hiroshima more inclined to cooperate with the Smithsonian Institution and other U.S. organizations planning events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the end of the war.
The U.S. decision to cancel the stamp received banner headlines in most Japanese newspapers today.
Some reports compared the action to the speech President George Bush gave on the 50th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1991. Bush said, "I have no rancor toward Japan," a statement that was lavishly praised here as the height of statesmanship.
The mushroom cloud stamp was designed to be one of a set of 10 World War II commemoratives to be issued next year in connection with 50th-anniversary ceremonies. As soon as the bright color painting of the familiar mushroom cloud was unveiled, Japanese responded bitterly to the idea that the victims' suffering would be recalled on a stamp.
"Beneath that mushroom cloud," Nagasaki Mayor Hiyoshi Motoshima said last week, "hundreds of thousands of noncombatant women and children were killed or injured on the spot." It would be "heartless" to issue a stamp featuring this "indiscriminate massacre," Motoshima said.
These protests from Japan fell on receptive ears in the United States. State Department officials, White House officials, Bush and even the Veterans of Foreign Wars said they could understand why Japan believed the atom bomb was not an appropriate image for a stamp.
On Wednesday, Postmaster General Marvin Runyon announced that the mushroom cloud stamp would not be printed. Instead, the commemorative set will include a portrait of President Harry S. Truman announcing the end of the war. Japanese officials said the Truman picture would be appropriate.
U.S. diplomats who have been working with the Japanese on plans for next year's 50th anniversary of the war's end breathed sighs of relief that the stamp problem had been eliminated. "The Post Office never asked us before they put out the {mushroom cloud} stamp, and as soon as we saw it we knew the Japanese would be horrified," said one diplomat working on relations with Japan.
The news of the stamp prompted bitter critiques from political leaders, pundits and people on the street. The reaction reflects Japan's extremely sensitive view of its relations with the United States, this country's biggest market, strongest ally and chief role model in the world. The normal sensitivities are heightened even further when the issue of World War II comes up.
During the past week, for example, all the Japanese media engaged in detailed analyses of each of the commemorative World War II stamps issued in the United States over the past four years. Although the Postal Service has tried carefully to balance the collection between the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of the war, the Japanese analysts concluded the stamps are unbalanced, to Japan's disfavor.
One stamp in the set shows the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Another shows the U.S. Navy destroyer Reuben James being sunk. This pair of stamps was reported here to be proof of bias against Japan -- because the Pearl Harbor stamp includes the caption "Japanese attack Pearl Harbor," but the USS Reuben James stamp does not mention that Germans sank that destroyer.
source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1994/12/10/japanese-laud-canceling-of-us-atom-bomb-stamp/5d6bff89-0beb-4154-8b0f-824bc5949135/?utm_term=.7a06a24517c9
The Webmaster for GCSC has written an opinion piece about the Japanese government blocking the publication of a stamp commemorating the events ending World War II. You may view this opinion by clicking on this link.
Battleship Missouri Memorial BB-63, Pearl Harbor
"Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it".
George Santayana, Spanish-American philosopher 1863-1952
George Santayana, Spanish-American philosopher 1863-1952
On September 2, 1945, a formal surrender ceremony was performed in Tokyo Bay, Japan, aboard the battleship USS Missouri. |
The end of war in the Pacific was over and thus the end of World War II came to a close. |
The Allies called for the unconditional surrender of the Imperial Japanese armed forces in the Potsdam Declaration on July 26, 1945—the alternative being "prompt and utter destruction". The Japanese ignored the ultimatum and the war continued. On August 6 the B-29 Enola Gay dropped "Little Boy" on Hiroshima (a uranium gun-type bomb). Three days later, on August 9, after no response from Japan, the B-29 Bockscar dropped "Fat Man" ( a plutonium implosion-type bomb) on Nagasaki. That pretty much decided for the Japanese that surrender was the only option
On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victory over Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.” The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan’s signing of the surrender document occurred, officially ending World War II. That morning, on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay, the Japanese envoys Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu, signed their names on the Instrument of Surrender. The time was recorded as 4 minutes past 9 o'clock. Coming several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan’s capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a final and highly anticipated close.
Japan’s devastating surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, capped a decade of deteriorating relations between Japan and the United States and led to an immediate U.S. declaration of war the following day. Japan’s ally Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, then declared war on the United States, turning the war raging in Europe into a truly global conflict. Over the next three years, superior technology and productivity allowed the Allies to wage an increasingly one-sided war against Japan in the Pacific, inflicting enormous casualties. By 1945, in an attempt to break Japanese resistance before a land invasion became necessary, the Allies were consistently bombarding Japan from air and sea, dropping some 100,000 tons of explosives on more than 60 Japanese cities and towns between March and July 1945 alone. (Yet the Japanese government refused to surrender, no reason was given by Emperor Hirohito.)
In 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, the administration of President Bill Clinton referred not to V-J Day but to the “End of the Pacific War” in its official remembrance ceremonies. The controversial decision sparked complaints that Clinton was being overly deferential to Japan and that the euphemism displayed insensitivity to U.S. veterans who as prisoners of war suffered greatly at the hands of Japanese forces.
Source: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
Leave it to the Navy to properly celebrate this event. Victor Jorgensen's photo published in the New York times.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_over_Japan_Day
On August 14, 1945, it was announced that Japan had surrendered unconditionally to the Allies, effectively ending World War II. Since then, both August 14 and August 15 have been known as “Victory over Japan Day,” or simply “V-J Day.” The term has also been used for September 2, 1945, when Japan’s signing of the surrender document occurred, officially ending World War II. That morning, on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay, the Japanese envoys Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and Gen. Yoshijiro Umezu, signed their names on the Instrument of Surrender. The time was recorded as 4 minutes past 9 o'clock. Coming several months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, Japan’s capitulation in the Pacific brought six years of hostilities to a final and highly anticipated close.
Japan’s devastating surprise aerial attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor on Oahu, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941, capped a decade of deteriorating relations between Japan and the United States and led to an immediate U.S. declaration of war the following day. Japan’s ally Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, then declared war on the United States, turning the war raging in Europe into a truly global conflict. Over the next three years, superior technology and productivity allowed the Allies to wage an increasingly one-sided war against Japan in the Pacific, inflicting enormous casualties. By 1945, in an attempt to break Japanese resistance before a land invasion became necessary, the Allies were consistently bombarding Japan from air and sea, dropping some 100,000 tons of explosives on more than 60 Japanese cities and towns between March and July 1945 alone. (Yet the Japanese government refused to surrender, no reason was given by Emperor Hirohito.)
In 1995, the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, the administration of President Bill Clinton referred not to V-J Day but to the “End of the Pacific War” in its official remembrance ceremonies. The controversial decision sparked complaints that Clinton was being overly deferential to Japan and that the euphemism displayed insensitivity to U.S. veterans who as prisoners of war suffered greatly at the hands of Japanese forces.
Source: https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/v-j-day
Leave it to the Navy to properly celebrate this event. Victor Jorgensen's photo published in the New York times.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_over_Japan_Day
The B-29 Enola Gay is now displayed at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.
Source: https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/boeing-b-29-superfortress-enola-gay
Source: https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/boeing-b-29-superfortress-enola-gay
Total casualties in Asia and the Pacific by nation and type
Nation KIA or missing Wounded POW Civilian deaths
United States 111,606 253,142 21,580
Australia 9,470 13,997 21,726
China 4,000,000 3,000,000 18,000,000
India 6,860 24,200 68,890 2,000,000
Netherlands East Indies 37,000 4,000,000
Philippines 1,000,000
United Kingdom 5,670 12,840 50,016
Source: http://www.pwencycl.kgbudge.com/C/a/Casualties.htm
Nation KIA or missing Wounded POW Civilian deaths
United States 111,606 253,142 21,580
Australia 9,470 13,997 21,726
China 4,000,000 3,000,000 18,000,000
India 6,860 24,200 68,890 2,000,000
Netherlands East Indies 37,000 4,000,000
Philippines 1,000,000
United Kingdom 5,670 12,840 50,016
Source: http://www.pwencycl.kgbudge.com/C/a/Casualties.htm
September Circuit
US Back of Book (BOB) 1 stamp special delivery E7 in F/VF condition
World Wide Airmail
German DDR
US Mint
US BOB – Hawaii, Officials, and Ducks
US BOB – Newspaper Misc Revenue
US Plate Number Coil (PNC) mostly used singles from Scott #1906 to 2280
USA BOB
US PNC Mostly Mint Strips of 5
Italian Colonies
US Modern Mint
Italian Colonies
USA PNC – Strips of 5 and Line Pairs.
World Wide Airmail
German DDR
US Mint
US BOB – Hawaii, Officials, and Ducks
US BOB – Newspaper Misc Revenue
US Plate Number Coil (PNC) mostly used singles from Scott #1906 to 2280
USA BOB
US PNC Mostly Mint Strips of 5
Italian Colonies
US Modern Mint
Italian Colonies
USA PNC – Strips of 5 and Line Pairs.
The Gulf Coast Stamp Club serves the six coastal counties of Mississippi, the Mobile, Al area, and as far west as Slidell, LA with a forum for developing philately interest. We have an active membership engaged in trading, selling, and developing dialogue on philately and all related areas involving the hobby. Our members are very proud of their collections and will be sharing that interest on this website through graphic displays and movies of collections on our Member Activity page.
