Sept. 2, 2020 – On this day 75 years ago on the deck of the USS Missouri, a battleship, World War II came to an end when Japan signed official surrender documents in the presence of the Allies. Today the USS Missouri is the Battleship Missouri Memorial that can be toured by the public. It’s docked in Pearl Harbor next to the sunken USS Arizona. On Aug. 14, 2020, the Battleship Missouri Memorial and Japan’s Chiran Peace Museum announced a partnership as sister museums.

The world rejoiced in 1945 as World War II came to end in Europe and Asia. The end of the war came six years and one day after Hitler and Nazi Germany invaded Poland on Sept. 1, 1939, an unprovoked aggression that marks the official beginning of the war.

In truth, the war was brewing during most of the 1930s. Each with their own agenda but a common agenda to change the world order, Germany, Japan and Italy took bellicose actions that eventually erupted into world war.

Japan
Japan first invaded China in 1931 to take control of natural resources (oil and coal) Japan did not have as an island nation. Then in 1937, the Second Sino-Japanese War began due to an incident southwest of Beijing in China. The incident was between China’s National Revolutionary Army and the Imperial Japanese Army. Japan had established a presence in China since its 1931 invasion. Some scholars place the start of World War II with the 1937 war between China and Japan. Millions of Chinese civilians were killed by the Imperial Japanese Army. In April 1942 after United States Gen. James Doolittle led the “Doolittle Raid” over Tokyo in retaliation for Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor (Dec. 7, 1941), many of the 20 U.S. B-25 bombers crashed in China because they did not have enough fuel to return to their aircraft carrier – the U.S. Hornet. Chinese civilians in villages who rescued the pilots and took care of them were executed by the Imperial Japanese Army. More than 200,000 Chinese civilians were killed for helping American pilots and crew.

Italy
Benito Mussolini came to power in Italy in 1922 as founder of the National Fascist Party. He ruled as a dictator. He had a vision to expand Italy into an empire to mirror the mighty Holy Roman Empire of the past. Although he took aggressive actions as early as 1923, in 1935, Italy took over and occupied Ethiopia in northern Africa. In 1939, Italy invaded Albania, a country formerly part of the Holy Roman Empire. Mussolini watched as Adolf Hitler began assembling a new German Empire by annexing Austria and pasts of Czechoslovakia in 1938. In 1940, Italy invaded Egypt to gain control of the Suez Canal. British forces defended Egypt because of their long presence there after World War I.

Germany
It’s incorrect to conclude that Adolf Hitler rose to power democratically. His Nazi Party did win many seats in the Reichstag, Germany’s Parliament, in the 1932 elections but they did not have a majority. After World War I (1914-1918), severe penalties were placed on Germany for its role in the war. The German Empire was broken apart and the Weimar Republic was established. Paul von Hindenburg was elected President in 1925. After the Nazi Party gained influence following the 1932 elections, Hitler was able to convince President von Hindenburg to appoint Hitler as Chancellor of Germany in January 1933. Hitler immediately consolidated power through force and intimidation of his political opponents. He opened Dachau in March 1933 as a prison for political prisoners. He basically dissolved the Reishstag by having them pass a law that gave Hitler full power to enact laws without their approval. President von Hindenburg died in 1934. Hitler began building his military to enact his vision to reunite the German Empire. His discrimination against Jews began almost immediately as well. He eventually stripped them of their German citizenship and deported them to concentration camps where 6 million Jews, including 1.5 million children, were murdered during the Holocaust.

Irene Hasenberg was 14 years old when her family was deported to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany because they were Dutch Jews living in Amsterdam. Irene’s book – Shores Beyond Shores: From Holocaust to Hope – tells her story. (Photo: Redwood Learn)

On Sept. 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. In May 1940, Germany invaded western Europe taking control of most of France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. In summer 1940, Germany began a bliltz over England to take control of the United Kingdom but England fought back and remained independent. England asked the United States for help to prevent Hitler from occupying England.

Tripartite Pact signed by Axis Powers
On Sept. 27, 1940, Germany, Italy and Japan (the Axis Powers) signed the Tripartite Pact to defend each other as each country continued its aggression. Together they sought to rearrange world order so that a new German Empire, a new Italian Empire, and Imperial Japan would dominate the world.

The Allies respond
In the 1930s, many people in the United States believed foreign policy should be one of isolationism, the belief that a country should stay out of foreign conflicts. Losses from World War I (1914-1918) were still fresh in the minds and hearts of many Americans. About 110,000 American soldiers were killed in Europe when America joined the war in 1917 to defend England and France. Many more soldiers were wounded. Now less than 25 years later, Europe was again at war. Many Americans wanted none of it. Isolationist sentiment was strong.

Dec. 7, 1941 dramatically changed that sentiment. On that beautiful Sunday morning, Japan attacked the U.S. Naval Base in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii where much of America’s Pacific Fleet was docked. One torpedo and eight bombs struck the USS Arizona causing a massive explosion. The battleship sank in minutes taking 1,177 lives. Many other ships and planes were damaged or destroyed.

Before a Joint Session of Congress the following day, President Franklin D, Roosevelt delivered his famous “Day of Infamy” speech. Congress then declared war on Japan. Then Germany declared war on the United States so Congress declared war on Germany. Sixteen million men were drafted or joined the military. Hundreds of thousands of women enlisted to serve as nurses. And 1,074 women became Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) to ferry military planes in the United States as part of the WWII Home Front effort. And finally, millions of women became a “Rosie the Riveter.” They worked in factories from coast to coast making wartime products such as airplanes, ships and munitions. They worked to exhaustion so they could do their part to bring their boys home.

England, the United States, the Soviet Union and Canada formed the foundation of the Allied effort against the Axis Powers. But many other countries, such as Australia and New Zealand, fought with the Allies.

End of WWII
The war took place on three continents – Europe, Asia and Africa. From 1941-1945, the Allies defeated the Axis Powers first in Africa, then Europe and finally Asia. About 400,000 American soldiers lost their lives to liberate Europe and the world from dictators and to stop the Holocaust.

A key turning point was June 6, 1944 when the Allies launched the largest air and sea invasion ever attempted off the coast of Normandy, France. The goal was to begin pushing Nazi soldiers east back to Germany to liberate western Europe from German occupation.

Overlooking Omaha Beach in Normandy is the 172.5-acre Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial where 9,385 American military personnel are buried, most of whom were killed on D-Day and the battles that followed. (Photo: Redwood Learn in Normandy for the 65th anniversary of D-Day in 2009)

The invasion was successful. In December 1944, Hitler launched one last offensive in Belgium. Called the Battle of the Bulge, the Allies again prevailed.

In April 1945, both Hitler and Mussolini died. Hitler committed suicide and Mussolini was executed as he was trying to escape from Italy. And President Roosevelt died of a stroke in Georgia. Harry Truman became president.

President Truman evaluated the situation after the war in Europe ended on May 8, 1945 when Germany surrendered. He knew thousands of American soldiers would lose their lives to end the war with Japan. In August 1945, he authorized the use of nuclear bombs to force Japan to surrender. After dropping one nuclear bomb on Aug. 6, 1945 and Japan did not surrender, he dropped another on Aug. 9, 1945. Japan surrendered.

The USS Missouri traveled to Tokyo Bay where formal documents were signed on Sept. 2, 1945.

On the deck of the Battleship Missouri Memorial, there is a display containing the surrender dcuments signed by Japan on Sept. 2, 1945. (Photo: Redwood Learn)

The brutal war was over. Tens of millions of people lost their lives in Europe and Asia. Hundreds of thousands of American families mourned the loss of their loved one. The Sullivan family from Waterloo, Iowa lost all five of their sons in 1942 when the USS Juneau was struck by a torpedo during the Battle of Guadalcanal.

The cost of freedom was high but a world order dominated by diabolical dictators was defeated.

Today Germany and Japan are both allies of the United States. The USS Missouri is now the Battleship Missouri Memorial, docked next to the sunken USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor.

Battleship Missouri Memorial (Photo: Redwood Learn)

Battleship Missouri Memorial and Japan’s Chiran Peace Museum form partnership
On Aug. 14, 2020, a partnership between the Battleship Missouri Memorial and Japan’s Chiran Peace Museum was announced.

“The Battleship Missouri Memorial is incredibly honored and fortunate to be joining this partnership with the Chiran Peace Museum just in time for the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II,” Mike Carr, President and CEO of the USS Missouri Memorial Association, said in a press release.  “As we head into the next 75 years, may the Mighty Mo continue to remain a symbol of peace and hope, and a representation of the strong ties and partnership between Hawaii and Japan.”

According to the Aug. 14 press release, further focusing on peace through cultural understanding and historical perspective, this relationship also builds on the existing Kamikaze exhibit on board the Mighty Mo. First opened in April 2015 in honor of the 70th Anniversary of the attack, and military burial at sea that followed for the Japanese pilot, the newly remodeled Kamikaze exhibit features artifacts from the Chiran Peace Museum.

“In this special year, two museums that represent those who gave their lives during this terrible conflict are coming together in the spirit of reconciliation and a shared spirit of friendship,” Deputy Consul General Shinichi Yamanaka said on behalf of the Consulate General of Japan in Honolulu. “It represents all of your efforts to reconcile between two countries and I sincerely appreciate such an incredible effort.”