Victory Day
Victory Day, or V-J Day, is September 2, 2019. This marks the anniversary of the date of Japan’s formal surrender to the Allies in 1945, effectively ending World War II. To be honest, I have never been a big fan of history, but I have found that I am getting more interested as time goes on. One reason is the quality of documentaries, television series and movies that have come out recently. Seeing the story on the TV has made me curious for greater detail.
In May, I read the book Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man by Lynn Vincent. I - like many others - first heard a little about this in the movie Jaws. A Japanese submarine sank the U.S.S. Indianapolis while it was on its way from Guam, just four days after delivering enriched Uranium and other bomb parts to Tinian Island for the Little Boy atomic bomb. Due to mistakes made in keeping track of ships’ arrivals and departures, no one knew the Indianapolis was even missing for three and a half days.
Vincent’s book was very thorough, covering all aspects of what happened before, during, and after. Her description of what it was like being in the water, waiting for rescue, was harrowing. I had one image in my mind of what that was like (again, from Quint’s description in Jaws) but the reality was much more terrible. I also watched the recent PBS documentary Indianapolis: The Final Chapter which describes the Indianapolis’ sinking and the 2017 expedition to find the wreck.
After that, I wanted to know more about submarines in World War II. Much of the aftermath of the Indianapolis disaster concerned the tactic of “zig-zagging” to avoid submarine attack. Mochitsura Hashimoto, the commander of the submarine that torpedoed the Indianapolis, even testified regarding zig-zagging in Indianapolis’ Captain McVay’s court martial. I read Run Silent, Run Deep by Edward L. Beach, a fictional story, to get a better idea of what being on a submarine in combat was like at that time. Beach was a decorated submarine officer, so his fiction was very true-to-fact in terms of its more technical aspects. It is hard to reconcile the submarines now with what they were like in the beginning. While reading, I was on the edge of my seat whenever Captain Richardson had to go into combat. There is a movie adaption by the same title starring Clark Gable and Burt Lancaster.
For yet another perspective of the war in the Pacific, read Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini enlisted in the Army Air Corps. His plane crashed, he and his fellow crew members fought to survive, and then the survivors were found and taken prisoner by the Japanese. Another almost-unbelievable ordeal to have lived through. If you don’t want to read the book, check out the movie. It follows the book closely although, of course, not every detail is included.
In May, I read the book Indianapolis: The True Story of the Worst Sea Disaster in U.S. Naval History and the Fifty-Year Fight to Exonerate an Innocent Man by Lynn Vincent. I - like many others - first heard a little about this in the movie Jaws. A Japanese submarine sank the U.S.S. Indianapolis while it was on its way from Guam, just four days after delivering enriched Uranium and other bomb parts to Tinian Island for the Little Boy atomic bomb. Due to mistakes made in keeping track of ships’ arrivals and departures, no one knew the Indianapolis was even missing for three and a half days.
Vincent’s book was very thorough, covering all aspects of what happened before, during, and after. Her description of what it was like being in the water, waiting for rescue, was harrowing. I had one image in my mind of what that was like (again, from Quint’s description in Jaws) but the reality was much more terrible. I also watched the recent PBS documentary Indianapolis: The Final Chapter which describes the Indianapolis’ sinking and the 2017 expedition to find the wreck.
For yet another perspective of the war in the Pacific, read Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand. Olympic athlete Louis Zamperini enlisted in the Army Air Corps. His plane crashed, he and his fellow crew members fought to survive, and then the survivors were found and taken prisoner by the Japanese. Another almost-unbelievable ordeal to have lived through. If you don’t want to read the book, check out the movie. It follows the book closely although, of course, not every detail is included.
- Andrea, Hopewell Branch
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