Commentary

On September 2, 1945–75 years ago–standing behind General Douglas MacArthur, on the deck of BB63, the U.S.S. Missouri, was an emaciated-looking General Jonathan M. Wainwright.

Wainwright had waited out World War II as a Prisoner of War after surrendering to the Imperial Japanese Army when Corregidor in Manila Bay was lost in early 1942. Wainwright, incidentally, was born in Walla Walla, on the Army Post, and that's why the local VA Medical Center is named after him.

So it was fitting that he and Lt. General Arthur E. Percival, who commanded British forces against the Japanese in the Malayan Campaign and subsequent Battle of Singapore, be standing close at hand to witness signatories usher in peace for the first time since September 1, 1939.

Nearly six years to the day.

While the United States and other countries across the globe wrestle with a viral pandemic, this significant date has almost slipped by unnoticed.

The United States won the race to harness the atom, using the weapon on two cities to greatly accelerate the end of World War II.

And General MacArthur's words at the surrender ceremony, are especially poignant and fit the solemnity of the occasion. Perhaps there are some words of wisdom within these lines which could be considered and taken to heart during these tumultuous times?

We are gathered here, representatives of the major warring powers, to conclude a solemn agreement whereby peace may be restored.

The issues involving divergent ideals and ideologies have been determined on the battlefields of the world, and hence are not for our discussion or debate.

Nor is it for us here to meet, representing as we do a majority of the peoples of the earth, in a spirit of distrust, malice, or hatred.

But rather it is for us, both victors and vanquished, to rise to that higher dignity which alone befits the sacred purposes we are about to serve, committing all of our peoples unreservedly to faithful compliance with the undertakings they are here formally to assume.

It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past -- a world founded upon faith and understanding, a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance, and justice.

The terms and conditions upon which surrender of the Japanese Imperial Forces is here to be given and accepted are contained in the Instrument of Surrender now before you.

As Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, I announce it my firm purpose, in the tradition of the countries I represent, to proceed in the discharge of my responsibilities with justice and tolerance, while taking all necessary dispositions to ensure that the terms of surrender are fully, promptly, and faithfully complied with.

I now invite the representatives of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government and the Japanese Imperial General Headquarters to sign the Instrument of Surrender at the places indicated.

Here is MacArthur's Closing Benediction:

Let us pray that peace now be restored to the world, and that God will preserve it always.

These proceedings are closed.