Today, during a historic ceremony marking the end of World War II aboard the decommissioned USS Missouri in Pearl Harbor, an assembly of vintage warbird aircraft will fly overhead in tribute. The aerial parade offers a commemorative glimpse of the V-J Day — “Victory over Japan” — scene that unfolded on the battleship 75 years ago, then anchored in Tokyo Bay.
On Sept. 2, 1945, the deck area surrounding a table bearing the formal surrender documents was jammed with Missouri crew members, staff officers and others looking on as signatures were secured from Japan’s foreign minister, delegates from Allied nations and Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
Soon after the short event that put an end to the war, hundreds of U.S. carrier planes passed in formation over the Missouri, followed by U.S. B-29 bombers, in a roaring display of military power. Three-quarters of a century later, more than one dozen WWII aircraft are taking part in a display dubbed “Legacy of Peace.”
The aerial parade and other anniversary observances honor the sacrifice of WWII veterans. They also pay tribute to the home front contribution — made by way of collective sacrifices for the greater good, which hold some parallels to the call for personal sacrifice now imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the aftermath of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, which propelled the U.S. into WWII, Hawaii was hard hit by wartime directives. Among the martial law orders issued: curfews and blackouts, during which leaving home in the evening was banned; and no lighting was allowed that might give enemy planes a target or create other vulnerabilities.
Also, schools were closed for at least two months as buildings were taken over for the war effort. And here and on the mainland, there was government-imposed rationing of various groceries as well as supplies, including gasoline and tires. In response, members of the Greatest Generation learned, as they did during the Great Depression, to do without.
In response to today’s coronavirus threat, Hawaii must follow suit by, for now, doing without our social gatherings, and adhering to physical-distancing, mask-wearing and hand-washing protocols. By continuing to do our part on the public health front, month after month, we’re connected to the global drive headed by health authorities and others in the front-line fight to curb COVID-19’s spread.
Also a major part of the 75th V-J Day anniversary is a remembering of the Holocaust. Some 6 million Jews died in Nazi concentration camps before V-E Day (Victory in Europe) on May 8, 1945. The War in the Pacific continued to rage until the U.S. dropped the world’s first atomic bombs in August 1945 — ultimately killing as many as 140,000 people in Hiroshima, then about 70,000 in Nagasaki.
The necessity for banning nuclear weapons was further underscored in the wake of WWII, when the U.S. resumed nuclear testing in the Marshall Islands, displacing its residents for scores of nuclear tests, including the explosion of the first hydrogen bomb in the early 1950s.
Seven decades later, health and environment fallout still reverberate — serving as exhortation that despite geopolitical tensions, diplomacy and cooperation must overcome drumbeats for war.
Situated bow to bow in Pearl Harbor are the USS Arizona — among the battleships lost during the 1941 Japanese attack on the harbor — and the Missouri, the endpoint for history’s most destructive war, with 50 million to 70 million killed. The WWII “bookends” represent, very poignantly, sacrifice and resilience.
Eric Shinseki, the former Army chief of staff and Kauai native, once observed that the site speaks to the spirit of “ordinary Americans who came forward to serve their country in extraordinary ways.” That includes an inspiring homefront effort that can help guide us through today’s COVID-19 challenges.
